Test drive a sedan Volvo S90

Hello to those who don't like football. This article may seem foreign to you in places, but it's really simple - there are three things you need to know about the Balkan Swede Zlatan Ibrahimovic: he hits the ball like a god, fights like hell and drives like crazy. “When life is boring, I want action. I drive like a maniac. I got 325 km / h in my Porsche when I walked away from the cops, ”- this is from the first chapter of his autobiography.

And here is another excerpt from the same: “It was snowing in the vicinity of Barcelona then, which, it seemed, the Spaniards saw for the first time, because their cars were dragged from side to side. And Mino (Mino Raiola, one of the most influential football agents in the world - ed.), A fat idiot - a wonderful fat idiot, I want to add - froze like a dog in his summer slippers and a light jumper. He persuaded me to take an Audi. On the descent, we lost control and crashed right into a wall of stones. It almost ended in tragedy, our entire right side was blown apart. On that day, many people crashed their cars, but I won this tournament too - by the steepness of the accidents. We laughed a lot. "

 Now Zlatan is 34 years old. Although he is still incredibly good on the football field, this European Championship will surely be his last. Ibra is a parent of two children, doesn't hit anyone, and starred in a commercial for a car that hardly fits the concept of his past antics, the Volvo V90 station wagon. We might think that Ibrahimovic has finally calmed down, but he still gives out explosive interviews, talking about himself exclusively in the third person, and the most touching moment of that video comes from his broken knuckles. And all the more so, therefore, the V90 is extremely relevant here - as a demonstration of how much Zlatan has matured, despite his indomitable temper.

This car, like almost any station wagon, has a very large trunk, as well as an ingenious flexible mat that can be placed under a dirty load or spread on the rear bumper. Otherwise, it is no different from the car for which we flew for an international test drive in Spain - the new Volvo S90 sedan, so do not be upset that there will be no station wagon in Russia. Spoiler: but later we will get its all-terrain version of the V90 CrossCountry

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 The S90 replaces the already forgotten S80 and is Volvo's second car after the XC90 SUV, which is built on the new Swedish SPA platform. It is designed for midsize and large Volvo models and is easily scalable. The only fixed length range is the distance from the front wheel axle to the steering column. The rest of the platform sections can be stretched or reduced, which allows building vehicles of different bodies and segments on it. The SPA at Volvo was originally designed with an eye on hybrid and electric cars, and the main thing to understand about the S90 sedan is that in many ways this is not a competitor for the big German three, but for Tesla, because in a few years it will run on batteries.

Whether the electric version of the S90 will be accepted by the Russian market is another question. While we are, by and large, not even ready for hybrids, and therefore the most powerful version of the T8 Twin Engine, we most likely will not have. At least XC90 with the same engine is not supplied to Russia. This SUV is most in demand with us with diesel engines of the Drive-E family. The S90 has an identical lineup of engines - gasoline under the T and diesel with the letter D, but in the case of the business sedan, the gasoline versions will obviously become more popular.

 

"Diesel and only diesel!" - my colleague in the crew opposes potential buyers. He is from St. Petersburg and is not as nervous as we are here in Moscow. In his opinion, the 235-horsepower D5 perfectly suits the character of the "Swede" - imperturbable, luxurious and very bright. I sit down to see this for myself, choose a deserted section of the road, press the pedal and ... nothing. Zlatan, are you serious?

No, the S90 regularly picks up speed, and it does it quite quickly - in 7 seconds to 100 km / h in all-wheel drive performance, but with such a stone face that it can only surprise him with a march to the moon. Zero sound effects, even distant hints of overload, and the complete feeling that all eight automatic transmissions have merged into one - infinitely smooth. The PowerPulse technology that the Swedes have integrated into their diesel engines plays in unison with this impeccably smooth orchestra. With the help of an electric compressor, it supplies a portion of compressed air to the turbocharger, the blades immediately begin to thresh at full power, and this helps to get rid of the notorious turbo lag at the beginning of acceleration. Minus is another flaw - but also minus one more signal to the driver that now there will be a "wow". No complaints - it just means Volvo is well mannered. But sometimes even too much.

 

This paragraph would not exist at all if the S90 had not been so coolly drawn. All those elements of Volvo's new design that we have already seen in the XC90 SUV - a very beautiful SUV, I must say - in the case of the sedan, played with new colors and gave it such a predatory look that you expect appropriate habits from it. Headlights with optional LED "Thor hammers", original lights that surround the trunk with corners and, most importantly, a silhouette with such a long hood and a sloping cabin backward, as if it were a rear-wheel drive car with "beemwash" manners - it remains only to add "gills" to the front fenders to complete image. But it's still a front-wheel-drive originally Volvo with a small four-cylinder engine and a suite of safety features that a Marine would envy.

The next day we got into the city in a pre-traffic condition, and in the heavy Spanish traffic, the idea of ​​Volvo became clearer. Here, the diesel S90 does not cause any complaints, responds quickly to driving feeds and remains impeccably comfortable. And for empty tracks there is a smart assistant Pilot Assist, which has about 50 thousand times less distance to the autopilot than we have to the "Russian iPhone". But I still prefer the petrol version of the T6: 320 hp, acceleration from 5,9 to 90 km / h in XNUMX seconds and the toning feeling of power reserve under the pedal. Even in this version, the SXNUMX is clearly not created in order to enthusiastically burn pads on serpentines, but it would be strange if all the cars in the world were built exclusively with an eye to this.

