Beautiful, elegant lines is what defines this car, inside and out. And while the differences over the past years’ models aren’t dramatic, the result of those years of refinement to the current styling is. From close up, to far away this car is beautiful, and the inside only amplifies that sentiment.
The interior is definitely one of the nicest I’ve seen in a car under $60k, and while the price of this car reached $56,000, it started at a humble $38,000 (before adding the V8 and a basket-full of features and expensive luxuries). For a car this nice, I can’t believe it has a base price so low. However, I’d be heart-broken to strip out those luxuries which quickly added up to and took this car from one price class to another.
Within the interior is a twin-instrument cluster with digital information resting within the circular gauges. It’s nicely designed and provides the ability to at-a-glance know all the information you need. Swooping down to the right from there, is the center console, which follows Volvo’s tradition of the waterfall panel. There are easily 30 buttons and dials in this area, but somehow they made it seem like you only see the one you’re looking for. With so many options available, I never had to take my eyes of the road for more than a second to make the adjustment to radio or cabin temperature. And while making it easy to look at, they also made it easy to operate. I’m a stickler for this piece of automotive design, and Volvo pulls off one of the best implementation’s I’ve ever encountered.
Driving the S80 takes that experience and turns it up to 11.
Most people see the Volvo and assume it’s a family car with concerns of safety. Possibly, but the V8 with 311 bhp offers plenty of driving excitement to anyone unfortunate enough to worry about safety. From the moment you press the start button (no keys needed here), the rumble from behind is startling. Not startling like a cheap Camaro in need of new mufflers, but startling like a finely tuned car, waiting for a reason to do a little showing off. And at 0-60 in 5.9, it’s pretty impressive display of “safety concern.” I also should mention, at any time if you find yourself unable to hear that beautiful growl, you only need to press the accelerator a touch, and you’re reminded why you chose the V8 with twin exhaust. Might have been several extra dollars, but just consider all the money you’re saving in CDs now that you don’t need to have the radio on to listen to the symphony.
One of the more innovative features of this car is the BLIS (Blind Spot Information System). It’s an accident prevention system utilizing small cameras mounted beneath the side mirrors which detect cars entering your blind spot. When a car is detected, a small square light on your A-pillar is illuminated. Brightly. (You can turn the feature on or off easily with a button on the dash.). In theory, it’s an incredible idea, and it works very well. Although, there were a few phantom cars in my blind spot, where the system picked up cars in two lanes over, but for the most part, it worked surprisingly well. The downside came when driving through normal traffic, it blinked glaringly at your over and over, even when you didn’t intend on changing lanes. This only got worse at night when the light was very bright and very distracting. I personally wish there was a setting to turn this off except when your blinkers were on, or to turn down the brightness of the light. But alas, no. I’m sure this will get more refined in future versions of the system, and I’m glad to see it developed, but until it’s flaws are worked out, I’d save your $600 and get a different feature instead.
All-in-all, I loved this car and was sad to see it go. I’m sure I had lots more driving I needed to do, and wished I could spend another week or 20 in it. Volvo continues to make great cars, and with the feature sets this provides, I couldn’t recommend it enough. Save the Mercedes-Benz and BMWs for someone else, for my money, I’m getting a Volvo. 5 Stars.
