I just recently acquire a 1996 850R with 110k miles on it. I notice it consumes a lot of gas. I filled up the tank and now the guage reads half tank or 12 gallons, and so far I got 143 miles on it (highway/street driving). Is this normal or something wrong with it? The computer says I'm getting 19.2 MPG, is this also normal?

So any 850R owners out there, please confirm if this is normal or adnormal and any other things to expect from this particular model. I'm so use to my 1993 Honda Accord getting roughly 320-340 total miles on full tank with combination of highway and street driving.

What octane should i use? There wasn't a owner's manual.

 

Seems like these cars really vary on gas mileage. I get between 22 and 24 on 97 85 R in combined city/highway driving. The 98 V70 GLT gets about the same. On the highway I can get about 27 to 28. I have heard of people getting 30+ and some people get less than 18, so it's kind of hard to tell what the norm is. On my 94 850 Turbo, I once got 32 mpg on a 200 mile trip by letting it slow way down going up hills and speeding up going down hill. I was just trying to see the best I could get by concentrating on getting good gas mileage.

 

Hello Swedishmeatballs,

Your HN reminds me of IKEA, the Swedish furniture store.

I believe 850R has a turbocharger, right? In general, a turbocharged engine consumes more fuel than NA engines. Also, when was the last time your car had tune up? If unknown, it's not a bad idea to replace the following items:

1. Spark plugs (Genuine Volvo or Bosch platinum/iridium is recommended)
2. Ignition (spark plug) wires (French Bougicord is the OEM, but Bosch makes them as well)
3. Distributor cap & rotor (Bosch)
4. Fuel filter (Bosch)
5. Air filter (Mann is the OEM)
6. Engine oil + filter (Synthetic/synthetic blend oil is highly recommended for a turbocharged engine, and Mann is the OEM filter)
7. Check tyre pressure & alignment
8. Add a bottle of Techron fuel system cleaner and drive until the tank is near empty.
9. Clean the throttle body with carburetor cleaner spray that is safe for O2 sensor & catalytic converter, scrub with a tooth brush.

Japanese cars are usually fuel efficient, but not as robust in a collision as they use thinner gage steel. Volvo is probably the safest passenger car since they use heavy gage steel.

Good luck,


JPN