A Car for life

Alternately, read the full test in Drive Magazine.

Volvo seem to have a problem with resale value in this country and I’ve never really been sure why. In Europe the Swedish limousines are considered to be right up there with German premium brands. Volvos are also built like the proverbial brick outhouse and are as reliable as the day is long. Perhaps it’s because South Africans have such loyalty to the Germans that there is an image problem being seen in anything else. Perhaps they are not as well equipped as their rivals. We got hold of an S80 to find out what’s what.

Our test car was a white 2.5l base model, which puts out an impressive 170kW and 340Nm of Torque. The five-cylinder turbo mill takes the S80 from a standstill to 100Km/h in just 7.1 seconds if we are to believe the brochure or 7.5 seconds according to the Volvo Web site. The car is only available with an automatic gearbox that Volvo refers to as a Geartronic.

The moment you slide behind the wheel you immediately feel that you are in an exceptionally well-built luxury car. The layout is stylish in a sort of understated way. Sure there are less buttons and screens then some of it’s rivals but it has a very clean unconfusing layout. The whole look and feel of the interior just oozes quality. It may not appeal to the Playstation generation but more traditional Volvo buyers will be impressed.

On first impressions the level of equipment is very good for a base model. You get electric seats with 3-position memory. You get a rather attractive centre console with controls for your cell phone. There is an auto-dimming mirror and automatic windscreen wipers.

Digging deeper though you find there are some surprising omissions. You don’t get automatic headlights even though the handbook clearly states that you do. Slide your MP3 filled CD into the front-loading CD player and it is immediately ejected with the system telling you that it’s unreadable. Although all the buttons are there for an integrated phone system, pushing one of the buttons presents a message saying that Bluetooth is not actually fitted. Whilst most manufacturers charge extra for Bluetooth a CD player that plays MP3s is pretty much standard on even low end cars.

Most of the problems are solved when you choose the R12000 Excel package. That gives you Bluetooth, Xenon lights, which you still have to switch on yourself, and a USB interface to connect your iPod. You still only get a single disc CD player though. The Elite package adds R30 grand to the base price and for that you get a high end sound system with a 6 disc CD player, keyless drive and headlights that shine around corners.

Out on the road the S80 doesn’t disappoint. It is very pleasant to drive and the performance from the two and a half litre engine is impressive. We didn’t get the spec sheet until after the car had been returned so we didn’t test the acceleration claims but it feels sprightly and never leaves you feeling that you need more power. It is one of the most comfortable cars I have driven and the cockpit ambience is particularly satisfying.

The suspension is soft making it comfortable on bumpy roads but less capable in high-speed corners. That’s what a luxury limousine is all about though; it’s not designed to be a sports car. Driving back from Hartebeespoort on the notorious R511 my front seat passenger wasn’t disturbed from her slumber. The car is quiet without a hint of road or wind noise. So quiet in fact that you can hold a conversation with your back seat passengers without raising your voice, and that’s with the radio on. There is a wonderful panoramic view through the large windscreen. Our test car was fitted with air-conditioned seats, which are a real bonus when driving around in the summer heat.

Geartronic leads you to believe that the gearbox is a high tech unit similar in operation to some of the sequential double clutch offerings but you’d be wrong. It is just an automatic gearbox with manual override and you don’t even get flappy paddles. Best to leave it in full auto mode which is exactly what you want when you’re wafting along in a limo. The gearbox is quite smooth under normal conditions but it does lag a bit when booting the pedal to the floor for overtaking, before being pinned back in your seat.

I really enjoyed driving the big Volvo and were I in the market, the S80 would certainly be on my short list but it’s not without problems. The most annoying was the fact that with climate control set to auto the fan stayed on it’s maximum setting half an hour into the journey. The fan is so noisy that it made conversation difficult and required an increase of radio volume. Surely in a car of this level they should have found a silent fan?

Other than that, the electric hand brake is awkwardly positioned on the dash obscured from view by the steering wheel. The park distance control turned the radio volume down to minimum to ensure that it’s message was heard and understood. Now that is a good thing but it is just too sensitive so for example sitting at a set of lights with other vehicles in close proximity you can’t listen to the wireless. There is a button to switch it off but you just know that you’re going to forget to switch it back on and reverse into a pole when you get to work.

Our test car averaged 11l/100 while we had it on a mix of town driving and longer runs. Not too bad for a car of it’s size and weight. And with a 70-litre tank you can go a reasonable distance between fill-ups. The on board computer does display fuel consumption figures, both instantaneous and average, and remaining range but very little else.

Overall the Volvo is a very good luxury cruiser. It’s wonderful to drive and as we all know, one of the safest places to be. Yes it has some minor niggles but the overriding impression and the thing that makes you feel special is the spectacular build quality. The R421000 price tag is inline with its competitors but given the resale value the slogan “Volvo. For life” is an accurate statement.

Steve

Liked

Build quality

Sense of luxury

Relaxing drive

Disliked

Gearbox not in the class of a double-clutcher

Bit of a boring image

Statistics

Engine: Five-cylinder petrol

Induction: Turbo

Capacity 2521

Power 170 kW

Torque 340 Nm

Kerb weight 2160 kg

Driven wheels Front

0-100km/h 7.1 Seconds

Price R421 000

For more information, visit the Volvo SA site.

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