Last November, I received a request for a review of the new 2007 V8 Volvo S80, but, unfortunately, the car was not yet available in my area (DC-MD-VA). They did not become available to the general public until this month. I looked at one briefly at the D.C. Auto Show several weeks ago but, of course, was not able to drive it....and, naturally, I didn't want to write it up without a test-drive. That, plus the fact that I've been tied up with other things, including job demands, a lot of time in the CLUBHOUSE and DEBATE forums, problems with my feet and legs ( fortunately they are getting better ) means I've been a little lax in auto reviews lately. But, things are getting more or less back to normal now... so it's time, once again, to start catching up.

Volvo, under Ford's leadership, introduced the first S80 ( S meaning sedan in Volvospeak ) to a rather skeptical North American audience. Despite being fairly well-built, and, along with the Mercedes S-Class, a virtual rolling safety-mobile, the car never really caught on well with the American public, who clearly preferred its Mercedes and BMW competition. In addition, the first S80, unlike the new Acura RL, did not offer a particularly powerful V6 either. Its repair record, despite its build solidness, though not the most unreliable car out there by any means, was less than stellar...mostly the same old European bugaboo electronics and hardware problems. The car looked pretty much like any other Volvo sedan ( the new 2007 still does ) and there was little to set it apart from its brothers and sisters. So, not surprisingly, the old S80 was not exactly an Accord or Camry in the marketplace.

So.... the powers-that-be at Volvo's Goteborg, Sweden headquarters ( and, of course, at Ford's at Dearborn as well ) decided that, instead of dropping the S80, they would offer a new one, and try to address some of the shortcomings of the old one. In some ways.....a new V8 option, AWD, good fit-and-finish, a generally impressive interior...they did; in others....the same old Volvo look, humpback-whale roof, tight passenger space...they did not. Time will tell if the repair record improves any, but my test car appeared to be quite well-built, with sheet metal, trim, and most interior and exterior hardware that was far above average.

But Volvo still has clung to some of its old quirky ways. Like many European manufacturers, it still charges extra for metallic paint jobs.....so much so that the ONLY S80 colors that were offered without an extra charge were white and black. EVERY other color ( see Volvo's web site ) ranged from $475 to $625. And the car, predictably, was not cheap.....it will set you back well over 50K ( and my test car did not have every available option by a long shot ), though less powerful, less sophisticated V6 models are easier on your wallet...they start at 39K or so. I, myself, of course, am not a power freak, and I didn't think that the car particularly needed a V8, but apparently the marketers at Volvo and Ford disagreed. So, the new V8 is there for those who want it.

And, as just mentioned, turbo V6 models are also still available, including a 3.2L, with the choice of FWD or AWD. The 4.4L V8 model, my test car, ( the review request was for a V8 ), as befits its $47K base price, comes with the well-respected Volvo Haldex AWD system standard, which includes a center differential with electronically-controlled clutch packs. Though my car didn't have it, NAV models are also available.

So... how does the new S80 stack up against the old one? Read on.

Model Reviewed: 2007 Volvo S80 V8 AWD

Base price: $47,350


Major Options:

Metallic Paint $475

Sport Zubra package $2495

Climate Package $795

Premium Sound Package $1550



Destination: $695


Price as reviewed: $53,290

Drivetrain: Transverse-mounted 4.4L V8, 311 HP @ 5950 RPM, torque 325 ft.-lbs @ 3950 RPM, 6-speed geartronic automatic with automanual
shift option, Haldex electronically-controlled AWD system.

Exterior color: Shimmer Gold Metallic

Interior: Sandstone beige leather with polished dark brown wood trim


PLUSSES:

Traditional Volvo safety engineering.

Haldex AWD system standard on V8 models for traction and handling.

Solid, well-done, heavy-feeling body sheet metal and trim.

Bank-vault doors.

Well-done paint job.

Plenty of power from the 4.4L V8 for the automatic and AWD system.

Rich-looking interior and leather.

Good, handling with little body roll.

Smooth-shifting transmission.

Well-done brakes.

Excellent interior hardware...with a couple of small exceptions.

Well-done, easy-to-read primary gauges.

Good trunk-lid design.

Rear seats fold down for utility.

Dual climate control and sound system controls simple and straightforward and easy to use.


MINUSES:

Steep price for V8 AWD models...but more or less in line with competitors.

Relatively small exterior size and low, swept-back roof cuts into interior space.

Tight rear-seat leg and headroom.

Almost $500 for any color except white or black...and over $600 for silver? Give me a break.

Hard, unpleasant upper-dash material.

