Volvo V60

I fell in love with the V60 wagon when it first arrived on our shores. The new wagon design from Volvo was a huge departure from the bricks that we all knew and loved. We now have sleek lines and sculpted shoulders.

The interior of the car looks unchanged from the previous model with same old key pad center console. The dashboard is now fully electronic with the dials and such now displayed on an electronic display (TFT LCD I think) though still housed in circular bezels to make them look like regular dials. The interior design is very Scandinavian spartan if you can understand what I am saying. Functional but minimalist. Interior seems well put together and the materials used didn't look or feel too plasticky.

For the drive, the steering feel seems well weighted and as such it is easy to point the nose where you want it to quickly. I did not feel any noticeable roll though the suspension feels stiff and hard. I think this is quite characteristic of most other Volvos I had driven before. The wife thought it was a little harsh.

At first glance, the engine specifications seems quite under powered for such a heavy body. The T2 petrol engine only produces about 120 bhp and around 220 Nm of torque. My suspicions were confirmed when I performed a standing start test. The engine strained to haul the hefty body forward to the speed that I wanted. This is a problem when moving off quickly from the lights or crossing a junction. Not so much a problem once the car is already moving at speed since the momentum has already overcome the initial inertia. Having been used to cars with more power this was certainly a huge damper for me. I wished it had more power. Fortunately there is the T4 and T5 variant of this car as well as the diesel D3 and D4 variant. I will test these when they become available for test drives.