Newswheel @ Geneva: Volvo S80
Newswheel staff :: 02 March 2006 :: Filed under Saloon, Volvo, Volvo S80, Europe & UK, Trade shows, US,
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Pure class
Simple, understated elegance. Not much of that in evidence on the Geneva show floor this year. Mercedes, for instance, gave up on it over a decade ago. Audi, of course, has recently binned it in favour of garish grilles and exaggerated body creases. BMW’s Bangle-era barges are about as restrained as Dick Cheney in huntin’ season. And the less said about the chintz-fest that is Jaguar’s current range (new XK aside) the better. So, it falls to Volvo, among the premium Euro brands, to go after the discreet money with the rather lovely new S80…(high res piccies just a finger twitch away)
Safe to say, we reckon, the S80 successfully completes Volvo’s transition from maker of boxy, functional vehicles to purveyor of impeccably elegant and well resolved cars. Those occasionally awkward details and proportions that prevented the outgoing S80 from being a genuine looker have been entirely banished. It also raises Volvo’s game a notch or two in terms build quality, panel gaps and the like. 
Inside, likewise, the Swedes have pulled off another prize winner. OK, perceived quality of both construction and materials remains a whisker behind the best from Audi. But with the S80, the gap appears to have narrowed to such vanishingly small proportions we doubt many prospective buyers will notice. And with Audi’s ever more driver-focused interiors beginning to teeter on the edge of naffness, it’s now even easier for the deft symmetry and minimalism of Volvo’s interior design ethic to make the opposition look like a bunch of try hards. That said, we’d avoid the optional glossy wood overload applied to a number of the show cars. It’s a bit uncouth.
Volvo’s signature floating fascia (bottom) makes another appearence
Bung in the S80’s new 315bhp V8 and four-wheel drive options and should the usual German suspects simply stay in bed? Possibly. But in the metal the S80 is almost too restrained for its own good. More to the point, the taut surfaces and tapering extremities are probably too effective at disguising the car’s bulk. It’s far less imposing than the original S80 and that may be too much of a good thing for those who at least want to whisper their elevated status to onlookers.
Who’d a thunk it - Volvo flogs the most delicately sweeping C-pillars in town…
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