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Rear seat passengers, especially, should be grateful, as compact luxury sedans are notorious for sacrificing rear seat head- and legroom on the altar of form over function – the S60 doesn’t. Being an R-Design model, this S60 test car also features a number of sporty exterior enhancements. The R-Design front grille is a high-gloss piano black mesh that matches the window trim and mirror caps. The lower rear bumper design is also specific to the R-Design and houses dual integrated tailpipes.
CarBuzz
So many of the challenges in the physics of an SUV are eliminated when the bulk of the car is lower. The star of the show is the nine-inch Sensus Connect touchscreen, flanked by HVAC outlets. A single row of toggles run beneath the touchscreen, anchored with a knob at center. The center console is similarly clean and uncluttered, with a gear selector lever, gnurled drive-mode control wheel, and a tambour-covered pair of cupholders. If you’ve selected the premium Bowers & Wilkens sound system, you’re treated to an eyeball tweeter at the top center of the dash and shiny aluminum speaker grilles on the doors (not to mention amazing sound quality).
Volvo S60 D4 Drive-E Base
This generation would usher in the brand-new Drive-E 2.0L four-cylinder powertrains that replaced all the old units. The last and current model - still part of the third of the S60 generations - retained these engines in updated form and also introduced a plug-in hybrid. The 2019 Volvo S60 is a midsize sedan, the start of the third generation of the nameplate. The first-generation S60 ran from 2001 to 2009, and the second-generation vehicle took over from 2010 to 2018.
While the Polestar Engineered has a ton of power, it's the R-Design that delivers the sports sedan.
2019 Volvo S60 Automotive theadvocate.com - The Advocate
2019 Volvo S60 Automotive theadvocate.com.
Posted: Mon, 26 Aug 2019 07:00:00 GMT [source]
Following a short front overhang with an upright grille, muscular wheel arches house aluminum alloy wheels. A deep scallop runs above the rocker panels, rising toward the rear of the vehicle. The greenhouse swoops back from the windshield, and slopes down in the rear, blurring the line between fastback and notchback.
The interior is so tidy, crisp and, well, Scandinavian that it is really attractive from top to bottom. This being the sportier-looking-than-normal R-Design trim, both the seats and ride of this S60 are more aggressive than the standard version’s, but not so much so that they’re uncomfortable. Remember, R-Design models are more show than go, so even though it looks like it might ride as stiffly as a sports car, this S60 is more relaxed than that.
The compact luxury sedan segment is chock full of attractive four-doors, and the S60, in my eyes, is most attractive among them. It’s classically handsome on the outside with just the right amount of minimalist Scandinavian influence, while at the same time exuding a pinch of sex appeal from some well-placed curves. A shrunken S90 comes to mind when looking at it, and the miniaturization of the full-size sedan’s elongated profile helps bring the S60 visual weight into perfect proportion with itself. One swipe left from this menu takes back to the main screen, which has four modules for Navigation, radio, phone and then other device features. Another swipe to the left shows the infotainment applications, like Spotify, Pandora, weather, etc.
Volvo S60 T6 R-Design Sedan 4D Safety
Neither the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration nor the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety has crash tested the new S60 yet, but being a Volvo, it’s a safe bet this sedan will pass with flying colors. With a starting price of only $35,800, the S60, a North American Car of the Year finalist, is a remarkably good deal. Only the Infiniti Q50 ($35,550) and the Acura TLX ($33,000) start lower, and they’re not in the same league as the S60 in terms of style and refinement. The S60’s true competitors – the German trio comprised of the Audi A4, BMW 3 Series, and Mercedes-Benz C-Class – are all the more expensive. In a way, Volvo saved the best for last, but the new S60, especially in the brand’s R-Design configuration, is only this good because of the four vehicles that went through this transformative process before it. Only through them are the S60’s superlative qualities honed to near perfection.
The Polestar also gets a bespoke gear selector from the rest of the S60 fleet, and it’s not great. Instead of a traditional PRND selector, it’s one of those things that’s more like a joystick, which returns to center after each motion. You have to push it twice to put it in reverse, twice again to get into drive, with a separate button for park. There are steering wheel paddles for shifting, but no locked “manual” selection on the selector, so the car goes back to calling the shots too soon after you make a shift. The S60 T6 AWD R-Design offers a killer combination of everyday drivability and fun-to-drive character (even if it isn't as hot as the S60 can get). The car features multiple drive modes that top out in aggressiveness with Dynamic mode, but even the default Comfort mode is sharper and more engaging to drive than your standard compact luxury sedan.
