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By
EWAN KENNEDY
19 February 2006
Volvo is deliberately distancing itself from the upmarket German
marques. The Swedish maker doesn’t want to be seen as a poor relation
to the German giants, but rather as a Scandinavian company with all that
means in the way of highly-regarded, elegantly-simple design.
Hence the new Volvo S80 is a new-generation machine, with
sculpted lines that make a positive statement no matter from which
angle they are viewed. It’s not just on the outside that the S80
sets new style trends, the interior could almost be a Swedish
lounge room.
This mobile lounge room is fronted up by a drivers’ work
place that works beautifully in its simplicity and ergonomics,
Volvo has returned to its sporting roots and even this flagship
saloon is aimed at the keen driver.
The sort of driving enthusiast who likes a 232 kW, 4.4-litre V8
engine that can make the zero to 100 km/h dash in only 6.5
seconds. Once it took a sports car to provide that sort of
acceleration, now Volvo provides it in a large, luxurious saloon.
Now, we are well aware that drag racers generally don’t buy
Volvos, so, instead, think of the big-power engine providing safe
overtaking.
Also on the engine list is a five-cylinder turbo-diesel putting
out 400 Nm of torque and using minimal fuel while doing so. In
between these two extremes, Volvo will soon introduce a 3.2-litre
straight six.
All engines will be mated to a new design of six-speed
automatic transmission with tiptronic-type overrides.
In an important new move, Volvo provides the added on-road
security of all-wheel-drive in the petrol V8 and turbo-diesel
inline five. It may be offered later in the straight-six as well.
Our initial test drive was arranged by Volvo in the hinterland
behind the NSW-Queensland border. There we put the two available
models through some tough testing on harsh roads that have seen
better times.
The suspension shocks have three settings – Comfort, Sport
and Advanced – the latter being a semi-racetrack setting. There
was the expected firm ride in the two latter modes, but it was
harder than we anticipated. The comfort setting tended to have the
car feeling rather floaty at times. To the extent that some
passengers’ stomachs may not have felt all that comfortable.
Then again, these were extreme road conditions so we were asking a
lot of a car that’s chiefly aimed at high-speed motorways and
moderate country-road running.
On normal roads, and particularly on motorways the Volvo S80
generally provided a serene ride in keeping with its flagship
status.
Interior space is good in the front but we would like to have
seen about 100 mm more legroom in a car in this class. The boot is
huge and reasonably easy to load.
Safety has long been one of Volvo's strong points and it goes
without saying that it comes with a range of anti-crash items such
as ESP and ABS brakes. There's also a system that warns if you are
closing too quickly on the car in front by way of desperate beeps
from a horn and flashing red lights in front of the driver.
If, for whatever reason, you still have a crash, the Volvo S80
comes with a complete set of airbags, including special
double-chamber side ‘bags; calculated body-crumple zones; neck
supports and much more.
But there's an extraordinary new feature that takes Volvo
security to new heights. If someone breaks into the Volvo S80 then
hides in the back seat ready to pounce when you get into the car
– their heartbeat will be picked up by a sensor and a warning
transmitted to you!
The Volvo S80 V8 AWD is priced at $95,950; the turbo-diesel S80
D5 comes in at a pretty reasonable $71,950. When the S80 3.2 AWD
arrives midway through March it will carry a price tag of $75,950.
These prices are recommended retail and on-road charges have to be
added.
© Copyright
Marque Publishing Company
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