Gadgetory

you're still laboring under the old idea that Volvo's are basically Birkenstocks on wheels it's time to change into your puller let's drive this 2015 Volvo s60 t6 check the tech quite a bit of it now an x6 e is us felt rather unbold oh looking Volvo you don't see those big square angles and broad shoulders at Volvo's typically have and a lot of the other ones still do this is kind of a 3-series competitor so they've got to get it right in terms of style not just function one thing you'll notice very lately on this car is a new front clip kind of from here forward they've reshaped the face a more aggressive larger grille and recontoured fenders and hood it's a nice-looking in front on this car something also want to call your attention to this may be the most cameras I see on a car these days there looks to be at least four lenses in three positions here later on we'll see what those are for but this car has perhaps the most amazing level of driving assistance Tech and awareness at this price point now inside the s60 you're finding a very modern interfaces more than I could say for some previous Volvo's look what's missing no more of that kind of crunchy monochrome LCD 8-bit graphic look that they had for years everything is beautifully rendered LCD this is one of the most cohesive cockpits on the market today let's go to the instrument panel that's what's really new you've got video throughout there's not one moving needle on the whole thing the gauges on the left side and around the bottom are always in that position your fuel level your gear position your shift status range to empty things of that nature but if you hit this button on the left stalk you can change into three personalities there's one that is elegant there's one that's eco and there's one that's performanced a couple things I've never seen before notice how the turn signals are rendered in video and this one down here that shows your instantaneous mpg when you come to a stop it does something else new it changes to gallons per hour because that's the relevant calculation when you're not moving very clever not very useful but very clever and of course you have auto start/stop technology that should make that zero unless you defeat it like I do we'll talk more about that later what's not on our car unfortunately is the census system this is they're connected and apps based layer that goes on top of what you see in the center screen it lets you find restaurants that's pretty common stream music same thing handle and dictate texts it's also got a module to find and pay for parking that's kind of a new wrinkle shifting is one choice only you've got an 8-speed automatic on this car now straight PRN D gate for manual come on back and kick it over here for sport automatic or initiate a shift from there or the paddles and now you're in sport manual mode and also in a faster shift mode the transmission becomes quicker and more twitchy and optionally a rear-view camera I said optional that's right but it's going to have a lot going on you've got distance you've got trajectory and you've also got sonar overlaid visually as well as audibly so it's a very comprehensive backup system you can also option a front camera I don't find those really up here in the engine bay all those doing some really interesting things this is not a small car but it's got an inline 2-liter four-cylinder but hold on they start to stack on the power generating tech it has both a supercharger and a turbocharger the supercharger of course is belt driven it works great at low rpms delivering boost right off the get then later on the turbocharger takes over sort of mid rpm on up when it can use all the free energy that comes off that exhaust gets rid of turbo lag gives you boost at all parts of the rev range which a two-litre needs with a car this size horsepower is 306 out of that combo torque is 295 respectable foot-pounds 0 to 60 is 5.9 for a car that weighs over 2 tons by a bit mpg is 24:35 also a nice highway number by the way though this car wants premium for sure you can also get this powertrain in an s60 with all-wheel drive but you've got to step up to the much pricier our design level we'll put a sticker on that later now the main driving grade new the s60 out of power is gone interesting they really have dialed out a lot of that low-end initial tip in lag or turbo lag by of course having a blower a supercharger that starts first and the turbo that takes over the result is I gotta tell you I was shocked that this was a 2-liter four when I was first driving at an imagining one engine it must have under it that would not have been my guest so that's a compliment it doesn't make a very nice sound either the exhaust or the engine itself I think they've missed an opportunity there and getting into the sport mode here and shifting yourself makes it very noticeable and and measure difference so they have a nice delineation of their different personalities on this engine good for them on the other hand the ride quality is what's the word awful it just translates everything to literally if the road goes to chunk one inch the car goes could chunk one inch that's not what a suspension supposed to do it's supposed to modulate that but the handling is tight the car feels lighter than it's on paper I'll tell you that that's always a good thing I've got a little more used to these seats but man they're just too narrow and they're not adjustable I'm a big guy I'm 6 to over 205 and these seats are just annoying it's like someone who's seeing next to it's a theater and they're touching you the whole time it just irks me you may like that I don't and I got to say the more I Drive this car the more I love the cohesive beauty of this cockpit this is one of the most well thought-out really beautiful cockpits on the road at any price leave it to the Swedes right they know how to do that all s60 s have city safety standard that means a Carl stop itself when it detects a rear-end collision and up to now 31 miles per hour a higher speed level on top of that they've now layered cyclist and pedestrian detection which they say will pick up the presence of a bike or a pedestrian stepping into your path at least from your direction of travel and again up to full braking will be applied the headlights are automatic but they default to high beam and then when there's an oncoming car they cut out part of the beam pattern but try not to turn off the high beams entirely those front lights of course are also steerable but now they also have auto switching cornering lights that come on and off as you turn very tightly blind spot and cross traffic alert tech nothing new there except now the rear facing radar looks further so it can detect fast approaching cars that are about to be in your blind spot and one of those cameras in the windshield reads speed limit signs it then puts a little mini speed limit sign on your speedometer and puts a little red puck at the speed on the dial makes it easy to index the needle to what you should be doing or at least how much you're exceeding what you should be doing okay let's price our s60 we're starting off now at a little over 39,000 delivered if you want all wheel drive as I mentioned it gets pricey because it's part of an are designed sport package 4500 bucks plus seen that style premium package is the big one little over three grand for rear cam navigation power mirrors premium Harman Kardon sound and a home link garage door opener 1400 get you the blind spot technology and the active parking the tech package is 1,500 adaptive cruise Lane Departure technology forward collision technology with that cyclist and pedestrian awareness the one I wish we had was the census infotainment system for almost nineteen hundred and eight hundred more if you want the bi-xenon headlights which with this intelligent headlight technology kind of makes sense to me we're pushing forty eight thousand dollars now the s60 is mostly strong on it's amazing drive and awareness techniques it does things that few other cars do in a roll up like that on the other hand I found the ride quality to be if the engine note to be kind of it as well but the power delivery is great that turbo and supercharger combination and I think it looks good