We require new ratings every time an all-new vehicle or a new generation of an existing vehicle comes out. Additionally, we reassess those ratings when a new-generation vehicle receives a mid-cycle refresh — basically, sprucing up a car in the middle of its product cycle (typically, around the 2-3 years mark) with a minor facelift, often with updates to features and technology. This all-new Volvo — a 3rd-generation car built at a new factory in South Carolina — is about five inches longer than the previous S60, so it has a much roomier back seat. The 2019 Volvo S60 is available through traditional channels or via Care by Volvo, a premium flat-rate subscription service.
I tend to spend most of my time in SUVs or in my personal full-size pickup truck, so it was a bit of an adjustment to be seated closer to the pavement. The lower seating position and overall center of gravity made cornering a breeze, without a hint of body roll. I was able to concentrate on “slow in, fast out” when I encountered a curve, and the S60’s unique turbocharged/supercharged engine erased any dips in power. The electric power steering by wire was a particular pleasure, with natural feel and weight. S60 is so nicely balanced that little if any mid-corner correction is required, with minimal understeer.
I started with the S60 T8 Polestar Engineered, since it sounds like an absolute beast on paper. Truth is, it’s not the alien-vaporizing thunderstrike of Thor’s hammer you want it to be. The car undoubtedly looks the part, but that label is going to come down how it is to drive. Each Certified by Volvo vehicle has to pass a rigorous test with more than 170 points, to give you safety and security for every moment.
Find used 2019 Volvo S60 R-Design inventory at a TrueCar Certified Dealership near you by entering your zip code and seeing the best matches in your area. In regards to handling, the S60 T6 AWD R-Design feels both light on its feet and glued to the ground thanks to its larger wheel-and-tire setup and all-wheel-drive system. Volvo’s compact sedan offers a classy package with good road manners and a potent PHEV at the top of the lineup. Our Expert Ratings come from hours of both driving and number crunching to make sure that you choose the best car for you. We comprehensively experience and analyze every new SUV, car, truck, or minivan for sale in the U.S. and compare it to its competitors. Although it’s at home on twisty pavement, the S60 doesn’t quite have the rewarding tactile driving feedback of, say, the BMW 3 Series or the Mercedes C300.
It’s nice, it’s comfortable, it does things differently than your average BMW or Audi, but it also doesn’t really stand out in a major way. But the 2019 Volvo S60 is all-new, and now it aims to be more of a true sport sedan than ever. There’s a design rationale that supports the engineering decision to fix the distance between the front axle and the dashboard. Car designers frequently cite this dimension as a key determiner in the elegance of a car’s profile. S60 is thus imbued with a sophisticated profile, as the proportions of the rest of vehicle fall into line.
On a positive note, the Sensus chipset has been upgraded for faster boot times, quicker rearview camera responses, and improved navigation recalculations. The original generation of the S60 launched with a trio of inline five-cylinder engines - a naturally aspirated 2.4L with 168 hp and two turbocharged ones with either 197 hp in the 2.4T (later becoming the 2.5T and uprated to 208 hp) or 247 hp in the 2.3L T5. The base engine and T5 had access to five-speed manual and automatic transmissions, but the 2.4T/2.5T was an automatic only, the latter also later gaining an AWD option.
Moving up to the S60 R-Design, the front-drive version gets the 250-horsepower engine while the AWD model gets the T8 powertrain that features the supercharged and turbocharged 313-horsepower engine and the 87-horsepower electric rear motor. This S60 PHEV also boasts gloss-black window trim, mirror caps and grille, as well as Nappa leather sport seats, an R-Design steering wheel wrapped in perforated leather, and shift paddles. We drove an S60 R-Design, an all-wheel-drive (AWD) version with a turbocharged and supercharged 2.0-liter inline-4 that sends 316 horsepower to all four wheels via an 8-speed automatic transmission. This S60 T6 AWD R-Design also comes with the Advanced package that costs $2,500 and includes features like a head-up display, Volvo’s Pilot Assist semi-autonomous drive system, adaptive cruise control, a 360-degree-view monitor, and full LED headlights. A few other items like heated rear seats and steering wheel ($750), an upgraded Bowers and Wilkins sound system ($3,200), and special 19-inch R-Design wheels ($800) take this testers price up to $55,490. Yes, but each of those aforementioned German sedans can eclipse that mark quicker when you’re optioning them up.
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