New Car Test - Volvo S60 T5

Before you read any further, you need to make a decision. Are you looking at this review because you're a hard-charging performance driver - or are you someone after a refined and luxurious four-door package? Make your decision now!

Performance Drivers

Forget finesse.

If your idea of driving a sports performer fast along a twisty road is the delight taken in the minute increments of steering lock applied as you balance the car on the throttle, tyres gently conversing with you through the steering and seat of your pants, car alive and in intuitive harmony with the road surface - well, if that's you, forget the Volvo S60 T5. But if you like brutal power delivered ferociously, braking hard on massive anchors for each corner, turning in and then tromping the loud pedal back to the floor as your eyes widen and your knuckles clench, the wall of torque hurling your forwards to the next braking point - if that's you, you'll love the S60 T5.

For this is one car where you can forget the badge, the image, the preconceptions. Put from your mind what people tell you of Euro-car subtlety, of handling minutiae, of precision and feel. At full throttle the Volvo S60 T5 is one helluva blunt stick, battering the driver with its power and performance. Subtle, it sure ain't.

Equipped with a 2.3-litre, transversely mounted five cylinder, the top-of-the-S60-range T5 comes plump with 184kW at just 5200 rpm. See the lowly revs at which that massive power is developed and you'd think that the turbo'd and intercooled engine develops a bit of torque. And you'd be right - there's 330Nm from an incredible 1800 rpm right through to 5000 rpm. That's not a torque peak; that's a torque mesa. With the T5 weighing in at 1622kg you could also be forgiven for thinking that the edge would be knocked off those newton-metres, especially with the five-speed auto. But not a bit of it. Nought to 100 in this mid-size front-wheel drive comes up as fast as 7.7 seconds, while the quarter mile is despatched in the mid-fifteens.

At lower speed, especially, the T5 feels even quicker than that.

In fact, if you use full throttle when - say - exiting a roundabout, your first thought is that there's 284kW under the bonnet, not one hundred less. Why? Because the steering wheel writhes in your hands, huge Continentals trying valiantly to harness that torque to the pavement. The DSTC stability system symbol flashes furiously on the dash, the shriek of the slipping tyres fills the cabin and - whoops, there she goes! - the front wheels follow any easier path that they can access. A Cordia Turbo with a big turbo and 25 psi? You're on the money.

We had three experienced drivers pedal the car. One described the full throttle behaviour simply as torque steer. One thought it akin in feel to tramlining. The other? He felt the car drove like it had the front geometry set up with toe-out...

The T5 is at its most evil in just these specific conditions - slow speed, some steering lock applied, and lots of acceleration requested. Why the Volvo engineers haven't mapped the turbo boost from these inputs is beyond us - with the Dynamic Stability and Traction Control System fitted, there's even a steering wheel angle sensor already in the car. Add in the electronic throttle and it should be easy! Given that the car always loses traction in these dry-road situations, using the traction control system simply as a reactive correction is a band-aid approach which good engineering should not require. At the very simplest, reducing boost in first gear would - at least in the vast majority of situations - avoid the car driving like a crazy thing.

And the described errant behaviour's occurs in dry, good-grip conditions. In the wet the DSTC absolutely saves the day - in a straight line, its indicator flashes right through first gear and well into second gear. Corner hard and its action is fabulous, braking individual wheels to dial out power understeer - even pivoting the car to quell trailing throttle turn-in oversteer. But the car's competent wet road end result is utterly dependent on the electronics; fundamentally at eight- or nine-tenths the chassis is simply lousy. This is definitely one car that should the electronics suddenly go out to lunch, the cornering situation could turn really ugly... The DSTC can be switched off with a dash button; I wonder how many people will crash their cars when in a show of bravado, they deactivate the system?

Of course, there's no requirement for the driver to use full-throttle everywhere... it's just that when you buy a performance car, you want that performance usable in most situations.

The very powerful 2319cc 5-cylinder is a development of the engine used in the previous model - and in the 850 T5 before that. Dubbed by Volvo the RN series, the engines feature smaller components - pistons, gudgeon pins and crankshaft counterweights - to reduce their mass by 25 per cent. The RN engine also uses a short-skirted piston with the gudgeon pin located nearer to the ring pack to allow the use of a longer connecting rod, so reducing piston-to-bore friction and improving combustion by holding the piston at TDC and BDC for longer duration. The exhaust camshaft timing is continuously variable, something that has particular benefit in reducing exhaust emissions during cold running and warm up. But despite its upmarket spec, the T5's engine isn't particularly sporting - instead its tuning for massive torque at low revs makes it feel more of a grunter. Despite the fact that the trans will sometimes let revs enter the 6000+ rpm red zone before changing up, the 5-potter is clearly happiest in its ballistically strong midrange.