Very tight rear-seat room with the front seat back, especially for an auto manufacturer's flagship.

Flimsy, cheap-feeling steering-column-mounted stalks.

Rotary Headlight switch too small and flimsy-feeling.

Trunk space a little tight.

3-way electronic suspension-setting control almost worthless.

Electronic power steering-effort dampener equally worthless....and awkward and difficult to use.

Traditionally firm Volvo suspension OK for handling but cuts into ride comfort.


Like I mentioned above, the first impression of this car, as you walk up to it, is just one more typical Volvo sedan. There is virtually nothing to set it apart from its smaller cousins in the 40, 60, and 70- series... same grille, headlights, humpback-whale roofline, and wavy-triangular taillights. However, what IS provided outside seems to be of exceptionally high quality. The body sheet metal is thick, solid, and smooth, the paint job is well-done and virtually free of orange peel ( it BETTER be when Volvo charges several hundred dollars extra for most of the colors ), the doors feel and close as solid as bank vaults, The chrome trim feels like REAL chrome, not the usual cheaply-chromed light plastic. The outside mirrors (what else for a Volvo ?) have the turn-signals mounted in them and are solid as a rock. I haven't seen a regular passenger car built like this on the outside for some time...it not only outdoes its primary Mercedes competition but even some Lexus and Acura models as well. However, for a flagship, and especially one from a premium-nameplate European manufacturer, it is a little small on the outside, making it look even more like its smaller Volvo cousins.

Inside, the car is fairly impressive as well, although there are a few cheaply-made hardware parts here and there. The only parts inside I did not like were the column-mounted plastic stalks, which had a CHEAP feel and texture worthy of a 1987 Hyundai Excel, and the equally cheap-feeling and undersized rotary switch for the headlights on the dash to the left of the steering wheel ( dash-mounted headlight rotary switches are typical of European designs... I generally prefer the twist-stalks of Japanese designs ). The rest of the interior was well-done, with generally solid and excellent hardware. Volvo obviously went to the Ford parts-bin for the dashboard itself... you can tell, by its shape, that the dash itself was taken right out of the Ford Five Hundered/Mercury Montego ( now renamed the Taurus/Sable ). And though the two primary gauges... the speedometer and tach... are slightly difterent from the Ford's, the whole dash, as stated, has the same general shape, and even the same ( though a different color ) wood strip running across it. The whole black top of the dash, though, has a hard, unyielding, unpadded, and unpleasant-feeling stucco-type finish to it... odd in a car that is primarily designed for safety... you would expect padding almost everywhere, especially on the dash, where your body pitches forward in an accident ( although the belts, if properly worn, and the airbags should prevent that from happening). When I asked the Volvo people there about it, they said that the upper dash had that surface made of a special material to ward off deterioration from sunlight so it wouldn't crack. Hmmm... I'm not convinced.

The rest of the interior is very pleasant, though, and has a plush look to it, especially in the light-beige leather color (it is actually more of a gorgeous cream off-white than beige ). The leather has a rich look to it, though it doesn't feel quite as soft as Lexus or Jaguar leather. The wood trim on the dash and doors is a little dark and polished for my tastes ( I generally like medium-to-light woods and matte finishes ) but went well with the cream-colored leather. The switches and controls, except for the few previously noted, were all of a very high quality and operated slickly and seamlessly. I especially liked the simple and straightforward stereo and dual climate-controls.....often, in European luxury cars like this, they are a real headache to figure out and operate. I didn't test the NAV version, but I'm told by the Volvo people there that the NAV screen pops up out of the dash and doesn't have all the other controls attached and integrated with it like on many NAV-equipped cars.

The seats were nicely done but didn't have well-shaped bolsters for side support,(which is generally good for large, heavy people like me, who are uncomfortable with high, prominent side-bolsters). The leather, as stated before, looked quite rich but didn't feel quite as rich. Though the front seats and steering column were multi-adjustable in a number of ways, the car's relatively small size ( for a flagship ) outside and the typical-Volvo low, humpback-whale roof did cut into interior space...which wasn't helped, either, by the standard sliding sunroof, which also cut into headroom. Still, I was able to fit in the front seat and sit low enough to clear the ceiling, even with my ubiquitous baseball cap. But, in the rear seat, it was a different story... with the front seat back far enough for a tall person, and the down-sweep of the rear roofline, the rear of the cabin was strictly Munchkin-Land. Those of you who regularly carry adults or big teen-agers in the back seat... check this car out CAREFULLY before you buy it. Despite being the top-of-the-line Volvo, It is NOT a Suburban inside.

