BOY RACER? S80 IS FAR TOO CULTURED

+ Click to Enlarge SURE-FOOTED LUXURY SEDAN: All-wheel drive with bias to the wheel(s) with most traction helps keep the Volvo S80 3.0T on line.

November 8, 2008
By Henri du Plessis

When in doubt about the dress code, wear a white, collared shirt and keep a suitably quiet tie handy. It's not flashy, it won't lead the fashion stakes, but you'll always look neat and never out of place.

That is how I've always perceived Volvo, rather like that conservative but neat sports jacket to which you revert when your macho Volvo Ocean Race jacket gets in the way of a spark from the braai.

When Volvo returned to South Africa after the shortages and other associated ills of apartheid it was with some unique variations on the three-box shape but South Africans were slow to react. There was marked uncertainty over the somewhat "different" designs but things warmed up when the first S40 arrived in the late 1990's.

Suddenly the Swedes began taking market share from the Germans – mostly, I suspect, from Mercedes-Benz.

Nobody expected Volvo to get involved in the performance market except with the odd niche model – but times have changed with the arrival of the S80 three-litre with its twin-scroll turbo and all-wheel drive; suddenly the placid accountant has developed a taste for sprinting.

Turbocharged petrol engines often had an annoying lag, as if programmed to wait a split-second and look around to see who was watching before screaming out of the starting blocks.

Volvo's twin-scroll system, however, has consigned turbo lag to the museum and turned this seemingly sedate sedan into a wolf in sheep's clothing. Pocket-rocket drivers beware – here's a Swede sleeper ready to put you to shame if you get the normally responsible driver sufficiently wound up.

It has 210kW and 400Nm, only 22kW and 40Nm short of the punch its bigger V8 sibling can throw, at its disposal but it delivers in a mild-mannered way. This is no by no means a boy racer, it's far too cultured for that.

The interior speaks softly to its occupants. Fascia and console are clean, quiet stretches of simplicity that cut the confusion and bring on clarity of understanding.

There are no mysteries locked in the car's equipment and the driver is offered all the help needed without having it thrust in their face.

The S80 is quiet. A smoky old roadworks truck could stop right next to you at a traffic light and you'd only be able to see its smoke and vibration, not hear it.

BIT OF BODY ROLL

Then there's the ride. Look, an S80 won't behave like a Ferrari or a Seat Cupra on Franschhoek Pass but it won't wallow like a '60s Mustang either. Take a drive along the Vissershok Road from the N7 to Durbanville to see what I mean.

There's quite a bit of body roll - this IS a large, heavy, luxury sedan - but corners needn't throw you into a panic. Add all-wheel drive and traction control with bias to the wheel(s) with the best traction and the bends are straightened, the bumps smoothed.

This car will lie to you straight-faced, making you think the roads department is actually keeping up with all the road-maintenance tasks in its job jar.

The seats help. Many years ago my father bought one of those kick-out TV chairs. The poor man hardly ever got to sit in it during its first three weeks in our lounge because he would invariably find a mixed bag of teenagers rowdily competing for its executive spine-pampering.

I feel the same way about the Volvo's seats. Fortunately, all the seats in the S80 are like that, so there's no need to fight over them.

VOLVO WON'T BE FAZED

One of the S80's more interesting features is automatic braking and distance control when the cruise control is on. It was a bit hard at first to trust the car but once it proved itself it was quite a game.

You get into the fast lane on the N1, set the cruise control to 120km/h and just steer. Inevitably, a typical Cape Town truck driver will move into the fast lane at 80km/h – but that won't faze this Volvo. It brakes automatically and slows to the speed of the slowcoach.

Now to get it to hoot loudly and hurl cow-pats at the same time… but the Swedes are far too civilised for that. The technology would have to be developed here.

VERDICT

The S80 is a remarkably pleasant car to drive, a class act that doesn't shout about itself from the rooftops. And maybe, just maybe, that's where it falls short – it's just too quiet about itself.

The S80 3.0T costs R516 000 – which competes well against the German trio of Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz.

Volvo S80 3.0T specifications.