Volvo S40 DRIVe awarded What Car? Green Car of the Year title
The What Car? Green Car of the year title given out at the completion of the Brighton to London eco-race at City Hall in London. The winner? The Volvo S40 DRIVe, which the company has been making since late last year. The model, which is mated to a PSA-sourced 1.6 diesel engine, has Start-Stop technology that helps the model keep emissions at 104 g/km. According to Volvo, "What Car?'s judges praised the S40 DRIVe's unique combination of low emissions, practicality, safety and driver enjoyment as key reasons for the win." Volvo offers eco-minded DRIVe versions of the C30 and V50 as well.
Gallery: Volvo S40 DRIVe
[Source Volvo UK]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
jharlan 9:27AM (6/09/2009)
I would like to know more about this DRIVe Volvo technology and how it performs against the "no diesel" US mindset car offerings. Apparently the Europeans think pretty highly of this Volvo-Peugeot system.
The fact that none of our US companies is offering any modern diesel models just again shows how we are losing the auto technology wars.
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tony 7:07PM (7/06/2009)
3 c30 drive 1.6 diesel make lisbon to paris only with 1 deposit of 13,73 gallons.
the most perfomant makes over 1200 miles!
see http://www.volvodrivechallenge.sapo.pt/#/Home/
jesse 9:38AM (6/09/2009)
The 2010 Prius still get 92 g/km, which is 12 g/km less then the S40. I do wish the DRIVe system was available in Canada, especially the C30 I would for sure get one of those babies. Time will only tell.
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KK 11:47PM (6/10/2009)
It's too bad Volvo seems to have no interest in selling fuel-efficient cars in North America.
I was recently in the market for a new car and the C30 was my favorite in terms of size, aesthetics (both exterior and interior), comfort, brand name loyalty/recognition, and price. If I could get the DRIVe model, I'd have bought it for sure. If I had to settle for a plain old 1.8-liter petrol engine, I probably would have bought it too. But the only engine available is the 2.5-liter turbocharged engine that gets worse fuel economy than a Porsche Boxster. There's no way I could bring myself to buy something like that. The dealer told me the 2010 lineup would be the same as well.
jharlan 10:10AM (6/09/2009)
The Prius is the state of the art in economy and emissions, but a lot of young people just can't see themselves in a Prius. They aren't for everyone. Diesels are close behind, competitive in price, and they perform!!!!!
Also they have their own cool factor.
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TheRookie 5:49AM (6/10/2009)
New Prius hasn't been released in the UK yet (ETA - August), so there is no chance it could be included into WhatCar chart. However, they decided not to include Honda Insight for some reason. The Honda wasn't received well by any motoring magazine in the UK (too slow, not practical, not economical and not cheap, compared to similar-sized diesel hatchbacks), so it is not a big surprise.
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