It's a
beautifully crafted compact luxury car and a surprisingly capable sports sedan.
Volvo's S60 T6 R-Design AWD is a study in
paying attention to the small things. To draw a comparison, the difference
between a luxury home and the houses most of us live in is more than just the
footprint, the number of rooms, or the setting. It's equally about the design
details inside: the finishes, the materials, and the craftsmanship, all of
which add up to a big difference. There's nothing wrong with a $69
bathroom-sink faucet that you can pick up at Lowe's (we're speaking from
firsthand experience), but the sinks in that renovated brownstone on the tony
side of town are probably adorned with something more like a Maestro Bath
Swarovski Crystal unit that costs a small fortune. Suddenly, washing your hands
is an upscale experience that makes you feel, well, better.
Driving the
new S60 is a lot like that. Actually, you don't even have to drive it. Just
slide behind the wheel and see if the world doesn't immediately seem like a
better place. With each succeeding new model—the latest generation of the XC90,
XC60, and XC40 SUVs and the S90 sedan and V90 wagon—Volvo has been pushing its
image further away from stoic and safety conscious and closer to design
forward. In fact, the brand is already there, and the S60 R-Design puts an
exclamation point on that effort.
Luxury
from the Inside Out
The
R-Design's interior actually feels as if it was designed by a fine-arts major.
The instrument panel's roller-coaster lower section, trimmed in textured
aluminum, is an intriguing sculptural element. The materials throughout the
cabin are rich and handsomely accented with splashes of piano black and
delicate touches of brightwork. The front seats, unlike the straightforward
leather buckets in many cars, are inlaid with swatches of sporty-looking cloth
and have stylish, complex lower cushions similar to what you'd find on a piece
of fine furniture. The engine-start toggle and the sound system's volume knob
have jeweled surfaces. Wherever leather or vinyl covers a surface, the
materials are pulled taut, and every one of the many sewn seams is arrow
straight. The graphics of the digital instrument cluster and the Sensus
infotainment system's touchscreen are rendered in crisp fonts. In other words,
the S60 R-Design's cabin looks a lot like that of every recent Volvo—which is
to say, beautiful.
Beyond
being a wonderful place in which to sit and contemplate the universe, the S60
R-Design also happens to work well as a car—as a sports sedan, to be exact. In
size, price, equipment, and performance, it's aimed squarely at the perennial
compact, entry-luxury sedan benchmarks that other aspiring automakers also
target: the Audi A4, the BMW 3-series, and the Mercedes-Benz C-class. That's no surprise. What is,
however, is how well it works, particularly as a mainstream Volvo model.
The
R-Design we tested is the middle child in the S60 lineup, sitting between the
base Momentum and more-luxe-but-less-sporty Inscription. All three S60 trim
levels can be had in T5 spec with the base 250-hp turbocharged 2.0-liter
inline-four and front-wheel drive. The upper two trims also can be configured
with all-wheel-drive and the 400-hp T8 plug-in hybrid powertrain, which
utilizes the same T6 engine as our test car as well as a motor mounted on the
rear axle. That T6 is the same 316-hp turbocharged and supercharged 2.0-liter
mill available in most of Volvo's recent offerings, and it comes only with
all-wheel drive. Our test car was loaded, and in terms of standard and optional
equipment there's nothing the competition offers that the S60 T6 R-Design AWD
can't match.
Muscle
beneath the Stylish Surface
The S60 T6
also matches or beats their performance. It launches from rest to 60 mph in 5.2
seconds, which is identical to the A4's time and a couple of tenths quicker
than the last four-cylinder 3-series sedan we tested. Fitted with optional
19-inch Michelin Primacy MXM4 all-season tires, sized 235/40R-19, it puts a
0.94-g hold on the skidpad—impressive for a car on all-seasons and as good or
better than most similarly equipped competitors. Its 166-foot stopping distance
from 70 mph also is solidly competitive.
More than
that, the Volvo is surprisingly engaging to drive, being both athletic and
refined. The turbo- and supercharged four is responsive in all speed ranges,
and its exhaust note—growly at lower engine speeds but a little whooshy at high
rpm—is more appropriate here than in other Volvo models, which can sound a bit
whiny.
Most
impressive is the way the S60 T6 R-Design AWD covers ground in big gulps. The
ride, even on the optional 19-inch wheels, is taut enough to keep body motions
well in check but supple enough to soak up bumps and bad pavement without
drama. It's easy to find yourself comfortably flying along an undulating
two-lane road at an eyebrow-raising clip. Flog it as we might, it wasn't
obvious whether the S60 had two or four wheels driving it. And as athletic as
it was, it nonetheless stepped smoothly across all but the most mottled city
surfaces.
A Great
Luxury Car, A Good Sports Sedan
The great
sports sedans do more than just hoover up twisty roads; they connect with your
senses on every road. There's no question the S60 is a very
good sports sedan. What keeps it from being a great one is its lack of
tactility—the nuanced feedback through its primary controls that talks to you.
Its steering is accurate but numb, its brakes lack the initial bite that gives
you confidence, and the chassis doesn't telegraph enough through the cosseting
seats to your backside. It's easy to drive the S60 fast, but you just don't
feel particularly connected to the experience while doing it.
Still,
there's a lot of substance here, enough to have us admiring the S60 and even
enjoying it. Its exterior is rendered as crisply and skillfully as its
interior. The rear seat provides excellent legroom. And its price, $55,490 for
our heavily optioned test car—including its excellent $3200 Bowers &
Wilkins audio system—is a good value proposition in this class. Then there's
its sporty personality, overall refinement, and that gorgeous designer
interior. No wonder we found ourselves smiling every time we drove it. The S60
T6 R-Design AWD is simply a car that makes you feel good.
Michael
Simari, Car and Driver
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