[coladin]

My car is being touched up because of some residue glue from shipping, but anyways, they were kind enough to give me a fully loaded white 2002 S60 auto. Taupe leather.

I must say, even in this trim, I thought i would have shunned it because of my T5 and all that.

Suspension is defeinitely softer but sporty nonetheless. the tranny shifts smoothly and competently and the steerinf somehow feels better than mine. Heavier, but still not terribly effective in feedback.

The engine, all 168bhp of it, is surprisingly peppy abd sounds great.

I think the 2.4 is a tremendous car. Period.

By the way, i always thought that you could rev to the beginning of the redline, as on my T5 it means 5800rpm. The service manager said it can go to the thick line safely, which is 7000rpm. Didn't beleive him. Well, I do now! The auto tranny went right up to about 6600rpm, well into the light red section, so there ya go, all you manual tranny S60 drivers, rev away!

 

[coladin]

I also forgot to add that the HU-613 system is very, very good.

 

[Lisa62]

I agree... My 2.4 auto (non-geartronic auto) is fantastic. It's peppy enough for me, and I like the steering -- feels crisp and responsive. It "tracks" well in a straight line and has nice behavior in curves, unlike my last few vehicles where I was constantly having to provide more or less input (constantly 'correcting') over the course of a long, sweeping curve at highway speeds. Low speed maneuvering is superb, as well.

I fiddled around with my tire pressures for a week or two, honed in on one I liked, and I'm thoroughly happy with my ride! On a related note, one attribute that pops out at me over and over again is it's "solid" feel. It feels like it was carved out of a solid hunk of metal. (Corny and cliche'd, but true.) There are no door squeaks or flexing feelings in the body, no rattle-y door seals/hinges, and so forth. Just feels solid.

My daily commute takes me over frost heaves, potholes, and generally nasty Michigan roads, and I'm continually impressed with it's ability to envelop and absorb the "nasties" and isolate me from them...without ever making me feel disconnected and floaty like some plush luxo-boat might (think Town Car, etc., with marshmallow-like ride).

Engine-wise, oh, sure, if I had scads of extra money lying around, I suppose I would have opted for a turbo or a T5, but I don't, so I didn't. BTW, The base engine S60 I drove for a test drive was anemic each time I'd launch after being stopped at a stop light, and it also had a very rough idle, too. I chalked it up to the fact that it *was*, after all, the base engine, and the roughness to the fact that it was an I5. Wrong-o.

Mine's not like that at all...so I guess the test drive S60 just didn't have the latest software or something. Mine's great. Love it. Sure, some day I might want to opt for a few more horsies under the hood, and might want to have a spaceball to "play" with, but those would totally fall under the category of "wants" in my book, rather than "needs".

For the time being, I'm completely happy with my 168bhp 2.4. P.S. The kick-down has provided me with the extra ooomph I needed on the 3 occasions I called on the engine to "puh-leeeze give me a little more...NOW!" I know it's there if I ever need it, and for this reason and all the others above, I'm totally satisfied with my normally aspirated 2.4!

[This message has been edited by Lisa62 (edited 06-26-2002).]

 

[Freeworld]

Lisa,
You must have a 2002. The steering on the 2001's is like you described with other cars: "constantly having to provide more or less input (constantly 'correcting') over the course of a long, sweeping curve at highway speeds". The 2002's that I've driven are much better than my 2001 which wallows all over the place.

 

[Lisa62]

Yup -- it's an '02. I wonder if the '01-to-'02 change was something you could fix/tweak easily on your '01, like maybe dialing in a little more toe? Sometimes that helps, if I'm not mistaken. I dunno. Or perhaps they fiddled with geometry, which I don't suppose you could fix! Somebody else probably knows.

If you increased your toe, you might get a little more tire wear, but maybe it wouldn't be as likely to wander. Yeah, that's annoying (if not disconcerting!), and something you wouldn't expect from such an otherwise top-notch car.

[This message has been edited by Lisa62 (edited 06-27-2002).]

 

[Freeworld]

My car is in the shop today for this and suspension fixes. I mentioned the alignment possibility to them, so I hope they give it a try (they've had 3 1/2 days!) I can't believe the geometry would have changed that much from 01 to 02 since that's usually a long lead item. I'll let you know when I get it back.