Pros :
- Loads of horsepower.
- Coupe-like sedan shape and elegantly-styled wagon.
- Comfortable and stylish interior.
- Traditional Volvo safety features.
- Decent ride quality.
Cons :
- Understeer-oriented handling.
- Somewhat floaty suspension for a sports sedan.
- Rear passenger room not much better than smaller BMW 3-Series.
- Traditional Volvo premium price, especially with options.
- Not as hardcore-sporty as Volvo would like you to believe.
Interior :
Press Coverage :
S60 T5 uses a high-pressure turbo to produce 247 horsepower and 243 pounds-feet of torque for truly pulse-quickening acceleration. A five-speed manual transmission is again standard, with the Geartronic automatic a $1200 option. Aluminum mesh replaces woodgrain in the interior. Power-adjustable sport seats and a trip computer are standard. The T5 Sport Package ($750) adds 17-inch wheels, 235/45R17 tires, and a stiffer suspension. The Premium Package for the T5 ($1995) adds leather and power moonroof.
Overall, the Volvo S60 interior is handsome and comfortable. The seats are cushy with the optional pigskin-type leather; however, you tend to slide around a bit in them. The leather looks and feels like quality. There's good interior space up front, more than in the BMW 3 Series or Mercedes C-Class.
The dashboard flows in a pleasant shape. Attractive wood trim appears sparingly on the glovebox lid and on all four doors. The quality of the material used to cover other surfaces is good. The gauges are attractive, with their flat gray background, and easy to read, while the switches are intuitive and easy to use. The heating, ventilation and air conditioning controls are well designed and easy to operate, with big buttons that use Volvo's clever metaphoric design to direct the airflow. Electric window buttons with auto-down are conveniently mounted on the door. Inside door handles are easy to grab.
The innovative radio controls take some familiarization to master. Changing preset channels involves turning a knob, rather than pressing a button, for example. Once understood, however, it works very well. The leather-wrapped steering wheel features controls for the audio system that makes operating it easier while driving.
The center console storage is awkward to reach as it is positioned rearward. The cup holders, mounted just forward of the console, are covered with a flimsy lid. There's another mini cup holder on the center of the dash. The manual shift lever has a silver-colored plastic cover at its base that looks like silver-colored plastic. A traditional boot would look so much classier, especially with the S60's luxurious leather.
Getting into the back seat requires a duck of the head. Once back there, the S60 offers more rear headroom than a BMW 3 Series sedan. An average-sized male will be short of legroom, however. It offers less legroom than 3 Series.
To get the S60's swoopy shape, Volvo had to make design concessions that constrict the trunk opening. The trunk itself is roomy and deep, so many smaller bags will fit, but big hard-sided trunks might not go in sideways. Rear seats are split 60/40 and fold down to carry long items. Fold down the right rear seat and front passenger seat, and you can carry something quite long.
Volvo S60 rides well and is stable at high speeds, but it doesn't offer the razor-edge handling of a BMW 3 Series.
From inside, the S60 doesn't feel physically big, but when you get it going, it feels larger. The fact that its shape doesn't allow you to see the four fender corners enhances the illusion. Driven hard around turns, it almost seems like a '90s version of a '60s muscle car. The relatively long throw of the five-speed gearbox adds to the retro feel.
The S60 suspension is tuned more for a comfortable ride than for quick maneuvers. Push the T5 model through bumpy, high-speed corners and the steering feels slow. The body leans noticeably, and you notice it especially in right-hand turns, because there's no good place to brace your right knee.
Like many front-wheel-drive cars, the S60 suffers from torque steer. Heavy application of power can be a little tricky on some surfaces as the steering wheel tugs to one side. Back off the throttle or slow to a stop and it tugs or gets heavy.
The upside to the softness of the suspension is that the ride is excellent, even over nasty bumps, even with the optional 17-inch wheels fitted with Pirelli P6 all-season 235/45HR17 radials. The fact that you pay for your comfort in the corners is merely an indication that Volvo has emphasized ride quality over handling. One thing you can say for the S60 is that it definitely engages the driver, because you have to work to stay with it, and pay attention to the steering. But in a straight line at speed, even high speeds, the S60 is extremely steady as long as the road is smooth.
The T5 produces prodigious thrust from its high-pressure turbocharger, but the boost doesn't really come on until 4000 rpm. Mash your foot to the floor in any gear at 3000 rpm, and the T5 won't impress you until the revs climb to 4000 rpm, at which time it might even get you in trouble because the power comes on so strong. But if you're ready for it, it's way fun. You need to keep the revs up to keep the engine responsive. At 50 mph in fourth gear the engine is turning 2500 rpm, so you'll almost always have to downshift to third gear to pass on a two-lane.
One of the great features of Volvo's turbocharged engines is that, when driving sensibly, there's little penalty in terms of fuel economy. When equipped with the manual transmission, the T5 gets 21/27 mpg, which is only one point down on the highway rating from an automatic 2.4T.
The manual transmission shifter has a longish throw and is not particularly smooth, sometimes even a bit clunky.
The brakes feel soft, which makes it hard to coordinate heel-and-toe downshifts. We were impressed with the smoothness of the ABS, however. We didn't feel thrown forward in the seat under hard braking, as we have with other sports sedans, including the BMW 3 Series.
Nctd.com
Two hundred forty-seven horses and not a shy one among them. This Volvo pours out the power. It makes the others get small in its mirrors as it rushes to 60 mph in 6.6 seconds, quickest in the group. The quarter-mile comes up in 15.1 seconds at 96 mph -- also quickest. That's 0.3 second and 3 mph quicker than the Saab 900. Top speed, with the horses held back by the governor, is 129 mph.
These heroic numbers are the work of a high-pressure turbocharged and intercooled 2.3-liter five-cylinder engine.
Compared with the Saab, the Volvo is less ornery in its handling. Torque steer is relatively tame, and the suspension almost never bottoms. As in the Mercedes Benz C240, there's lots of up and down in the suspension motions, and lots of roll angle, but the S60 has more damping, which gives better control. Road adhesion is quite good, in the top half of the group at 0.81 g, but the subjective impression heads in a different direction. On a trip through the twisties, understeer dominates, accompanied by the thought that ride comfort and noise isolation -- not athletic ability -- are the S60's strong points.
The interior makes a strong statement. All eyes immediately zero in on the "space ball" shifter centered in the console, a large ball-and-socket pivot sprouting a lever, rendered in a frosty finish that looks too cold to touch without mittens. The door-latch handles are carved from the same mystery metal. Simulated walrus hide covers the dash. The large speedometer and tach dials have beveled edges in the manner of those black Porsche chronographs. And the seats have a plush surface feel that makes the S60 seem five grand more expensive than all others in the group, the result, we think, of a thin layer of cushy foam beneath the leather cover. In back, the cushion is deeply contoured and shaped superbly for two passengers, but space is no better than in the Audi/BMW/Lexus bunch.
The S60 is a powerful tourer, but never a frisky one.
Caranddriver.com
History:
1998-2000 Volvo S70 T5 / V70 T5
2,319 cc / 236 hp / 243 lb-ft / 3272-3333 lbs / 0-60 mph 7.0 sec.
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