Absolutely right, AtoB_Dude. The MPG figures quoted for PHEVs are meaningless. Everything depends on your own pattern of use. Most of our use is within the electric range of about 25 miles and I keep the car charged up every night, so I’m not using any petrol from day to day. Our last car the similarly performing 2 litre BMW X1 would have been doing mid to late 30s mpg for the same usage. On long journeys once the battery is used up the Volvo averages about 44mpg where our old BMW would be getting 48mpg or more. Pretty good for a car with the extra weight of the battery and motor. I’m happy that on balance using the Volvo saves us money compared with the X1, and I very much enjoy the quiet and effortless ride round town…
I would definitely consider a PHEV next time, but would have to do the maths first to see if the much greater AP is worth it as an offset to the fuel savings. Also, whilst the EV mode is quiet, most seem to have 3 pot petrol engines, so won’t be as refined in petrol mode as what we are currently used to (as you will know, the BMW 2.0i engine is near silent in almost all driving conditions) and, as you say, you are lugging all that extra weight around.
There’s one thing that I’m in a quandary about PHEV’s though and perhaps you can answer it for me? As I understand it, PHEV’s are primarily designed to be driven in the mode where the car automatically switches between petrol and electric. That way the engine and the battery work together to give the stated bhp. If the power split is say 160bhp petrol plus 80bhp electric (giving 240bhp combined) if you use the electric only mode you are driving a very heavy car with just an 80bhp engine. I can see that making sense if you live in a very built up area and most journey are slow and stop-start, but we are semi-rural and are on clear 40-60 mph roads within minutes. We are also a few miles from a motorway that we use frequently. I’m concerned that full EV mode won’t be as sensible for us given how we use our car (I don’t fancy driving a heavy 80bhp car for all our shorter journeys) and therefore would most likely want to utilise the petrol engine and battery together most of the time. What I don’t understand is if you use the car like that, what would be the petrol mpg equivalent when you deduct from the mpg shown in the car the daily recharging cost?