The best way to appreciate the S60, I find, is to ignore Volvo's claims that this is the most sporting car it has ever produced. The claim is arguable, and in any case it leads to expectations which the S60 is unable to fulfill. Thinking of it as a comfortable executive saloon rather than an overgrown hot hatch will save any unpleasantness.Inside and out, it's a smart-looking car which shows that Volvo's idea of what constitutes design has come a very long way in the last couple of decades. The cabin is a nice place to be and has more than enough space - and indeed seat support - for four large adults. Full marks there, though rather less than that for the boot, which has just 339 litres of space. Of the German rivals which come immediately to mind, the least capacious is the BMW 3-Series, which manages 460 litres, while even a Volkswagen Golf can muster up 350. Practicality is not high on the list on the S60's accomplishments.Safety, on the other hand, most decidedly is. Apart from all the usual electronic aids which we have come to expect even on quite humble cars these days, the S60 comes as standard with the City Safety system (first seen in the XC60) which allows it to bring itself to a halt from speeds of up to 19mph if the car in front stops suddenly. A further refinement is Pedestrian Detection with Full Auto Brake, which warns of the presence of a pedestrian and, if necessary, knocks up to 22mph off the car's speed to avoid cracking of shins and spilling of blood.This isn't standard on the S60, but you can have it, along with adapative cruise control, Distance Alert, Queue Assist and Collision Warning for an extra £1350, and I can imagine a situation in which you might bitterly regret not having spent that relatively modest sum.The car reviewed here used one of the three currently available engines (a fourth, a 1.6-litre diesel for the super-economy DRIVe model, will be along next year). This is the two-litre D3 diesel which produces a maximum of 161bhp and is, as far as I'm concerned, the pick of the bunch. There's also a 300bhp T6 petrol, which comes with four-wheel drive and automatic transmission and, realistically, isn't going to be popular in the UK.Or you could have the 2.4-litre D5 diesel, but personally I wouldn't. Okay, it can produce 202bhp, and that's enough to give the S60 a respectable turn of pace, but there are two problems. First, the D3 has a top speed of 137mph and a 0-62mph time of 9.2 seconds, and accelerates easily from very low engine speeds (right down at 1400rpm the D3 is already developing as much torque as it's ever going to), and I'm not at all sure that the average S60 buyer will ever need or want greater performance than this.Second, the D5's extra 41bhp is not comfortably absorbed by the chassis. Although much has been made of the fact that the S60's suspension was fine-tuned on the roads of Warwickshire and Wiltshire, it still doesn't cope well with typical UK road surfaces. On these, the ride isn't great no matter which model you choose, but at least with the D3 there isn't the added snag of having enough power to make the handling troublesome. (It's worth pointing out here that if you are lucky enough to come across a really well-surfaced piece of road the S60 behaves very well on it, a contrast which brings it closely in line with its German rivals.)For me, what the S60 needs is what the larger S80 got last year - a Lowered Dynamic Chassis. This isn't an actual component but a series of suspension improvements which turned the S80 from a load of stodge into what was described in our road test as "a car one might drive simply for the pleasure of doing so". That's something I would also like to be able to say about the S60, and I hope one day I will. Engine 1984 cc, 5 cylinders Power 163 bhp @3000 rpm Torque 295 ib/ft @1400 rpm Transmission 6 speed manual Fuel/CO2 53.3 mpg / 139 g/km Acceleration 0-62mph: 9.2sec Top speed 137 mph Price From £25331.00 approx Release date 01/06/2010
Our Rating
