Introduction

The Volvo S60 offers more than a Swedish-modern alternative to BMW's 3 Series sedans. It offers a style all its own. The S60 combines excellent performance and a great shape with Volvo's outstanding safety features. It feels like a tight European sedan, with a smooth ride. For 2004, there's a new engine option and a new rack-and-pinion steering system, improving on its already good acceleration and precise handling. The S60 fills the middle range in Volvo's lineup: It's larger than the S40, but not quite as large as the premium-luxury S80. Not surprisingly, the S60 also fits between those models in price.

Walkaround

The Volvo S60 looks like a smaller version of the big S80 luxury sedan. It's handsome in a Lars-in-a-cable-knit sweater kind of way. Not a remnant remains of the "boxy but safe" styling that Volvo championed so doggedly for decades. Volvo says the S60 represents 'the essence of contemporary Scandinavian design. The S60 seems compact at first glance, and there's a hunched-shoulder look to the rear flanks, suggesting a hockey player ready to lead a charge up the ice. The S60R is distinguished by a smoother, longer nose; a smaller, lower grille; and a larger air dam with bigger intake openings for the big turbo and twin intercoolers.

Interior Features

Overall, the Volvo S60 interior is handsome and comfortable. The standard seats are cushy with the optional pigskin-type leather; you tend to slide around a bit in them, but the optional sport seats are designed to put a stop to that. The leather looks and feels like quality. There's good interior space up front, more than in the BMW 3 Series or Mercedes C-Class. The dashboard flows in a pleasant shape. Attractive wood trim appears sparingly on the glovebox lid and on all four doors. The quality of the material used to cover other surfaces is good. The gauges are attractive, with their flat gray background, and easy to read, while the switches are intuitive and easy to use. The heating, ventilation and air conditioning controls are well designed and easy to operate, with big buttons that use Volvo's clever metaphoric design to direct the airflow. Electric window buttons with auto-down are conveniently mounted on the door. Inside door handles are easy to grab. The innovative radio controls take some familiarization to master. Changing preset channels involves turning a knob, rather than pressing a button, for example. Once understood, however, it works very well. The leather-wrapped steering wheel features controls for the audio system that makes operating it easier while driving. The center console storage is positioned rearward, so it's harder to reach. The cup holders, mounted just forward of the console, are covered with a flimsy lid. There's another mini cup holder on the center of the dash. The manual shift lever has a silver-colored plastic cover at its base that looks like silver-colored plastic. A traditional leather boot would better complement the S60's luxurious leather upholstery. Getting into the back seat requires a duck of the head. Once back there, the S60 offers more rear headroom than a BMW 3 Series sedan. An average-sized male will be short of legroom, however. It offers less legroom than the BMW. To get the S60's swoopy shape, Volvo had to make design concessions that constrict the trunk opening. The trunk itself is roomy and deep; it'll hold a lot of small bags, but big hard-sided bags might be a challenge. The rear seats are split 60/40 and fold down to carry long items. Fold down the right rear seat and front passenger seat, and you can carry something quite long.