The Surprising new Volvo V60 T4

I have to admit, I have, like a lot of people, preconceived thoughts and feelings about certain brands or vehicles. Among them was Volvo, which I always saw as "the teacher's car"; the kind of vehicle you only see your old school teacher drive, family men who decided to sacrifice performance for safety or people who were just given the car and could not find any good excuse to avoid driving it. With their boxy cars and "safety first" sales speech Volvo never managed to seduce me, so it is with certain preconceptions that I received the new Volvo V60 T4.

Looks-wise, Volvo has been steadily smoothing the lines of their cars for a few generations of models, and it certainly is paying off with this one, where the boxy angular design has given way to sleek curves, turning the "teacher's car" into a ride you'd rather drive yourself instead of letting it go with someone else. The window line tapers towards the rear, giving a sleek feel and giving the space wagon's rear a light and sporty, almost coupé feel. Add to this the double exhaust and the V60 looks fast even when standing still. 

That’s one point for Volvo, zero for me.

Hop inside and you will be greeted by the design inspired by the Spa Francorchamps race track, which cues can be found in eye flattering details such as the brushed aluminium door inserts. The smooth brushed metal central console is pleasingly slightly angled towards the driver, making you feel welcome in your own car and communicating the feeling that this car with all its family friendliness is still made for you, the driver, in the first place.

To accompany your rides, the V60 is equipped with eight speakers to give you a sharp and powerful audio enjoyment, coupled with an auxiliary line in and USB port which allows you to plug in your portable music player or phone and control it with the intuitive and fast centre console or steering wheel commands. Bluetooth is also present in the V60, giving you the ability to link your phone, make and receive calls but also to stream the songs on your phone wirelessly. The Volvo is full of little attentions, from the five-inch colour screen that matches the car’s interior hues to the airplane style overhead fasten seatbelt sign.

Two points for Volvo, still none for me.

Press the start/stop button and the T4, 1.6 litre GTDi (Gasoline Turbocharged Direct Injection) engine will come to life, delivering a healthy 180hp at 5,700rpm and 240nm of torque at 1,600rpm. With the turbo spooling quite fast and coupled with the six-speed Powershift transmission, the V60 T4 will take off the line smoothly before springing forward in the 2,500rpm zone, pulling the 1,582kg of the space wagon effortlessly.

The small 1.6 litre turbo engine will not only allow you to save money as it fits in the cheaper Category A COE, it will also give you a friendlier 7.6L/ 100km (claimed) mixed fuel consumption. My personal experience is not as fuel-efficient with a 12.1L / 100km, but once again, considering my driving style, that is a fairly good fuel-burning rate.

Volvo: three, me zero.

The V60 T4 also comes with the DRIVe system, a very smart fuel-saving function that disengages the gear when the car is rolling and the accelerator is released, giving the same effect as when pushing the clutch in on a manual car: less rolling resistance and a friendlier fuel consumption as the engine will only be running at idle rate. Another advantage of the DRIVe system is that it will avoid jerky gear operation when coasting at low speeds. Of course the gear is automatically re-engaged when the accelerator is prompted, but also when sufficient braking force is applied, where it will help by giving additional stopping power thanks to the engine brake.

The V60's chassis has also received its lot of attention with Volvo’s alert and quick-responding dynamic chassis making this Volvo a fun toy to tackle b-roads in, all the while staying family friendly. In addition to the dynamic chassis, the V60 can be equipped with the FOUR-C (Continuously Controlled Chassis Concept) active chassis, a self-adjusting chassis that adjusts dampers in real time, according to the driving situation. This system and its three settings (Comfort, Sports and Advanced) has already been seen on previous Volvo models, but this generation has been modified and tuned to give better control and comfort compared to its predecessors.

Don't expect the performance of a sports car though, the V60 is still a space wagon and its weight will make itself felt when pushing the Volvo on the twisties, causing the tyres to squeal out of effort to keep the car stuck to the ground.

I’ll allow one point each for the drive, bringing the scores to five against one.

Then again, extreme sports driving is not really what is expected of this car, and as much as the drive feel and the ability to carve some corners is appreciated, the V60 is a car that is fully appreciated in common life situations, for example when testing its loading capacity.

In the normal, five-seater configuration, the Volvo offers 430 litres of boot space, which can be increased to a maximum of 1,241 litres of flat loading capacity when pushing down the 40-20-40 independently foldable rear seats and the fold-flat front passenger seat. The low-sill boot is not only practical for its depth, but also for its 1,095mm width, combined with extra storage space behind the wheel housings and under the floor load, which makes loading anything from hauling furniture to carrying groceries a child's play. 

Volvo six; me one.

Last, but definitely not least, is Volvo's Pedestrian Detection gadget, which can be optionally fitted on your V60. This system consists in a camera mounted behind the central rear view mirror and which watches the road to make your drive as safe as it gets. Its function is to track pedestrians and cars. Active only when driving under 35kph, the camera will detect an eventual mindless pedestrian who decided to jump under your wheels, will warn the driver and step on the brakes if the driver does not do it, bringing the car to a complete stop to avoid collision.

In addition to this is the City Safety feature, which comes standard on the V60 and active only in low-speed traffic such as city driving or traffic jams, and will stop the car when detecting that the vehicle in front of you is stopped, potentially saving your front bumper and insurance premium when your attention was floating away.

Christmas is not over yet, as Volvo has also developed the Adaptive Cruise Control, which causes the car to adapt its speed to the car in front of you while respecting a set safety following distance. Picture this: you are cruising at 90kph and a car driving at 70kph pulls out in front of you. The system will slow down your car to match the speed of the vehicle in front and will return to 90kph once this one leaves your lane, all this without requiring any prompt on your end. For safety reasons, the system is only allowed to apply up to 40% of braking power and a light and sound system will grab your attention if more braking power is needed, letting you have full control of the situation.

You get the picture, I am currently thinking about tattooing a Volvo logo, in a red heart, on my forehead.

Overall, the V60 T4 is a car that made a fool out of my assumptions, surprised me and made me change my views on these Swedish cars. I have very little bad things to say about the V60 as it is a great package as it comes, but I do, however, recommend a change to stickier tyres if you fancy a more active driving.

Other than that, I now see the “teacher’s car” brand as a car manufacturer to be reckoned with, and if you have preconceptions about Volvos, trust me: go to test drive one of their new models, and you just might join the ranks of those proud Volvo owners.