VOLVO is a car company on a roll – and is seriously disrupting the premium marketplace in the process.
A combination of desirability, technology, style and safety has seen the Swedish brand hit a series of milestones that are the envy of its rivals.
And now the S60 saloon has been voted the Executive category winner at the 2019 Scottish Car of the Year (SCOTY) Awards by the Association of Scottish Motoring Writers. The next stage of the brand’s strategy for success is electrification, which is being rapidly introduced across the entire model range.
By the end of this year, every new Volvo car will include an electric motor and customers will ultimately have the choice of mild hybrid, plug-in hybrid or fully battery electric cars.
It all comes hand in hand with some ambitious business targets, like fully electric cars to make up half of all Volvo sales by 2025 and a third to be autonomous (self-driving) vehicles by the same year.
But it’s the twin engine hybrids that are giving Volvo one of the broadest offerings of any car maker, including the T8 version of the stylish S60 saloon. The all-wheel-drive T8 Twin Engine plug-in hybrid combines a 303hp petrol unit with an 87hp electric motor.
Not to put too fine a point on it, this car is an absolute cracker, with suitably electrifying performance of 0-62mph in just 4.6 seconds. It uses a 2.0-litre Volvo DriveE engine mated to an eight-speed automatic gearbox and has a fully electric range of 36 miles.
Emissions are low at 39 to 42g/km and fuel economy on the WLTP (Worldwide Harmonised Light Vehicle Test Procedure) combined cycle is an impressive 122.8 to 176.5 miles per gallon.
The T8 R-Design Plus costs from £49,805 but that price reflects its premium qualities, which include a claim that the S60 is the best-handling Volvo ever made.
Certainly, it’s a car of outstanding ability – sweet and smooth with exceptional dynamics, relaxing ambience and superb soundproofing – as we discovered on a demanding test route through the picturesque Cotswolds.
To suggest that the car’s design is striking would be an understatement. Those clean trademark Scandinavian lines are all there but with some added eye-catching details like T-shaped daytime running lights and muscular rear haunches.
Inside, the minimalist cabin oozes elegance, boasting the same nine-inch iPad-type Sensus touchscreen control set-up as Volvo’s other new models, allowing the environment to be largely free of buttons and switches.
This may be among the smaller Volvos but space is plentiful, significantly so in the back, and the boot’s 442 litres of luggage space is accessed easily thanks to a wide opening and low loading height.
Safety has been paramount to Volvo since day one and all S60s come with the brand’s City Safety suite of collision avoidance aids, Oncoming Collision Mitigation – a world first in the mid-size saloon arena – and Steering Support, as well as technology to stop the car inadvertently running off the road.
Every car also gets voice control, smartphone integration, access to apps such as Spotify and Google Local Search, and you can also turn the Volvo into a wi-fi hotspot via either a mobile phone or the built-in car modem and a SIM card.
The T8 adds an extra dimension to the S60 and makes it a serious rival to its executive competitors.
Factfile:
- Model: Volvo S60 R-Design Plus T8 Twin Engine AWD Auto
- Engine: 2.0-litre petrol/electric hybrid
- Power: 390hp
- Top speed: 155mph
- 0-62mph: 4.6 seconds
- Average mpg: 122.8-176.5
- CO2 emissions: 39-42g/km
- Warranty: Three years/60,000 miles
- Price: £49,805
