I had my first drive of Volvo’s handsome S60 in October, when the sun was still shining and all was well with the world
Last time round I took it for a hurl to Gleneagles and back on a sunny early autumn morning, and was impressed with its looks, ride and handling.
This time round I arrived back from holiday to find Scotland had disappeared under several feet of snow. Fortunately the Volvo was my steed for several days this time, and one thing those canny Swedes know about is coping with wintry conditions.
The front-wheel-drive S60 took the worst winter Scotland’s suffered in years and laughed in its face. It’s a stark contrast to the (also front-wheel-drive) Audi A5 sportback I drove shortly afterwards, which was slip sliding away like a Simon and Garfunkel number.
It’s also a triumph of styling. Volvo’s image has always lingered somewhere below the German ‘big three’ of Audi, Mercedes and BMW but the S60 is a car that’s every bit as good-looking as its competitors.
The ride is cosseting and it handles well too, with a sharp turn-in to corners and a nicely-poised overall feel.
As usual, Volvo have safety well covered. As well as a comprehensive array of airbags and the usual electronic aids, Volvo’s City Safety system comes as standard on the S60.
A clever piece of kit, it applies the brake automatically if it detects the car in front stopping suddenly. It can prevent a collision altogether at speeds of up to 19mph, and can severely reduce the impact at higher velocities.
A worthwhile optional extra is pedestrian detection, which warns if someone steps in front of the car and hits the brakes, knocking up to 22mph off the car’s speed and hopefully preventing harm.
Last time out I drove the top-of-the-range 2.4 litre, 200bhp D5 diesel. This time round it’s the lower-powered 2.0 litre D3 version, which has 161bhp. It takes a second and a half longer to get to 62mph but returns almost 10mpg more and still packs a decent punch. I found it more than adequate.
There’s a 1.6 litre diesel DRIVe model coming along which will be even more efficient, and there are petrol versions with 150bhp and 180bhp as well as a 300bhp T6 all-wheel-drive model but the 2.0 diesel will be the big seller.
One downside to the car’s slippery shape is that its boot, at 339 litres, gives away a lot to its rivals the Audi A4, Mercedes C-Class and BMW 3-Series offer 480, 475 and 460 litres respectively.
The interior is a triumph, with comfortable armchairs for the driver and front passenger, and a wealth of quality details. Rear space is a bit pinched, with legroom fairly tight and headroom restricted by its low-slung outer dimensions.
If you can live with it not being the roomiest beast, however, it’s a very pretty, very safe, very capable saloon.