Volvo S60 T8 R Design

Exterior:

The S60 features the same iconic Thor Hammer headlights that has become customary on Volvo’s fleet of vehicles, this distinct design is eye-catching, beautiful, and very functional. Moving toward the rear the S60 also has striking brake lights, making it stand out from other cars on the road. Personally, I prefer the look of the V60 wagon, but if you’re partial to sedans, this is certainly a good looking one. With a healthy amount of boot space considering the batteries onboard, the S60 is also practical. The car sits on 19 inch rims with 235mm tires all round. I’m not sure about the white body colour, I feel it doesn’t do the curves of the car justice, but nevertheless, it’s a great looking sedan.

Interior:

Definitely some déjà vu in here as everything is exactly the same as the V60, there are literally no differences except for the gear selector. The S60 R Design features a more conventional leather stitched gear selector, compared to the glass design featured in the V60 Inscription. The Tesla-esque touch screen front and centre of the console is the main attraction once again, and you can configure everything from there. The screen works extremely well, with no delays whatsoever. Once you get used to where everything is, it’s quick and easy to adjust air conditioning settings, or adjust the various drivetrain options. The dash is fully digital, and customizable to your preference. For motorway driving I like to use the Cruise Control, but as with the V60 I had before, the adaptation is a bit abrupt upon sensing a car in front. It does not have the smoothness of a Mercedes, but once it has adjusted the speed, it holds the distance comfortably. The adaptive headlights also work well, making night driving easier. The seats look like racing bucket seats, but they are very comfortable and you feel like part of the car. The adjustability is great and you can sit very low, making it perfect for people of all shapes and sizes.

Performance:

The fun part of this car is definitely the T8 Twin Engine. 407 horses when the batteries are fully charged, really feels great. The S60 can manage just over 40km on a full charge, driving fully electric. The petrol motor can manage around 550km on a single tank. It’s a very satisfying feeling to be able to overtake with such little effort, getting up to speed is never an issue and that always makes me smile. From a cornering perspective, the S60 is markedly better than it’s wagon variant, thanks to the more balanced weight distribution of a sedan. Also, in the V60 on heavy acceleration, you could both hear and feel the car squat so much that the front tires almost lifted, causing a fair amount of wheel spin. This was due to the shape of the car, and the amount of weight on the rear end. This is not an issue on the S60, as the sedan has less weight on the rear end. This means the S60 handles slightly better in the corners and on acceleration. The ride was also very good, most noticeably over speed bumps, you only feel one compression as the car passes over the bump, with no additional ‘bounce’ coming after. A small complaint, as with the V60, the brakes could be a bit better when you consider you have over 400 horsepower to play with. Solid disc, unventilated is not something you see often on sportier cars, but on the whole, it’s a great car for whatever mood you’re in. It can cruise, go fast, or be fully electric – the choice is yours.

Improvements:

There’s not much to complain about in this car, the only thing I can comment on was that the charger cable that came with the car didn’t work, so I wasn’t able to plug it in overnight. Thankfully, you can choose an option to charge the batteries as you drive, so it wasn’t a big issue, and surely just an isolated case with that specific cable. I had no issues with the V60 in this regard.