Volvo S60 (10 on) - Review

Review by John Mahoney on
Last Updated: 13 April 2012
Volvo’s last S60 came close, but not close enough to unseating, or even unsettling the German’s dominance of the small exec class. This time could be very different. The new small S60 has style, an innovative well-made interior, pioneering pedestrian-in-the-road sensing safety equipment and a new range of five-cylinder engines. Even braver, the Swedish firm claims its S60 is the sportiest car it has ever made. Read on to find out if BMW should be scared.
3.5 out of 5

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3 out of 5

Performance

Just two diesels and one petrol will initially be offered in the S60 – all are, unusually, five-cylinder. The smallest, least powerful, is the 161bhp 2.0-litre that powers the D3. It sprints to 62mph in 9.2 seconds and tops out at 137mph. The D5 is more powerful with 202bhp. This helps the Volvo hit 62mph in 7.8 seconds with a 146mph top speed. The final option is the most powerful petrol T6. That car packs 300bhp and nails the 62mph benchmark in 6.5 seconds topping out a 155mph. Another powerful petrol 2.0-litre turbo joins later on, with an efficient 1.6-litre diesel badge DRIVe to keep the environmentalists happy.

3 out of 5

Handling

Volvo says it designed, developed and engineered the S60 to be the sportiest car it has ever made. So how does it measure up to the talented BMW 3-Series and Mercedes C-Class? Not too well. If you’re a real driving enthusiast, pick one of the Germans, but, that said the S60 is still good to drive. The D3 offers a decent drive, with agile handling, some balance and plenty of grip on the cars with big wheels we drove. The T6 is even better, benefiting from all-wheel drive to help catapult it from corner to corner. We have a few gripes though. We wished Volvo hadn’t bothered with three steering weighting settings and the manual gear lever is mounted poorly for those who like to sit close to the steering wheel. Other than that the S60 is a good, if not great small executive saloon.