Volvo V60 Estate Momentum T5 FWD auto 5d Owner Review

Momentum T5 FWD auto 5d

06 May 2025

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In their own words

This car is a well kept secret. It doesn’t necessarily suit everyone, but most I’m sure wouldn’t regret owning one. Having said that, mine is an early petrol only T5, so I can’t speak for the hybrid or diesel versions. I did chat with a T8 owner once and he said that his car was “awesome” to drive.
The car is very comfortable with superb seats and the bright, well designed interior makes for a pleasant environment for driver and passengers.
All cars have their minor irritations of course and the V60 is no exception. Slight hesitation in moving off in standard (“comfort”) and economy (“Eco”) driving modes takes a little getting used to, but this is not an issue in “Polestar Engineered” or “Individual” modes. The lane guidance facility can get confused away from motorways and well marked dual carriageways and can be an unwanted distraction, occasionally twitching the wheel when tackling a bend. My advice is to switch this off. The collision avoidance system seems less easily falsely triggered in my car than some reviews suggest and has happened on very few occasions.
The third item is the built in satnav. It has a good map display but is not particularly informative when navigating. The system’s reluctance to accept many destinations renders it useless, but then most people will be using their phone based system on Appleplay or independent system. I suspect that these issues relate to the fact that this is an early model and I haven’t bothered to have it updated to a later Volvo standard.

That’s it. Overall, a brilliant car.

How reliable do you find the car?

Two years ago a camshaft seal failed. A small item in itself perhaps but, without attention, it could have led to camber slippage followed by total engine failure. Labour and materials costs were significant (about £2000). I had an extended (vendor supplied) warranty but the work was not covered owing to a clause excluding “ leakages”, in spite of potentially wrecking the engine if not repaired. My conclusion: think very carefully before buying a dealer warranty extension.
At the same time, the ambient temperature reading started intermittently giving negative values even during a 30 degrees heatwave. Very uncomfortable. The fault was traced to the control unit behind the door panel. Having just paid for the other fault, and as it was occasional, I decided I could live with it.
The car otherwise has had no other faults and has been reliable.

Does the car do everything you expected it to do?

It has been a very enjoyable car to live with: very comfortable, quick, reliable (apart from two faults mentioned), oozing quality and very stylish. I’ve done four tours of around 3,000 miles each across Europe and it just eats the miles. The car has the Polestar engineered driving mode option which increases throttle and steering response etc. and this does add a fun factor too. On mainly motorway trips it’s quite economical and 42 mpg plus is normally attainable.
Objectively, this is the best car overall that I’ve ever owned.

How they rated it
Reliability: 3 out of 5 3.0
Meets Expectations: 5 out of 5 5.0
Overall Rating: 5 out of 5 5.0
Keith Woodhead recommends this car