XC60 - B4 or D4?
 

Am considering purchasing an XC60 that's a couple of years old and pretty much have the choice of similar cars/spec/mileage etc. The only difference is one is a D4 and one a B4 Mild Hybrid.

At first, I was leaning towards the B4 given that it's slightly newer technology and may also hold its value slightly better. Then I also considered the prospect of having a battery issue at some point which may prove an expensive issue so am completely undecided.

Any advice as to which would be the better option, please?

Having had both a D5 and now a B5 (so kind of similar) there really isn't much difference between the two.

The one noticeable difference is that start/stop is smoother and slightly quicker on the mild hybrid as it uses a different technology which doesn't utilise the starter motor.

I would always go with the later car.

Thank you very much. I was tempted with the B5 but I think it's going to be out of reach price wise. Just out of interest what kind of mpg did you tend to get from the D5 and B5 please?

I didn't keep detailed fuel consumption records with the D5 but it seemed to average around 35-37 mpg. I have kept records for the B5 and it has averaged 40.7 mpg over 27,000 miles.

The mild hybrids are a little more economical but there's not a lot of difference.

I think the type of journeys you undertake are important if you're bumbling about town largely with few long trips both will suffer poor fuel consumption but you'll also spend time wrangling with oil dilution with the diesel.

For largely shorter journeys the petrol is the one to go for if you're spending hours on the motorways you'll have no problems with blow back and the diesel is the best option.

I have an MY21 XC60 B5 AWD (although I think the B4 does/did come with/without AWD) and after about 20,000 mile with 50/50 motorway/town journey, the lifetime trip mpg shows 35.7.
If in ECO mode, on a motorway, not using cruise and not driving like an 4rse....I can do 50mpg, but more commonly 45ish.

The dealer was very kind and let me test drive a B4P, B4D, B5P, B5D and a D5 pretty much one after another on a Saturday morning....and I would plump for the B engines every day. The smoothness of the stop/start sold it hands down, and in my "test" the B5D had the edge grunt-wise on the D5 - I actually plugged an OBD reader in, and found the same piece of straight dead end road, where I could just plant the throttle. Took measurements of 0-60 and 30-60. Sounds all very sad now....but I enjoyed it :regular_smile: