Introduction

Big and luxurious, the Volvo S80 is Volvo's flagship sedan. It's fast, comfortable and roomy. It rides nice around town and it's powerful and tracks straight as an arrow at high speeds. It is without question a worthy competitor to comparably sized luxury sedans from Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Lexus, Acura, and Cadillac. The S80 offers a choice of engines, headlined by a 4.4-liter, 311-horsepower V8 built by Yamaha. The V8 sounds like a Corvette engine when it first starts up then settles to a smooth idle. It's smooth and creamy when cruising and very responsive. At high speeds the S80 V8 is quiet and smooth. Its performance (0-60 in 6.0 seconds, with a top speed electronically limited to 155 mph) stretches beyond what anyone can realistically use. But where the V8 really shines is in foul weather, where buyers will appreciate its standard all-wheel drive. Steering effort and chassis settings are adjustable, allowing the driver to set the chassis for smooth, soft sailing or taut control for more responsive handling. We found the car handles quite well for a large luxury car. Even the base-level, six-cylinder, front-drive-only S80 3.2 can sprint to 60 mph in 7.4 seconds, and risk arrest with a top speed of 130 mph. In between is the S80 T6, with a turbocharged six, all-wheel-drive, and a somewhat longer option list compared to the base model. Inside is a sumptuous cabin with comfortable seats, sophisticated audio, and an available navigation system. Optional adaptive cruise control allows the driver to maintain set following distances with the cars ahead: the system will accelerate or slow the car as needed. The S80 is loaded with safety equipment, from its protective structure to its state-of-the-art active and passive safety features. We think the S80 is the best car overall ever to come out of Sweden: slick, modern, pretty but understated, quick and powerful. It's relatively sporty and there aren't any rough edges on this package anywhere. Changes for 2009 are minimal. Some models have new wheels. There's more standard equipment at very level, including Bluetooth, and the various options and option packages have been rearranged a bit. The 2009 Volvo S80 is a luxury sedan. Three engine/driveline combinations are available: an inline-six with front-wheel drive, a turbocharged six with all-wheel drive (AWD), and a V8 with AWD. All come with a six-speed automatic transmission and Geartronic manual override.

Walkaround

The Volvo S80 may be the best looking sedan in the mid-range luxury class. It's arguably the most distinctive. Younger people may find that surprising, but folks with longer memories will not. From the late 1940s, well into the 1970s, Volvos ranged from functionally handsome (recall the 122 and 144 sedans) to quirky-sexy (the 1800 ES Sport wagon). For a while after that, as tighter budgets for new-model development forced Volvo to de-prioritize styling, the company cleverly promoted packing-crate ugliness as a self-righteous virtue. It was a successful strategy, and it bought the independent Swedish automaker another 20 years of survival. Thankfully, however, sometime in the 1990s Volvo rediscovered curves. Americans got an eyeful of Volvo's slinky new style when the first-generation S80 debuted in 1998. It was low and sleek, and rounded at the nose; but with broad shoulders and slab sides suggesting the much-loved 122 of 1956. Strikingly distinctive taillights followed the tapered contours of its rear quarter panels. About all the S80 seemed to share with the Volvos of the previous two decades were its six-window greenhouse and the diagonal stripe across its grille. Visually, it had more in common with a Jaguar than with any Volvo in a generation. And it set the style for every Volvo that's come since. The latest S80, which debuted for the 2007 model year, dispenses with even the six-window roofline, favoring the semi-fastback profile of the smaller Volvo S60. As a result, perhaps, the S80 now looks a bit like a bigger version of a little Volvo. But it's also even sleeker than previous S80's, and the new roof is said to work better in the wind tunnel. The current S80 is also rounder in the corners, and higher in the tail, where it retains a less massive rendition of those intriguingly three-dimensional tail lamps. Up front, a domed hood still flows into a rectangular grille trans-sected by Volvo's trademark diagonal stripe. The bumpers are clear of arbitrary detail. Brushed aluminum moldings on the lower doors are optional on the T6 and standard on the V8. The previous S80 looked like a big car. It's harder to judge the size of the current model (unless it's parked next to something else), but its overall length of 191.0 inches almost exactly matches the BMW 5 Series, Cadillac CTS, Lexus GS 350, Mercedes-Benz E-Class and Saab 9-5. The Volvo's wheelbase, at 111.6 inches, is the second shortest of this group (only the Saab, at 106.4 inches, is shorter) but is comparable to an Audi A6 (111.9) or Acura RL (110.2), both of which are longer than the Volvo overall. The S80 is significantly larger than a BMW 3 Series or Mercedes-Benz C-Class; but it costs more than those cars, also. It will take a sharp eye to spot a 2009 model. As with other Volvo's this year, V-O-L-V-O is spelled out wider and bolder on the trunk lid. The base 3.2 has new standard 17-inch wheels Volvo calls Cassini, with a bright-finish, nine-spoke pattern. Standard on the V8 are new 18-inch Balius wheels with a turbine-blade look. The T6 keeps its standard 17-inch Canicula wheels from last year, a bold, open, five-spoke design that we like a lot. Wheel options are plentiful. The new 18-inch Fortuna Diamond Cut, offered on both six-cylinder models, has seven spokes with a sharp, almost machined appearance that varies with the light. The Venator (also 18-inch, but carried over from last year) also has seven slim spokes but a cleaner, brighter look that makes it our esthetic favorite for both the 3.2 and the V8. Optional on the T6 only are the 18-inch, seven-double-spoke Zubra and 17-inch seven-triple-spoke Meissa (which was standard on last year's V8). Included in the Convenience Package is the Personal Car Communicator (PCC), an electronic key fob that can lock or unlock the S80from distances up to 110 yards, and can tell you what state the locks are in. It can activate the alarm, and can sense the presence of a human heartbeat inside the car.

Interior Features

The instruments in the S80 are mounted in the traditional Volvo trapezoidal binnacle, and Volvo's watch dial instrument faces are now standard on all models. The freestanding center stack that connects the dashboard to the console is a key design element, adding a Bang & Olufsen kind of elegance to the interior. An analog clock at the center of the panel is standard on the V8 and optional on T6. The switches, controls and instruments follow traditional Volvo themes, but everything is contemporary, including the tachometer and speedometer, more classic and less industrial than in previous designs. The navigation system, when ordered, pops up out of the dashtop, either by using the steering-wheel-mounted controls on the right rear of the wheel or the provided remote control, which stores in the console. We found the steering wheel controls a bit fussy and hard to use, but owners will figure them out quickly. A menu system tailors the seats, rearview mirrors, climate control, audio, navigation, and, the amount of steering wheel feel in the car's speed-dependent power steering system. The sumptuous surroundings in the S80 are amplified by the wonderfully comfortable seats and the generous front and rear legroom that helps to put the S80 car squarely in the luxury class. The seats are available plain, heated, or heated and cooled. The 160-watt, eight-speaker sound system will play MP3 files and has an auxiliary input for iPods and other players. Also available is a five-channel, 12-speaker Dolby Pro Logic II surround-sound system developed with Dynaudio.