All Volvo’s front-wheel-drive cars get Drive-E engines for 2016

Volvo continues the roll-out of its very good Drive-E engines for the 2016 MY, with all the car maker’s front-wheel-drive models now using the new engines.

We found out just how good Volvo’s Drive-E engines are when we recently tested the S60 with the D4 version of the Drive-E engine, so the news that Volvo is rolling out the Drive-E range of engines right across its range of front-wheel-drive cars for the 2016 MY is good news for buyers.

New engines across the range include the Drive-E petrol T2 and T3, diesel D2 and D3, with a new 1.5 litre petrol auto option, new colours and a complete range – the V40 – where all the diesel engines, including the 187bhp, get emissions below 100g/km.

But it’s not such good news if you want a D5 Volvo, because you don’t seem to be able to spec the Drive-E D5 on anything other than the new XC90 at the moment, with the 5-pot D5 soldiering on in all other 4WD Volvos and no D5 option available at all for FWD.

We’ve asked Volvo why, and we’ll update when we know. In the meantime, what are the changes for Volvo’s range for 2016?

Volvo range updates for 2016

2016 Volvo V40

All the diesel V40s with a manual gearbox now have sub-100g/k emissions, with the new D2 offering 94g/km (and an extra 5bhp) and the D3 99g/km, with the new petrol T2 and T3 6-speed autos introduced. There’s also new colour choices – Magic Blue and Onyx Black. The V40 Cross Country also gets the D2 and D3 updates.

2016 Volvo S60

There’s two new diesel Drive-E engines for the S60 – the D2 with 99g/km and the D3 with 102 g/km – and the D4 gets an extra 9bhp, plus a 2.0 litre T3 manual and a T3 auto (which gets a 3-cylinder Dive-E engine).

Other changes for 2016 include new colours – Onyx Black, Magic Blue and Osmium Grey – with Air quality System and rain sensor added across the range and new alloys – 18″ Skadi and 19″ Portia.

2016 Volvo V60

The D2 and D3 Drive-E engines arrive for the V60 too – as do the two T3 options – and the D4 also gets the extra power, just as on the S60. In addition, the V60 Hybrid now becomes the V60 D6 Twin Engine, with an extra 5bhp.

The S60’s colour and spec option changes also apply to the V60.

2016 Volvo XC60

The front-wheel-drive XC60 D4 gets the extra 9bhp on its Drive-E engine the rest of the range enjoy, but as noted above, the D4 engine in the 4WD XC60 and the D5 are still the old 5-pot engines, although they do get a little extra power for 2016.

2016 Volvo V70

The changes for the V70 are quite minor, but it does get a new D3 engine with an extra 14bhp and lower emissions. The V70 also gets the Air Quality System and Rain Sensor as standard and a couple of new alloys – 18″ Skadi and 19″ Portia.

2016 Volvo XC70

The XC70’s changes are minor too, making do with improved power, economy and emissions for the old 5-pot engines on the D4 and D5 AWD, but it looks like the XC70 misses out on the extra power for the D4 FWD other models get. There’s also the same spec upgrades as the V70, but only one new choice of alloy – 18″ Leda.