• Good fuel economy across the range
• PHEVs will do 40mpg in the real world
• Don’t believe the 300mpg+ claims

What are the running costs?

The V60 is quite an efficient car considering its size. The B4 mild hybrid is economical, easily returning 40mpg on a motorway run, which is a good effort considering the car’s official WLTP fuel economy figure of 40.9–44.8mpg.

The plug-in hybrid models can be even more efficient. We say can be, because it depends entirely on how often you charge them up. Top up the battery every night and complete your commuting using the V60’s 54 miles of electric range and you’ll hardly use any fuel at all.

But if you let the battery drain completely, you’ll struggle to get more than 40mpg on the motorway – let along the 350mpg figure that Volvo claims. Spend more time pottering around town and that figure will tumble into the 30s.

Servicing and warranty

Volvo’s servicing and maintenance costs are up there with its premium rivals. To word that a different way, they’re quite expensive. To try and combat that, Volvo offers a range of service plans that allow you to spread the cost of maintenance. You can sign up for one using the firm’s smartphone app.

Volvo’s standard warranty is average for the class. You get three years or 60,000 miles of coverage, although you can extend the warranty to four years or 80,000 miles. The more basic package matches Audi’s but trails BMW’s three-year unlimited mileage deal. On the hybrid models, the battery pack is also covered for eight years or 100,000 miles.

Reliability

• Better than German rivals, but some issues
• Shares engines and technology with other Volvos
• Volvo’s airbag issues haven’t affected V60

Volvo is known for producing long-lasting, hardy vehicles and the V60 shares its underpinnings and engines with plenty other models in the firm’s line-up– so any basic issues should have been ironed out by now.

The V60’s ‘Scalable Product Architecture’ platform has been seen across the XC90, S90 and V90, so though quite new, any initial problems should have hopefully been rectified, which should bode well for Volvo V60 reliability. So far, the only recall against the V60 is for a minor software issue on the car’s multimedia system.