Test drive Volvo S60
Test Drive

Test drive Volvo S60

Volvo has invented a phenomenal supercar hybrid that is similar in dynamics to the best models from Porsche and BMW. Everybody messed up the road rules in South Carolina

Road signs seem to be mocking: in front of a 400-horsepower car, and in front there are limits of 25, 35, 50 mph. Now the navigator also shows a crimson traffic jam ahead. Later it turned out that a plane from the Second World War with crosses on its wings got on the highway and caught fire. The rest of the way, we rolled on silent electric traction and wondered: where can the Volvo S60 T8 sedan with tuning from Polestar apply all its outstanding sports talents?

The S60 sedan is the first Volvo to enter the assembly line at the Charleston, South Carolina plant. Since moving under the wing of Geely, the Swedish brand has grown into a global player. It has retained its main national feature - security, but it has increased its ambitions. Volvo appears to be targeting a rivalry with the Germans. The new S60 demonstrates with all its appearance the intention to invade the territory of the BMW 3-Series and Mercedes-Benz C-Class. Why else would a front-wheel-drive sedan with a transverse engine have such a long hood? Under such a longitudinal row "six" will easily fit.

However, this is not news: the older Volvo S90 is also nosy, and the new S60 repeats design finds after it, right up to the characteristic break of the window sill line. The main difference is in the silhouettes. "Sixty" does not strive to be like a four-door coupe, it has a pronounced boot step. On the one hand, this gives the car a somewhat conservative look, on the other, a joke about the fact that the Volvo index indicates the age of the owner will not hit the target.

Test drive Volvo S60

The car looks bright, and additional swiftness is given to it by the fold above the rear wheel arch. And by the way, the trunk lid of the S60 designers worked better - not bulky and does not look like it was assembled from Lego.

The salon seems to be made of a designer with a set of identical parts: a steering wheel familiar from other Volvo models, a characteristic panel with a "canopy", vertically elongated air ducts and a display "I want to be Tesla" between them, chairs with a complex relief. A few handles and twists in a bizarre shape shine like jewelry.

The rear row of the previous S60 was roomy despite the sloping roofline. The new sedan is longer, the wheelbase is longer, and it is inferior in width and noticeably lower. The space in the legs and shoulders has increased - the Chinese will like it, and it is not a fact that they will also want an elongated version. There are still no handrails on the doors, but on the second row its own dual-zone climate control unit is now available.

The trunk has become more spacious and deeper, but there is no special fasteners in it, and the upholstery is budgetary and flimsy - the case when you should not follow the example of Asian automakers.

Test drive Volvo S60

The S60 is the first Volvo car that cannot be ordered with a diesel engine. Volvo decided to end up with this type of internal combustion engine by switching to petrol and electricity. To tune in an ecological way, each participant of the premiere test drive was given personalized water bottles made of biodegradable plastic. I lost mine, but I hope that the container with the inscription Davydov will dissolve in nature and will not annoy the Americans for long.

It's weird to talk about ecology when your hybrid develops 400 hp. More precisely 415 hp. and 670 Nm in the version modified by the Polestar division. What can make an ordinary hybrid happy, apart from savings? And this Swedish monster easily accelerates to 100 km / h in 4,7 seconds, that is, it is quite comparable in dynamics with a Porsche. At the same time, Volvo has no choice but to use electricity for the benefit of sport - the new platforms are designed to install only 4-cylinder internal combustion engines.

Test drive Volvo S60

An electric motor installed on the rear axle makes the sedan all-wheel drive and, in addition, allows it to move on electric traction, although not for long - a full battery charge will last for a little over 40 kilometers. The declared average consumption for the new WLTP cycle is less than 3 liters per hundred. In this case, the battery can be charged from the mains, depending on the current strength, it will take 3-7 hours.

In Power mode, when the petrol and electric motors are running at full power, the car accelerates very well. And it brakes well thanks to Brembo monoblocks - this is another feature of the T8 version with the Polestar Engineered nameplate. Even too much: if you sharply stomp on the gas pedal, the car stops braking, apparently, considering this situation as an emergency. Otherwise, the deceleration is quite predictable, which is rarely found in hybrids with their energy recovery systems. To realize the full potential of the machine, something is constantly interfering. First of all, speed limits, forcing you to crawl on cruise control.

On a deserted road, you can finally open up, but here the settings of the car are puzzling. The sound of the gasoline engine is dim, and driving in silence, on an electric rear-wheel drive, is also far from drive. Despite the stretching between the struts and Ohlins shocks with fine rebound damping, the car doesn’t go into corners as accurately as you would expect.

And the steering wheel is too heavy - tired of fighting with it, I stopped and climbed to look for an individual mode. If you leave everything in "sport", and transfer the electric amplifier to "comfort", you begin to feel the car better. Yes, this is probably the most driver's hybrid, but you expect a little more from the combination of such famous sports brands.

The regular gasoline S60 in the most powerful version of the T6 is better in all respects, although it is inferior in numbers. It is less powerful: a gasoline engine with combined supercharging - a supercharger plus a compressor - develops 316 hp. and 400 Nm of torque. It is inferior to about a second in acceleration to hundreds and, naturally, consumes much more gasoline (8-9 liters in the combined cycle). But the dynamics are quite enough, and the car rides brightly, energetically. There is no less emotion in the sound of the engine, although it is not easy to break through the good soundproofing of the cabin.

In corners, the petrol sedan is again better, the steering effort is almost exemplary. The suspension, with conventional passive dampers at the rear, is tuned tightly but doesn't report every crack as is the case with the hybrid. However, the disks here are also 19-inch, that is, an inch less. The older S90 sedan seems too soft and relaxed after the "sixty".

Test drive Volvo S60

Even such a trifle as a conventional "automatic" lever adds T6 points instead of a non-fixed joystick. If there is anything worth borrowing from the Polestar version, it is the brakes, although stock is enough for confident deceleration.

And yet I will wait a little while criticizing the car from Polestar - a tuning project for this is needed to fine-tune the car. And the Volva court unit has enough time to correct minor flaws. Moreover, deliveries of tuned versions to Russia are not yet planned, and regular S60s will arrive next fall. Here they are just ready.

Volvo S60 T6 AWDVolvo S60 T8 Polestar Engineered
A typeSedanSedan
Dimensions (length / width / height), mm4761/1850/14314761/1850/1431
Wheelbase, mm28722872
Ground clearance, mm142142
Cargo space, l442442
Curb weight, kg1680-22001680-2200
Gross vehicle weight, kgNo dataNo data
engine's typeGasoline 4-cylinderGasoline 4-cylinder
Working volume, cubic meters cm19691969
Max. power, h.p. (at rpm)316/5700318/5800-6100
Max. cool. moment, Nm (at rpm)400/2200-5400430/4500
Drive type, transmissionFull, 8АКПFull, 8АКП
The total output of the hybrid installation, hp / Nm-415/670
Max. speed km / h250250
Acceleration from 0 to 100 km / h, s5,64,7
Fuel consumption, l / 100 km8,0-8,92,1-2,5
Price from, USDNot announcedNot announced

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