The trunk area, likewise, was a little tight, though otherwise quite well-done. The trunk lid, like the rest of the superb body sheet metal, was solid, well-finished, and had superb, REAL chrome. The lid itself swung up on articulated hinges that let the top go far enough forward that you didn't hit the top of your head on it. The inside of the trunk, though oddly-shaped, was well-finished, and a release button in back allowed the rear seats to drop for more space. There was also a small, lockable rear seat pass-through for long, narrow items like skis. (remember, with an AWD car like this, ski slopes may be one of its regular destinations).


OK... time to drive. Here the experience was mixed... some things I was impressed with, not with others. Put the square-shaped "key" into the hole in the upper dash ( you don't even need to do that as long as it is with you, in your posession ), push the START/STOP button, and the smooth, but not particularly quiet, 4.4L V8 comes to life. Adjust seat belts, mirrors, etc....and it's time to take off. Warm up a minute in the below-freezing temperature ( 30 degrees ), release the parking brake with a too-small, too-cheap-feeling tab under the lower-left dash, ease it gently over the block of ice in front of the car ( the relatively low ground clearance gave it a small scrape underneath anyway) and you're on your way. The transmission, in full auto mode, shifts seamlessly, even cold...slightly less so but still smooth
in automanual mode. The shifter, like most of the rest of the interior hardware, was solid and had a high-quality-feel to it. The V8, with its 311 HP and 325 ft.lbs. of torque, had what, IMO, was more than though power for the weight and drag of the complex, heavy drivetrain....under anything more than half-throttle, it would push you back in your seat.

The suspension had an electronic 3-way control setting... COMFORT, SPORT, and ADVANCED... that supposedly reprogrammed the shocks and struts for different stages of ride comfort vs. handling, but I could not notice any significant difference between COMFORT and SPORT. I could not get the system, under the normal suburban driving conditions I was in, to go into ADVANCED at all... apparently the advanced, ultra-firm setting only comes into play at very high speeds or aggressive driving conditions. So, IMO, with the possible exception of the ADVANCED setting, which I didn't drive fast enough to try out and can't comment on, the 3-way electronic switch for the suspension is nothing but a complex, frivolous piece of equipment that does little if anything in normal driving, and is just one more complex electronic system to break down in a European car that is known for questionable electronics anyway.

Having said that, though, the generally firm suspension ( a Volvo tradition, even in the COMFORT setting ), the Haldex AWD system, and the low-profile, 40-series tires with the Sport Zubra package that my test car had, combined to give pretty good handling, with very little body roll and smooth, quick steering response... but here, another complex, useless, unneeded electronic toy came into play... the automatic adjuster for power-steering feel and effort. To give the power steering pump more or less boost, unlike with the suspension control, you must first stop the car, fiddle with a BMW-like computer menu, run through several different screens like with I-Drive, and then select a new level. You cannot do it while the car is moving (a simple rotary switch that you COULD use while the car is moving would have been a LOT more convienent), and once you DO go through all that nonsense and select a new steering-effort setting, like the suspension control, it makes little or no difference that I could tell. The steering effort felt pretty much the same, no matter whewre I set the control... not necessarily a bad thing, since the new S80 has a nice steering system to start with, with generally good feel and smooth response.

Likewise for the brakes... smooth, linear, well-proportioned response, with little if any sponginess in the pedal, and plenty of room for my big size 15 clown-shoes to get from the gas pedal to the brake without getting hung up ( a problem I have in a lot of cars I review ).

The ride, as mentioned, even in Comfort setting, was Volvo-firm, and wind noise, while not bad, was not as well-muted as in, say, the average Lexus, particularly the LS460, and there was some tire noise with the sport-oriented tires, but again, not bad. If I was buying this car primarily for long-distance travel on the Interstates or for winter traction, I would forgo the Sport package and get the less-aggressive wheels and tires on the non-Sport model, with their better traction on slippery surfaces and quieter running.

So..the verdict? The new S80 trumps the old one in some ways, not in others. In V8 form, it has more power and a more sophisticated powertrain than the old car. It is superbly constructed and finished on the outside, generally so on the inside but with a couple of flaws. The low roofline that Volvo seems to be obsessed with ever since they gave up on the RWD shoe-box designs definitely cuts into interior room, especially in the back... as does the car's relatively small exterior size compared to several of its competitiors. It is not cheap by any means, but is not overpriced compared to its European competitors, especially those with V8's and AWD. And with its Volvo-safety engineering, its superb roll cage, and its abundance of air bags literally everywhere, if driven with any sense at all, it will go a long way towards protecting that which cannot be measured with dollars at all... you and your loved ones.