Monthly Motor - December 2014

TEST DRIVE
2015 Volvo S60 T6 Drive-E
by Jeff Wilson
Over the past few years I’ve been involved in a few comparison tests that featured Volvo’s
S60. Each time the Volvo acquitted itself reasonably well in many key measures, impressing
most of us especially with its lusty turbocharged inline-six cylinder engine.
For 2015, Volvo has yanked out the
muscular heart of its sporty luxosedan
and replaced it with a four
cylinder. As one would expect, the
motivation for this move is the relentless
quest for improved fuel efficiency and for the
most part, the new setup delivers.
Our 2014 S60 T6 was rated at 13.2 L/100 km
city and 9.5 L/100 km highway. This new 2015
model is rated at 10.1 city and 7.3 on the highway.
Those figures represent significant improvements,
however in fairness; last year’s model was a heavier,
all-wheel-drive car – a configuration not offered yet
for the new T6 Drive-E. During a test of mixed highway
and urban driving and nearly 900 km travelled,
the Volvo delivered an overall average of 8.7 L/100
km, proof enough that the Drive-E technology does
indeed work.
That spirited inline-six of last year’s car dispensed
300 horsepower and while the new 2.0L
four-cylinder T6 is down 30 torques to 295; it still
delivers 300 horsepower thanks to some revolutionary
technology utilizing both a turbocharger and a
supercharger. This system marries the best of both
technologies, enabling the low-end grunt of a beltdriven
supercharger to help get things moving from
rest, and then lets the turbocharger take over once it
winds itself up. No turbo lag and a nice broad wave
of power. This was Volvo’s plan and it is the reality.
If there is a downside – and there always is
one – it is that the new engine is not particularly
pleasing to the ear. BMW manages an agreeably
aggressive, yet high-tech soundtrack with its 2.0L
turbo-four, but Volvo’s Drive-E engine sounds more
coarse and industrial. The smooth harmonics of
an inline-six are hard to match and some of the
S60’s sporting character has been lost with this new
engine. That’s the price of progress and saving the
planet, I suppose.
Volvo claims this engine is future-proofed
to enable easy incorporation of electrification for
hybrid technology with the expectation of fourcylinder
efficiency and V8 performance. Plus the
technology can be incorporated with diesel power
plants instead of the gasoline ones coming to normal
dealerships.
Not only does the new engine use considerably
less fuel, but it also emits fewer hydrocarbons
too, making it a truly green endeavour by Volvo.
An Eco+ setting adjusts the draw from the climate
control system and will shift the car imperceptibly
into neutral during deceleration to reduce load on
the drivetrain.
Also new this year and perhaps equally important
as the transition to the fancy new four-banger
is the replacement of the somewhat lazy-shifting sixspeed
automatic with a new eight-speed automatic.
Now with paddle shifters offered up as standard fare,
the new transmission not only helps improve efficiency,
but by requiring the engine to turn at lower
revs, it makes for a more calm and serene driving
environment on the highway.
When S-mode is selected or the paddle shifters
are called to action, the new gearbox swaps
cogs with impressive expediency encouraging some
spirited driver interaction where in the past, one
might’ve preferred to leave the car in “D” and let
it do its own thing. The luxury car buying public
has embraced the all-weather traction benefits of
all-wheel drive with Volvo’s primary competitors
all reporting the majority of their sales going to allwheel-drive
(AWD) variants and option packages.
As a result, the removal of AWD from the top-trim
T6 S60 is likely to cause some potential buyers to
forgo the S60 this year.
Motoring enthusiasts are going to decry the
lack of AWD as well since the same amount of
power being directed to only the front wheels means
the Volvo now actively tries to wrench the steering
wheel out of the driver’s hands under hard acceleration.
It’s been a while since I’ve felt torque steer this
prominent, and even then, it was in much cheaper
performance hatchbacks designed to be a bit rowdy.
Inside the S60 continues to provide passengers
the same comfortable environment it has for years.
The seats are fitted in very high-quality leather that
is butter-soft to the touch and smells nice too, but
it’s the shape of the front seats that make them real
winners. The Swedes know how to make incredibly
comfortable seats, and these ones are no exception.
Supportive where they need to be and supple where
you want them to be, these thrones just seem to fit
everyone who sits in them.
The rear seat isn’t a bad place to spend some
time either, with decent head and legroom, and in
this case, heated elements keeping backseat drivers
toasty while they nag. The ergonomics for the
driver continue to be a love-it-or-hate-it affair. The
more time I spend with Volvos, the more I have
grown accustomed to the unconventional layout of
the climate and infotainment controls. On the up
side, there are large, easy-to-use knobs and dials to
manipulate temperature, volume and radio tuning,
and the pictogram-style climate direction buttons
are easy to figure out. But the navigation system is
cumbersome to operate thanks to a lack of touchscreen
function or multi-dimensional controller
like those found in all the German marques and
Lexus. Further reminding drivers of the age of the
S60’s interior design is a small navigation screen and
input response times that are on the sluggish side.
The silver finish on my test car looked rich and
liquid, and really helps the S60 fill the role of the
European luxury sedan that it is. Last year’s visual
updates to the nose are handsome if not overly
distinctive.
The new S60 T6 Drive-E is a very good car.
It delivers on the environmental promises without
giving up much performance, and it continues to
be a quiet, comfortable and spacious long distance
cruiser. Current Volvo fans are sure to continue to
appreciate this S60 and will love the improvements
in efficiency.
Unfortunately the absence of all-wheel drive
and an increasingly dated interior are unlikely to
win over many new conquests though. And the
competitive brands continue to offer increasingly
efficient models incorporating hybrid technology
or the increasing population of really well-sorted
diesel offerings.
We at Autos.ca will continue to celebrate the
things we love about Volvos and applaud their
creative thinking. Although we consider this new
Drive-E technology to be a very promising sign
of what the future holds for our favourite Swedish
carmaker, it just is not yet enough to boost the S60
to the top of the class.
Options
Climate Package, $1,350 (includes heated rear
seats, windshield, steering wheel, windshield washer
nozzles); Technology Package, $1,500 (Adaptive
Cruise Control, Collision Warning with Full Auto
Brake, Pedestrian Detection, Distance Alert, Driver
Alert Control, Lane Departure Warning, Road
Sign Information, Active High Beams); Blind Spot
Information System, $1,000 (includes: Front/Rear
Park Assist, Cross Traffic Alert, Lane Change Merge
Aid); Active Dual Xenon Headlights, $1,000.
Competitors
Audi A4
BMW 3 Series
Lexus IS
Mercedes-Benz C-Class
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MOTOR DECEMBER 2014
MOTOR DECEMBER 2014 35