IMO, a thorough amateur review without an outside influence or agenda.

 

Thanks for that J. The more I'm reading, the more I'm being convinced to stay with our plans for an XC60 (was giving half a thought to the V60). Its good to read another positive comment on the sat nav system which hopefully will translate over to what we see with the revised dash of the XC60.

Tony

 

Ive driven the '10 XC60 and honestly I think its a better buy for the money, especially with the S60 dash in it. It's a better looking vehicle, has more space, and I honestly think its just about as fast. Plus if you want you can fold down the back seats and put a refrigerator in the damned thing. Bonus.

Cheers

J

 

So the marketing guy just told me at the Naughty event here in WPB that the rear axle can be preloaded with up to 65 ft-lbs of torque from stand still. Also there is more rear bias than the 90/10 split on the P2. Is this bs or is there some truth to this?

 

What he is referring to is Instant Traction in AWD models. This has been a feature in all AWD MY06 and newer Volvos with the exception of S40 AWD and V50 AWD cars.

What it does, via a one-way valve, the Haldex AWD system preloads with 59 lbs-ft of torque to ensure less wheel spin and instant traction. With this system, the wheels need to slip only about 15 degrees (approximately 1/7th of a wheel turn) vs. the previous versions (MY98 through MY05) where the wheels had to slip at least 50 degrees before Haldex sent more power to the wheels with more traction.

The latest Haldex, found in the new S60, does have more rear bias but it will send up to 100% of the power to the front or rear depending on the conditions and demands. On dry conditions, the 90/10 bias remains.

 

I had a chance to take a test drive myself on Wendsday and here's my short review, if anybody cares.

INTERIOR:
Plain, but a nice plain. Not my cup of tea. If you like the S80 interior you'll like it then. I've never been a fan of the floating dash thing. Those 4 round knobs on the dash are a little to too big a far as looks go, in my opinion. The premium stereo is banging. Never bothered to play with the navigation. The salesman had a little trouble with the voice command trying to get it to change radio stations. I really don't understand why they didn't make it a touchscreen because it's not really that far of a reach. It needs more flash on the inside to living things up.

EXTERIOR:
I like everything except the front of the car. It looks funny to me.

Performance: (I weigh 185 pounds and the salesman weighs about 230 I'm guessing. Keep that in mind.)
My 2000 S70 GLT with only a BSR tune and K&N filter as the only mods is faster than this, but it does weigh about 600 pounds less. I put some of the blame on the transmission. Driving the car you can feel the power is there but the transmission is too reluctant to downshift. I know they program it that way to save on gas but it's no fun. I really didn't notice a improvement by putting it in advanced mode but i did notice that the shifts got jerky.

THE GOOD:
Premium stereo, strong brakes, smooth ride quality. I really don't remember being a big difference between comfort and sport mode as far as the ride goes. Didn't really drive in advanced long to comment on because I didn't like the way the transmission shifted when in advanced.

THE BAD:
Shift quality in advanced mode, the way the front looks, the car weighs too much (it's not that big of a car), there was a rattle coming from the dash.

THE UGLY:
Needs a better auto trans or better programing, needs some soul.

BOTTOM LINE:
The car needs to either lose some weight or needs a power boost, or both, and a better auto trans. Make the screen a touchscreen. This car is nice but there is nothing naughty about it. It's bascally an S80 with a different dash. If you like the S80 you'll like this car.

 

Performance: (I weigh 185 pounds and the salesman weighs about 230 I'm guessing. Keep that in mind.)
My 2000 S70 GLT with only a BSR tune and K&N filter as the only mods is faster than this, but it does weigh about 600 pounds less. I put some of the blame on the transmission. Driving the car you can feel the power is there but the transmission is too reluctant to downshift. I know they program it that way to save on gas but it's no fun. I really didn't notice a improvement by putting it in advanced mode but i did notice that the shifts got jerky.

S70 GLT has no chance whatsoever to catch the S60 T6.
134hp and 220nm more (lets make it 120/200 for your mods) more than compensates for its heavier weight and trashbox.

Maybe you got another kind of "speedfeeling" because of different seats/steering, cabin noises and so on..

 

I'll offer a counterpoint to the OP.

Being the new owner of a V60 and coming from a Mercedes C32 with test drives of the Mini Clubman S and C300 as possible alternatives I have to say I am very impressed with the Volvo.

I went into the test drive with a very poor expectation of the new T5 E with the 8 Speed after a couple years of being spoiled with 325 Hp in a lightweight sedan. No such experience. The engine when not in ECO mode is fantastic and once your on boost it has plenty of power to get you from point A to B very fast. No its not a push you in your seat experience like the C32 was but it has more than enough power to get around the slow left lane drivers that seem to speed up as soon as you try to pass them. Best part is that gas mileage is tolerable although so far I haven't been able to get near what EPA is rating the car at. That may have to do with my driving style, have to wait and see.

As for the rest of the car, the handling with the sport package is outstanding. It communicates very well and you can sense what the tires are doing enough to want to keep pushing through a corner. I'm cornering just as fast in this wagon; with lesser tires; than the Merc. Granted there's a big technology gap but I wasn't nearly as impressed with the new C300 which was priced higher and didn't handle nearly as well. The Mini was just disappointing on every level, especially considering the cost. I find the Volvo to be far more engaging and fun to drive.

The interior fit, finish and materials of construction in my opinion are better than I have seen in equivalentlly priced Mercedes and BMW. My wife is going to buy an X3 as her daily and we spent a couple hours at the dealer looking at them this past weekend. While she was test driving I stayed behind and checked out the rest of the cars and with exception to the really high dollar BMW's I noted that all interiors were leatherette and overall appearance wasn't as nice. Granted this is my opinion but everyone who's sat in the V60 has commented on how nice the interior is and how incredible the leather is. The fact that Volvo actually uses metal trim inside and out is very impressive, I was really getting tired of being careful with the plastic trim painted to look like metal and scratching immediately with plastic showing underneath.

As far as styling, that is purely subjective, personally I think my new ride is a looker and I have received lots of unsolicited complements. Exterior on mine is Ember Black with Beechwood interior, this car looks identical to mine with exception to the tinted windows on mine. http://forums.vwvortex.com/showthre....com/showthread.php?6883603-2014-Volvo-V60-Sportswagon-to-start-at-35-300/page4

 

Exterior:
Not good. Bland, ugly, strange, and high shouldered in person. Cant say I care for it. Beauty, however, is in the eye of the beholder, so your mileage may vary.
Performance:

That is surprising to me, because I always thought the S60 had a refreshingly sleek look to it, at least compared to the cookie-cutter and bland 3-series/c-class/a4, which are a bit more exciting to look at than a Honda Accord. I like how Volvo has managed to keep the asthaetics relatively simple yet sporty, especially the R-Design.

As far as the transmission, I had the 1-year service on my '13 RD last month and they did the updates. After a few hundred miles much of the rough shifting I was experiencing in the low gears is gone. Still an occasional clunk but I can live with it. They told me at the dealer that the car will adapt to your driving pattern/style.

 

From what I gather from what you guys are saying is that I should just get a 2014 or newer. Anybody want to sell me theirs for $25,000?

 

Save up some more and by the time you get to 35k you'll get a great used R-design.

 

I would also recommend re-test driving an older model that has the latest software updates.
Can't hurt considering half the posts here are 4 years old and the software has been
revised sine then. The improvements aren't going to be the same as a 2014+; but it
is definitely improved.