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Volvo S80 D5
1 Feb 2010
Living In Luxury: Volvo Offers a car that practically doubles as a bed |
The new Volvo S80 is the most comfortable car I’ve ever driven, simple as that. I would liken it to the feeling you would get if you ever flew on a white puffy cloud.
It really is that comfortable, it soaks up bumps like they’re not even there, I’d be surprised if you even noticed if you happened to drive over a cow, with the uber soft suspensions comes a bit of a sloppy ride when you take corners faster than anything other than a Sunday afternoon drive.
The soft suspension settings can sometimes make it feel a bit like a jumping castle as the springs continually damp and rebound. It works quite well as a lullaby slowly rocking you to sleep.
To be honest it’s nothing really to complain about as a soft ride is a change from the German tradition of comfortable in a sporting way. The Volvo brand has always tried to separate itself by being luxurious and distinctive, so sitting completely on one side of the sporting vs comfortable scale is right within their strategy.
The new S80 has some minor changes and some major changes, vital amongst the renovations is the new common rail diesel motor that increases power and torque over the previous version. Power is up 15kW and torque by 20Nm. The engine also provides a reduction in fuel usage with the new claiming just 6.7l/100km on the combined cycle, compared to the previous engine, which managed 7.3l/km.
Amongst the minor updates is a facelifted front end and some minor exterior updates, also the interior is more driver focused. If the soft suspension isn’t to you taste, Volvo will give you the option of a sportier chassis.
If you want a car that’ll comfortably seat your family, with loads of room and will eat up highway kilometers faster than a fat guy at a hot-dog eating competition, then it’s definitely worth a look in. And by the time you’ve eaten up all those kilometers you’ll feel just as fresh as when you started the trek.
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