However the driveline and body technology can be seen in the fuel economy. With the outstanding AS2877 figures of 10.5 and 6.4 litres/100km, the T5 is in a class of its own when it comes to matching performance with the parsimonious consumption of fuel. And while the 6.4 figure would be achievable only in economy contest driving, open-road cruising fuel consumption in the Eights is quite possible - a testament to the good body aerodynamics as well as the engine's efficiency.

On paper the suspension is also sophisticated - at the front, coil-over front struts attached to forged alloy wishbones with an anti-roll bar, while at the back an independent multi-link design is used. Both front and rear tracks are wide, while subtle geometry variations (under simultaneous hard braking and cornering the fronts toe-out while the rears toe-in) are said to improve stability. The suspension is firm - in fact bordering on too hard in some driving situations - and you're left in no doubt that this is a sports-orientated machine. Understeer is the dominant handling trait and it's not something that can be easily balanced on the throttle. Throttle control is in fact limited - the trans feels like it's fitted with a high-stall torque converter and from a standstill, engine revs flare unconvincingly before anything happens. Probably in part to stop an unexpected kickdown from launching the car off the road, getting the trans to drop back a gear is an unsubtle process - basically, to be sure, you need to floor it.

And then hold on....

Flicking the gear lever across to the left (it's on the right on most Tiptronic cars) lets you select the gears manually, although the speed of reaction to driver gearshift requests isn't instantaneous. However, for better or worse - if you select a gear, the trans will stay there, even if the car is lugging, or conversely hitting the rev limiter.

The steering is direct and quick; you seldom need to move your hands on the wheel. But apparently in an unsuccessful desire to kill unwanted power feedback, the it's also dull and disinterested in telling you stories of the road - smooth or rough, the lack of information is the same. The brakes - controlled by a pedal which initially feels much too light - comprise front ventilated discs no less than 305mm in diameter, with the back solid discs scarcely smaller at 288mm. Add in the sophisticated 4-channel ABS and EBD (Electronic Brake Distribution) and there shouldn't be a situation where you need better retardation. Of course the 225/45 Continental ContiSportContact tyres on big 17 x 7.5-inch rims also help in passing brake torque to the road...

So as a sporting package the T5 is a rough nut - over-endowed with power, brakes and tyres, but lacking in chassis sweetness and subtlety.

But drive the T5 gently and the Volvo starts to assume an utterly different dimension. In fact, when being pedalled with restraint, it's a car that shows almost none of its full-power obnoxiousness....

But you'll need to go to the Luxury Drivers section to find out more...

Luxury Drivers

Intelligently and lavishly equipped, the Volvo S60 T5 looks after every one of your comforts - and even some you'd never thought of. Approach the car at night and press the yellow button on the remote, and the interior and front and rear parking lights come on. Even better, two high intensity lights - each hidden in the underside of the external rear vision mirrors - glow strongly; the result is a clear perimeter of illumination right around the car. Get in and start the engine and the external lighting automatically turns off. Like I said, intelligent design....

Inside you'll find yourself riding in superbly equipped luxury, enjoying the monster sound system and the type of passing acceleration that means trucks become mere retreating blurs. The ride is firm and the steering direct - albeit lacking in feel. After the near-silent starter motor churns, there is some vibration at low revs from the five-potter - though nothing like that experienced from earlier incantations of the engine - but all else is sweet. The electric leather seats are fabulous - supportive and well-shaped. Each also has a practical front pocket placed just below the leading edge of the base - typical of the thoughtfulness of the cabin design. On a smooth freeway, the T5 is a car in which it is easy to find yourself speeding; in these conditions image and perception become one.

The cabin's ergonomics are also wonderfully designed. The climate control system is a model that other manufacturers should take note of. Not only is the ventilation direction clearly shown by a symbol mimicking a seated person, but the temperature controls (one for each side of the cabin) use rotary knobs, rather than the awkward but much more common tap-up, tap-down digital displays with buttons. Comfort and convenience are obviously Volvo design priorities - the level of detail engineering is impressive. For example, when set to 'auto', the recirculate button will prevent the entrance of outside air when it is overly polluted; the car is equipped with heated front seats; and the cruise control, sound system and navigation control keys are all on the steering wheel. In stark contrast to the Saab 9-5 tested last week, the trip computer is a delight to use, with a good range of information (including instantaneous and average fuel consumption) shown in a clear two-line alpha-numeric screen located within the main instrument panel. Selection of the displayed data is as easy as turning a ring on the left-hand steering stalk.

