This latest Volvo S80 is a big comfortable executive car, just oozing quality and refinement. The interior was upholstered in a creamy beige leather, with wood veneer trim on the doors and facia, set off with brushed aluminium, thus combining the best of traditional and modern thinking. The two front seats were superbly comfortable, with adjustments for reach, height and backrest angle. In the case of the driver’s seat, the adjustments were done electrically, plus there was a three position memory function. There was also a lumbar support adjustment. The steering wheel was covered in a soft leather and had adjustments for reach and height.

The facia was mainly a lightish black, as were the tops of the doors, centre tunnel and the carpets, although the test car had light tan mats on top of the flooring carpet. All the materials used looked and felt to be of the very highest quality.

The rear seating area was equally inviting and attractive. The two outer seating positions were superbly comfortable, with plenty of knee and foot room. There was a folding centre armrest, that incorporated a shallow enclosed storage space, plus two cupholders. Surprisingly the centre section of the rear seat was also comfortable, with adequate headroom, although it was naturally not on the same level as the comfort in the two outer positions. The rear seat backrest was divided 60/40, so it offered the facility to accommodate long awkward items of luggage, at the expense of some seating space.

From a driving point of view, the instruments and controls were beautifully laid out. The instrument binnacle contained two large, analogue dials. That on the left was the speedometer and it incorporated a digital fuel gauge with trip and total distance recorders. On the right was a matching tachometer, with a digital information panel in its centre, showing a variety of different information as required. In the picture above it is showing the outside air temperature and the fact that the offside rear door is open.
The centre console has another digital information strip at the top, with the audio system controls and the heating/ventilating/air-conditioning controls, also clearly marked, below. The steering wheel has additional controls for the audio system and the BlueTooth mobile telephone facilities, on the right hand arm, with the cruise control buttons on the left hand arm.
During the test we had warm summer weather, so I can confirm that the air-conditioning works excellently. I also appreciated the electric windows all round, as I prefer to have the windows open myself, in warm weather. In the weather conditions prevailing at the time, I had no need to avail of the heated seats, but from previous experience of a Volvo S80, I can confirm that they are very welcome in cold wintery weather. This latest example took that comfort theme a step further, by providing heated rear seats as well !
The Driv_e specification comes with a 1.6 litre diesel engine, mated to a five speed manual transmission. In this installation the combination offers a power/weight ratio of 26.25 kg/kW, which is very much in the comfort zone, rather than the sporty end of the spectrum. Having said that, the car has a potential top speed of 190 kph (118 mph) with a 0-100 kph acceleration time of 11.9 seconds, which is very satisfactory all round. It is certainly no boring slouch from a driving point of view. The other pleasing aspect of the set-up, is that the engine is very smooth, quiet and refined, in its delivery of the performance, aided by the smooth, positive and direct gearchange. From a driving point of view, it is a relaxing pleasure all the way.

Besides its more than satisfactory performance, from a velocity point of view, the best news is yet to come, as the Driv_e specification offers an urban cycle fuel consumption of 52 mpg (5.4 lt/100 km), with an extra urban cycle of a magnificent 69 mpg (4.0 lt/100 km). That gives a combined cycle average of 62 mpg (4.5 lt/100 km), which, in my opinion, is excellent for a car of this size, comfort, quality and refinement, not to mention superb driving enjoyment. Such a miserly fuel consumption gives exhaust emissions of just 119 gm/km, so this big comfortable car slips into Irish road tax band A, with an annual levy, at present rates, of Euro 104. Things can’t get much better than that ! The only downside that I could find, was that in slow moving, stop start, type of city driving conditions, second is geared a bit on the high side, so you need to change down to first constantly to avoid stalling. You also need to give the accelerator pedal a firmer push in these conditions, to get the engine revs up a bit, in order to avoid stalling. On the plus side you do, however, quickly adjust to these conditions. This is one of those “Six of one - Half a dozen of the other” solutions, as without the overall high gearing, you would not get quite so impressive fuel consumption figures and the correspondingly low exhaust emissions. You do quickly adjust to the stop go requirements, so after a while it becomes second nature.
The electric, power assisted, rack and pinion steering is geared to give a comfort oriented three turns form lock to lock. It has a good positive feel, which inspires driver confidence. Parking sensors, front and rear, help to make manoeuvring this big car in tight spaces a whole lot easier, aided by decent size, exterior rear view mirrors.
The suspension is comparatively conventional with MacPherson struts at the front and an independent, multi-link design at the back. It gives a smooth, comfortable, well controlled ride, with good roadholding. One of my main reservations, is that the test car came with a Spacesaver spare wheel. Give me a proper full size wheel and tyre, every time !

Looked at in profile, the car has a long sloping rear roofline, giving a four door coupe style appearance, rather than a more upright saloon appearance. This comes without any loss in rear seat headroom and it has the further advantage of giving a suitably commodious boot. Talking of the boot, the S80 offers 0.422 cubic metres of luggage space with all five seats in use. The luggage space can be increased in stages by folding the backs of the 60/40 divided rear seat backrest. If you need all the seating accommodation and also need to carry a lot of luggage, the S80 will take up to 100 kg in a suitable container on the roof, or it will tow an unbraked trailer of up to 750 kg. If a bigger braked trailer or caravan is what you have in mind, then it will take up to 1300 kg.
Just as you would never dream of towing an empty trailer around all the time, so you should remove any roofbox and its mountings, when not actually needed. Not to do so, creates additional air resistance, which in turn has a detrimental effect on your fuel consumption and exhaust emissions. That rounded front end, the sharply raked windscreen and sloping rear roofline, are all part of the aerodynamic package, that helps to give the car its impressively low fuel consumption and highly satisfactory performance, velocity wise.

Technical data

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