Very Hot, Smell of Hot Rubber Inside Passenger Compartment

It's a brand new Volvo S40 Kinetic (1.6 petrol) that was manufactured in May 2007. One can feel the heat if they look below the hatch in the cargo area. The heat is best noticeable if you put your hand on the metal plate below the spare wheel to the side of the exhaust pipe. It's very hot there even if you drive just 15 minutes and this heat is going into passenger compartment. It is not possible to travel without climate control switched on even if temperature outside the car is moderate, say below 20C. As a result, autoclimate is quite noisy all the time as it has to constantly fight the heat that is going from cargo area into passenger compartment. I'm not sure if that problem is somewhat related to the second big problem I have - on average 20% increased fuel consumption than specified in owners manual Car dealer refuses to acknowledge there is a problem. Basically what they say is "lambda-sond and catalytic converter are ok as computer has no error messages recorded, thermo shield is in place, so this is the way it is supposed to be"!? They have the exclusive rights for Ford and Volvo here in Bulgaria and I'm afraid I have no choice but try to contact respective aftersales managers in Sweden or in Gent, Belgium? Anyone having similar troubles? Any advice is welcome guys!

Well come to the world of "it is normal for this car"... I have a MY2007, 1.6 petrol and I havent noticed such heat, but I will check it tomorrow. For the fuel consumption, I have an average of 7.9 L/100 Km with 8000 Km on the clock

5.6-5.8 at 90 on flat road 6.9-7.2 at 120 ~7.6 at 130 I alwas drive on speed limits With cruise control on, add 0.1-0.2 to all the above I havent seen big difference with the A/C on or off

Your figures look quite normal. I've tested fuel consumption at different speed the old-style, full tank and T counter reset to zero, on straight and flat highways (Hungary and Croatia). That is why I'm pretty confident there is at least 20% increase in fuel consumption compared to specifications.

These are the trip computer estimations. I have calculated the overall consumption from the petrol I have put in the tank over the last 5000 Km at 8.8 L which is 10%+ from the trip comp. But let me ask you something else... Have you seen anything else, lets say something strange in this car?

Can you not reject the car as "out of specification"? As for the smell, there is something getting very hot - and that increases the chance of vehicle fire. It could be related to the heat produced. I'm curious - could it be that the cat is faulty, or the lambda sensor is giving erroneous readings resulting in an incorrect fuel/air mix? If the wrong mixture is being burned, the cat could get hotter than it should, and fuel economy compromised. As for the post by nano - what he is saying is fill the tank, drive for a specific distance (say 250kms), then refill and see how much fuel was used. You get a more accurate calculation than using the trip computer (which was 10% out on nano's car) Ask a local independant mechanic to check the source of the heat. Ask him to analyse the exhaust emmissions as well - he should be able to tell you if they are out. With this info at hand, revisit your dealer.