Mention the name 'Volvo' to Average Joe Indian, and he or she will be forgiven for conjuring up images of large buses ferrying hundreds of passengers between major cities. So of course, when the 'Volvo' badge is seen on a car, and not just any car, but a large luxury saloon, one is naturally met with rather quizzical stares. But contrary to popular belief, at least around here, Volvo is internationally renowned for making extremely well engineered cars which rate rather high on the safety mark, albeit lacking a bit of flair on some level. Thankfully, in these last few days before Ford finalizes the deal to sell this Swedish brand to Chinese car maker Geely, Volvo has been churning out some pretty good cars.
And this brings us to the topic of Volvo's new S80. The last time we encountered this big sedan, it was way back in 2008 with an awesome 4.4-litre Yamaha-made V8 engine under the hood and an even more awesome four-wheel drive system. Two years on, the car hasn't visually changed at all, but has definitely begun to show all that sensibility that Volvo is so famous for. This new 'D5' version of the S80 now offers a 2.4-litre 5-cylinder diesel motor - a move to improve mileage and cut down on CO2 emissions. But don't think that this makes the S80 boring by any means. Equipped with twin turbos, the D5 engine makes 205PS of oomph and 420Nm of torque, which should provide enough excitement when you put your foot down hard. And the performance figures corroborate this rather well. From standstill, the 100km/h mark comes up in just 8.5 seconds and the S80 will huff its way to a top speed of 230km/h in no time. Pure performance apart, all the engine's torque is spread evenly between 1500rpm to 3250rpm, which significantly aids drivability even in the slowest moving of city traffic. The car which we had received came with a 6-speed automatic gearbox or 'Geartronic' as Volvo calls it. Not only does it work exceptionally well in automatic mode, but in the manual mode shift between the engines wide torque band and the gearbox swaps cogs as quick as some of the dual clutch gearboxes from its German rivals.
Now in this segment of cars, BMW is pretty much the king when it comes to handling prowess, and of course no one expects a brand that is preferred by soccer mums to really set the benchmark in this department. But you'll be surprised just how well this car handles, especially considering that it doesn't even have the four-wheel drive system which is present on its V8-engined sibling. Ordinary front wheel drive it may have, but this S80 takes corners with much aplomb, providing plenty of thrills without any of the chills. The steering is light and easy to steer and makes short work of slow to medium speed corners. But the S80 doesn't fare so well on the high speed bends. This can be blamed on its soft suspension setup which seems to be designed for ride comfort rather than for speed. And speaking of ride comfort, the S80 really scores high marks in this regard. You can speed your way over most of the bumps and ruts without even batting an eyelid as the car takes most of the undulations common on our roads in stride. The brakes too have excellent feel and can shed off any excess speed without a hitch.
On the inside, the S80 is a hit-or-miss; while the interiors are extremely refined and well put together, one can't help but feel that they are just a little bit staid. The wood trim on the dashboard and the doors has a beautiful grainy finish that seems to be absent on most luxury cars these days, and the combination of white leather, black plastics and brushed aluminium is extremely soothing to the eye. That being said, it doesn't look as opulent as the interior from the Mercedes-Benz E-Class or as high-tech as that from the BMW 5 Series or Audi A6. Even on the gadgets front, the S80 doesn't impress much. While there is a Bluetooth system for hooking up your telephone, there isn't much else apart from the regular stuff. The car does feature a unique child booster-seat that folds out of the centre armrest in the back seats.
Now we come down to the nitty-gritties - the price and the running costs. Volvo claims that this S80 with the D5 diesel engine bats out 11kmpl in the city and 20kmpl on the highways, and with a bit of sensible driving, these figures shouldn't be too hard to achieve. This makes the S80 probably one of the most frugal cars in this segment. As for price, at Rs. 37-lakh (ex-showroom Delhi), it's not exactly what one may call cheap, but it's still a good 8 to 9-lakh cheaper than its German counterparts. But it feels about that much lower in appeal as well. It's definitely a good option if you like your luxury cars to be subtle, and that 5-Star Euro NCAP safety rating for its high standards might just be enough to swing the vote in its favour.
