My impression of the Volvo S80 
After the S80 presentation I attended a month ago I have been longing for a test drive and today was the day that I got to roll in Volvo's new flagship.
Sorry to disappoint you guys but I have zero pictures from the test drive because I was in a rush and forgot my camera(but did surprisingly remember to bring my AUX cable) and my cell phone is still in for repair. The good news is that I have some shots that I took at the presentation a while ago.
drive evening which turned out not to be that exclusive since you were able to attend it even if you hadn’t received an official invitation.
Arriving at the dealer I was welcomed by a young lady and since there were quite some people there I asked how many S80s were available for test drive and the answer was 8. While standing in que at the sales desk a man returning the key to an S80 said that “the ride was like a dream”. I didn’t get too jacked up by his statement but it did increase my expectations. The majority of the people who were stand in que were the usual Volvo demographic group, meaning Swedish and atleast half a century old.
When it finally was my turn to speak to the lady behind the desk I told her that I wanted to drive the big dog of them all, namely the V8 but after hearing her response to my request I quickly changed my mind. Since most of the people there were hungry for the V8, the waiting list was far from short and I therefore settled for a 2.5T. While waiting for a car to be available there was an eatable salad/bread buffé for the ones who can’t say no to free food. I wasn’t that found of their buffe and walked around in the dealer until they called to my cell phone and told me that a key to a 2.5T powered S80 was waiting for me.
Stepping inside the car I was warmly welcomed by the sand beige interior which was sober and absolutely flawless looking. The interior quality is nothing but good. It might not be on a par with the A6 but the buttons felt right, the design was very Scandinavian and were of my liking.
Still there were some quality flaws such as with the knobs which had a 1-2mm gap around them and could with some force be moved around. Furthermore the lower part/wall on doors didn’t feel too solid and could also be shaken with some force. Another minor flaw was the inside of the glove compartment lid which was made of very disgustingly cheap plastic which didn’t feel nor sound too good when struck. Lastly the panel(console) on the roof could have been constructed much better since the whole panel more or less gets pressed up whenever one button buttons are pressed. One feature that I loved was the AUX socket which made it possible for me to plug in my ipod and let Lil’ Wayne – the Mobb blast through the speakers while I was driving.
Driving the car I was extremely surprised that………………………………….the car was a Volvo. Since it is based on the same platform as the up coming Mondeo I expected it to be significantly sportier than the current Volvos but it wasn’t. If you have driven a Volvo in the past you will probably not feel insecure behind the wheel of the new S80. The steering was extremely light and lacked feedback. I doubt that I would easily be able to drive quickly through cones with that car.
The comment about the “ride being a dream” was in one was right. The suspension was extremely soft and I can’t even remember feeling any bumps on the road, though I do have to say that the car didn’t lean so much in bend like the current S60 does. As I mentioned earlier the car had a 2.5T engine under the hood, which develops 200hp. Since it is a luxury car the engine sound was barely noticeable unless you floored the gas. All of the power was transmitted through an automatic tranny which I wasn’t able to examine it more properly since I was only allowed to drive the car for 10 minutes.
My conclusion is that Volvo isn’t breaking new grounds with the new S80 and neither will it attract new buyers to the brand. It is without a doubt a genuine Volvo. People who have never liked Volvo cars won’t like it but the ones who love Volvo will cherish it. If you’re looking for a thrilling ride it isn’t the car for but more for the people who want a decent priced, modern and comfortable luxury car but don’t want to buy an A8 and S-class. Is it my cup of tea? Don’t think so. It is a long distance cruiser and after driving it I was doubt full that I at this age would want such a non exhilarating car. I may also add that I does have many cool features a’la S-class unfortunately many of them aren’t standard but the seats is something that you simply cannot hate, they are so freaking comfortable, you even forget that you are sitting. Price wise the car is a bit pricey. The 300hp version cost around 50k which is more or less the same price as a 306hp 540i.
