Volvo has announced a new 2.4-liter 5-cylinder diesel engine that will find its way under the hood of the S80 saloon. The new D5 diesel uses an array of innovative engineering solutions such as sequential twin turbochargers, ceramic glow-plugs and piezoelectric fuel injectors. The result is an improved power output of 205hp and 420Nm of torque combined with low fuel emissions of 164g/km and a fuel consumption of just 6.2 lt /100 km (38mpg US - 45.6mpg UK) - which is a pretty good figure for a car the size of the S80.
"Our brief was to develop a modern performance diesel engine that meets the Euro 5 standard," said Derek Crabb, Volvo Vice President, Powertrain Engineering. "When the project got under way, our goal was to bring fuel consumption down to 6.4 lt /100km (44.1mpg UK) in the S80, which, after all, is a relatively large car," recalls Derek Crabb.
"As the work progressed, we saw that we could beat that target and today we are actually down to 6.2 lt / 100km (45.6mpg UK). With an automatic gearbox we have been able to reduce the consumption by more than 8 percent, from 7.3 to 6.7 lt / 100km (38.7 to 42.2mpg UK), which is a significant improvement."
The new D5 diesel will be available in the S80 in the second quarter of 2009 while it certain that Volvo will offer the engine in other models, including the forthcoming S60 sedan.