 

And one more thing that is important to remember about the S90: the driving modes Eco, Comfort and Sport are implemented here, it seems, solely so that the driver can admire the faceted "twist" of complex shape made of Orrefour crystal, which switches these modes. In "sport" the settings of the pedal travel, the gearbox, and the shock absorbers are changed, but in fact, only the stony steering wheel attracts attention. And note: there is no Normal mode in the list, because comfort is the norm for schweds.

This concerns suspension settings in the first place. Here, as in the XC90, a composite spring is integrated at the rear - a very interesting solution for a sedan and, at least on relatively flat Spanish roads, justifies itself. Volvo works out potholes and joints very gently, and does not allow swaying, including due to the low center of gravity, in normal situations. The Swedes developed the suspension in defiance of their Bavarian competitors, as they believe that part of the premium audience is tired of being rigid. My question about Japanese people with similar values, Stefan Karlsson, who is responsible for tuning the suspension at Volvo, retorted with a laugh: "But we drive better on ice."

 We did not find ice that would prove Stefan's confidence in the S90 in June Spain, but here there is an abundance of highways, for which the aforementioned Pilot Assist was created. This system grew out of active cruise control and is able to partially take over control of the car. Up to a speed of 130 km / h, she is able to independently keep the car in the lane, accelerate and brake depending on the road situation, while, unlike active cruise control, it does not need a "sponsor" going in front for this. In fact, this means that the driver, "standing" on the track, can completely transfer control of the car to the computer, if he does not plan to overtake. But you can't do that.

Firstly, it is reasonably forbidden by Volvo itself - it may not be necessary to turn the steering wheel, but if you do not keep your hands on it, Pilot Assist will turn off. Secondly, this can become a problem in the event of an emergency situation - you need to be focused on the track at any moment of time, and a person may simply not be able to instantly switch from a relaxed state to a "combat mode" in case of a risk of an accident. Therefore, Pilot Assist should be perceived not even as a co-pilot, but as an assistant in order to get more visual information about what is happening around on the road. The system works flawlessly, which is not surprising given Volvo's progress in autopilots. By the way, next year, within the framework of the joint Volvo program with the city authorities, a hundred already fully autonomous cars will leave on the streets of Gothenburg.

 

The more attention will be paid to their interiors. In the case of the S90, it is worth it: many of the developments have migrated here, again from the XC90, including the concept of a "floating" front panel and the overall design of the finish. The cost of the S90, which we tested in the vicinity of Malaga, on the Russian market can exceed $ 66, and here everything was done according to the best canons of the segment: panels made of solid wood, aluminum inserts and "twists" for adjusting the air intakes, located right on their doors , crystal engine start knob and the same feeling of light and spaciousness as in the XC749. No, seriously, at first it seemed to me as if I had forgotten to turn off the light in the cabin. Moreover, in the case of armchairs, the Swedes have outdone themselves. Volvo has always found them amazingly comfortable, but the S90 seems to set a new benchmark. It is also convenient at the back, although due to the very high central tunnel it is still a four-seater car. But, like other players in the segment, neither the seat nor the backrest are adjustable here.

 

The screen of the Sensus multimedia system is huge and vertically oriented - another hello to Tesla. Combined with a fully painted dashboard, head-up display and climate control for rear passengers, it covers the gadget needs of Volvo drivers and passengers. At first, the Sensus logic may seem overly tricky, but in fact, you only need to remember one thing - nothing ever disappears from its screen. That is, when the driver selects the block he needs from those presented in the main menu - for example, navigation - the rest do not disappear, but shrink in size, but remain under the displayed map. For those who find it difficult to relearn from the iPhone, CarPlay is integrated here, and later its Android counterpart will appear. But all this pales in comparison with the breakthrough that we have previously met on an ongoing basis except in Lexus - they took pity on the buyers and provided them with two USB ports. True, the second is an option that will have to be paid for.

 

You can save money on a USB port and a cool audio system (it's really worth it), for example, at the expense of the drive. Both versions of the S90, which we got for the test, were all-wheel drive, but in Russia there will also be a front-wheel drive version - with a 249-horsepower (actually 254-horsepower) gasoline engine. The same can be bought with all-wheel drive. Also, in the future, simpler turbo fours will reach our market - T4 and D4, which will help reduce the price of the S90. Now it can be purchased starting at $ 35 in the basic configuration, and sales will begin in November. Competitors are close to the S257 in terms of price, and here everything decides the question of the options needed by the buyer, but the abundance of systems available already in the standard version speaks in favor of Volvo. Here you can find a system for preventing departure from the lane and leaving the road, and reading road signs, and the aforementioned Pilot Assist, as well as the advanced City Safety accident prevention complex, which is able to protect you not only from cars, but also from animals, pedestrians and cyclists.

 

Volvo came out with a well-tailored, thoroughbred and very charismatic car, which can only be hindered by the fact that the Russian buyer in this segment is extremely conservative. Mercedes-Benz E-class, BMW 5-Series, Audi A6 are acknowledged favorites, and they repeatedly find the strength to pull too close competitors, be it Jaguar XF or Lexus with Infiniti. There is no more hackneyed quote about playing ball than the words of Gary Lineker, but here it is more appropriate than ever: "22 people play football, and the Germans always win." It is likely that this will happen at Euro 2016 in France. But who cares when there is Zlatan?

 

Photo: Volvo