The trip computer display also doubles as a warning message conduit. If there is a major engine problem, a red triangle will light in the centre of the panel and the dot matrix display can then screen messages like "STOP SAFELY ASAP". At a lower priority level (indicated by a yellow triangle), accompanying messages such as "FIX NEXT SERVICE" can be shown. Less urgent messages are stored and can be recalled, with the display then again able to be used to show trip info. Urgent messages cannot be blanked. Curiously, the handbook makes mention of an 'Alarm!' message which can be screened on the radio, apparently using the European Radio Data System. One of the examples used to indicate when this message will pop up is a nuclear accident....

The S60 is not pitched by Volvo as a full family car; rather the promo literature shows couples in their early thirties, some with very young children. Volvo Design Director Peter Horbury interprets the S60's styling like this: "Design a car that will appeal to younger people, those that normally wouldn't consider a Volvo. Young people who want to be perceived as having good taste and intelligence and, not least, as leading an active life and who have a social conscience." Get into the back seat and the reason for the young people focus becomes obvious - rear dimensions are on the tight side, partly a result of that plunging roofline. Fitting teenagers in the rear would be a source of on-going complaint.... On the other hand, the boot is long and reasonably deep - and the split 60/40 rear seat can be folded flat, in addition to having a ski port. However, the boot opening is very small - a result of the boat-tailing and very shallow rear window angle. What's good for a small aerodynamic wake is not always good for practicality!

The T5 comes with the Premium Sound System. This consists of a separate 4 x 75W amplifier driving thirteen speakers. Thirteen speakers, you ask? Well, in each front door there's an 8-inch woofer, a 3-inch mid and a 1-inch tweeter. Then in each of the back doors there's a 6.5-inch mid, while on the rear shelf there are twin 8-inch bass/mids and two 1-inch tweeters. Oh yes, and the unit's in-built 25W amp drives a 6.2-inch coaxial centre channel speaker mounted in the middle of the dash. The head unit itself consists of an in-dash 4-CD changer and radio.

And what's it all sound like? Very powerful, but lacking some of the expected subtleties. The Dolby DSP function and centre channel speaker gives good depth, but the treble is relatively poor, with most CDs requiring that it be boosted to become acceptable. The bass is very strong, but the woofer in the front left-hand door of the test car had a buzz in it - perhaps there's too much power for the rest of the system to handle. However, overall it is still an exceptionally good sound system for a factory car.

More successful is the navigation system. The screen pops out of the top of the dash as required, locating the vital instructions and maps much closer to the driver's line of sight than is achieved when the screen is located as other manufacturers place it - low on the centre of the dash. The location of the control buttons on the steering wheel (comprising 'enter', 'back' buttons and a four-way joystick) also makes this a far safer nav system to operate on the move than in other cars. However, the mapping software provided with the car was at least 12 months out of date and so at times the driver needed to follow his or her beliefs - and ignore the system.

As you might expect from Volvo, safety is exceptional. There's SIPs (side impact protection structurally and by inflatables), IC (inflatable curtains to prevent head damage in side impacts), WHIPS (a whiplash protection system that sees the seat backrest move longitudinally and then partially recline during and after a rear-ender), a built-in child booster cushion (it folds out of the rear centre armrest) - and a host of other airbags and structural safety features. Not inconsequentially, on the road the body feels very stiff.

So as a luxury package the T5 makes a convincing case - brilliant ergonomics, a huge range of effective features, and safety which is an open and shut case. But start exploring the full reach of the 184kW and the story dramatically changes...

Conclusion

As a high performance luxury-sporting car, the Volvo S60 T5 is flawed by three major deficiencies:

• Given its massive tyres, undoubted suspension complexity and ride firmness, its level of outright adhesion is poor.
• Its full-throttle power is delivered in a way which can be at the minimum be disconcerting - and at times border on dangerous.
• The level of chassis driver feedback is miserable.

But drive it at six-tenths and you'll find none of this; instead you can enjoy the comforts and undoubted effectiveness of the car's interior design, low wind noise and easy and economical kilometre-covering stride.

We see Volvo as having two choices: if the T5 is to be a good performance car, fix the chassis and power delivery problems.

Or, if a luxury car is the aim, re-map the turbo boost so that at lower road speeds and when cornering, power is reduced. Oh yes, and soften the suspension a little. That way, you could have an excellent, cost-effective luxury package.

Cos as it is right now, the T5 is frustrating indeed!

www.volvo.com.au

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