Launching in March, the new Volvo S60 is a sophisticated, easy-to-drive luxury car, estimated at Rs45 lakhs

Riddhi Doshi

After much delay, Volvo’s new S60 will finally be available for booking in India in January 2021 and the deliveries are expected by Mid-March. It’s only available in T4 inscription in India.

When the car came to us for a test drive last week, I was impressed with its sophisticated looks. Its length of 4,761 mm, width of 2,040 metres and height of 1,431 metres make it a spacious car, which is easier to maneuver, even on crowded Mumbai roads, than one could imagine seeing its size. It’s also a great, comfortable long drive, except its ground clearance falls short on a few speed bumps. But safety wise, like all Volvo cars, it’s the best one out there.

It has a four-cylinder petrol engine, which punches out 190 hp and has 300 Nm of torque. Extremely smooth to drive and quick to pick speed, it gives a very quiet driving experience, and we loved the control it gives the driver, while intuitively helping her ease into the drive.

Safety
According to new Volvo rules, the speed of the car is capped at 180 and it also has in-built alarms to help the driver stay awake and attentive, and It comes with six air bags.

The Thor hammer LED head lights with auto-bending feature look great and are great help in unannounced tunnels, big and small, in India. The fog lights are enclosed in a C-shaped casing and just above it is the high-pressure cleaning system, which sprays water on the headlights. Now, that’s impressive.

One of its advanced and much-needed feature today is City Safety that can identify other vehicles, pedestrians, cyclists and large animals ahead of you, even at night. It warns you if needed and can brake automatically to help avoid a collision or reduce impact. The advanced Oncoming Mitigation by Braking  technology – a Volvo Cars safety world first – can detect if there’s another vehicle driving towards you and brakes automatically to mitigate the impact.

And this one is my absolute favourite. All those who love talking on the phone while driving, please. The Lane Keeping Aid can gently help steer your car back into its lane if it senses you are about to inadvertently cross into a different lane. if you keep steering across the lane markings, you’ll be alerted with vibrations in the steering wheel.

This car also features Crash-absorbing front seats. Their unique structure absorbs vertical impacts, protecting your spine if the car lands heavily after leaving the road.

Interiors
The leather interiors mixed with soft plastic, driftwood, and metal, are minimalist and resonates with Scandinavian aesthetics. There is ample head and leg space, but it’s difficult to accommodate a passenger in the middle for the raised level of the middle seat. It’s best to pull out the arm rest and place your coffee mugs in the holder. However, if you have a thick bottle, you won’t have any space to place them in the gear box or on the sides of the seats. They will have to be left on the seats.

The rear seats offer generous amounts of knee-room, under-thigh support and head room while the cushioning and back recline angle are great for comfortable sitting even on long drives.

The front seats also come with lumber support adjustments, memory function and the under-thigh support can be extended.

And yes, the sunroof is pretty impressive as well, adding to the spaciousness of the car along with its windows.

Infotainment
Volvo’s 9-inch centre display with touch screen can be slightly complicated for new buyers and users, but it brings a lot of joy to the drive. It allows you to intuitively control the functions of your Volvo and stay connected.

The touch has an anti-reflective coating that reduces glare. The high-resolution screen showcases key information for the driver and can vary the size and shape of the readouts it shows, depending on how you are using your car. For example, if you are using the navigation system, the display is enlarged. The driver display also adapts its brightness according to exterior light sources.  And with Voice Control, you can access many functions of the S60. It uses natural speech patterns, and you don’t need to learn specific commands. Though this one is a little hard to master.

The equipment list of the car includes a four-zone climate control, Clean Zone air purifier tech, wireless phone charging and a 14-speaker Harman Kardon system.

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