| | | Does a smaller engine make our award-winning Volvo S60 less of a car? KON finds out.... |
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| OTR without Insurance at RM220k | | |
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| Differences with the T5's cabin are minute and barely noticeable. | | |
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| Engine displaces only 1.6 litres, but with a turbo, it packs quite a punch. | | |
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The Volvo S60 was crowned as one of seventeen winners in our recently concluded Shell V-Power Autoworld Car of the Year Awards 2011, earning top marks from judges and voters to edge out the Mazda3 MPS as well as the highly competent Skoda Octavia RS for the Best Premium Compact Passenger Car category award.
Our test car for the awards judging was a CKD 2.0-litre T5 unit priced at RM255,000 before insurance and options. To recap, the T5 is powered by a turbocharged four-cylinder engine tuned to make 240hp and 320Nm. Today, we present you the more modest T4 version priced more attractively at RM220,000.
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| Volvo's most dynamic model ever. Certainly has the poke to live up to the tag. |
That's a price difference of RM35,000, and to enjoy those savings, you will need to make do with a 1.6-litre engine and without Adaptive Cruise Control, Collision Warning with Full Auto Brake, front parking sensors, and variable power steering. Trim materials too, are naturally different, but you can also be thankful that Volvo made it a point to include all of its other safety features as standard, so you still have torque vectoring, City Safety, and Active Bending Lights in your kit count. Not bad.
Sitting inside, there is little to suggest that you've opted for the lower specced model. We picked up imperfections in fit and finish, but that was only after looking real close, and as usual, Volvo nails it when it comes to cabin ambiance. Though rear headroom is compromised due to the low roof line, Volvo's overall design and choice of materials makes this a very pleasant interior to spend hours after hours inside. Ergonomics, as usual, are also spot on, with the floating centre console angled perfectly for the driver to operate the panel of buttons.
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| The floating centre console is as classy as ever. A little cluttered, but perfectly positioned. |
Be careful with the list of options though. If you let your salesman sweet talk you into ticking all the boxes, you will end up with an S60 T4 that is more expensive than an un-optioned T5. The 12 optional accessories offered by Volvo add up to almost RM40k, though our test car received only RM8,139 worth of goodies in the form of decorative scuff plates and sports pedals.
For aesthetics' sake, the RM1,510 rectangular tail pipes (not specced in our test car) does help lifting the rear appearance a little. Tyre pressure monitoring (RM1,188) is another item worth considering. Front and rear parking cameras will also be useful additions, but they must be optioned together with the sat nav system, and these three items total up to nearly RM18k.
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| Rear design is very distinctive and widely approved. |
The T4's 1.6-litre turbocharged engine with direct injection hails from Ford's EcoBoost family, and it is paired with the 6-speed PowerShift transmission that is now the staple of Volvo and Ford's line-up. Outputs of 180hp @ 5,700rpm and 240Nm @ 1,600 - 5,000rpm put it on par with BMW's Prince engine used in the MINI Cooper S, and as we discovered on the road, these numbers are not empty promises.
Although printed specs suggest a considerable performance gap between the T4 and T5, the reality is a little more pleasant. Differences between the two are impossible to glean without a back-to-back drive, and even so, the T4 is faster than fast enough for most applications. Even with the so-called Eco Mode switched on the whole time, our T4 test car was picking up pace with effortless ease.
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| Radar module on T5 is missing here, indicating slightly reduced levels of equipment. |
Volvo markets the S60 as one of its sportiest models ever, and as far as straight line performance is concerned, the box is checked. The next question will then concern ride and handling. Well, the short answer to this question is that the S60 checks this box too, but not too convincingly. Granted, the S60 steers sharply, corners flatly and emits a pleasingly growling engine note to boot, Volvo's decision to spec Malaysian cars with the stiffer Dynamic chassis also served to endow the S60 with a rather harsh ride.
Despite its role as the entry level model of the range, the S60 T4 should not be taken as the inferior choice, although arguments in its favour would tend to revolve around cost factors such as purchase price, road tax, and overall fuel consumption. While there is a noticeable deficit in performance and equipment against the T5, Volvo gives enough in the T4 to make it a fine choice on its own. Bottom line, not a poor man's S60.
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 "Volvo S60 T4")
 "OTR without Insurance at RM220k")
 "Differences with the T5's cabin are minute and barely noticeable.")
 "Engine displaces only 1.6 litres, but with a turbo, it packs quite a punch.")
 "Volvo's most dynamic model ever. Certainly has the poke to live up to the tag.")
 "17-inch alloys are wrapped around by Continental rubber.")
 "The floating centre console is as classy as ever. A little cluttered, but perfectly positioned.")
 "Instrument cluster layout is simple and easy to read.")
 "Rear design is very distinctive and widely approved.")
 "DRIVe is Volvo's answer to EfficientDynamics, BlueEfficiency and the lot.")
 "Decent boot space.")
 "Rear head room will be a little limited for tall passengers.")
 "Radar module on T5 is missing here, indicating slightly reduced levels of equipment.")
 "Keyless entry is available in T4 as well, but stopped working in our test car halfway through.")
 "Ignorance is not bliss. Blind Spot Info System is now standard in every Volvo.")
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