For a very long time, you bought a Volvo because you were all grown up, of a liberal mindset, of above-average education in the environmental/social sciences field and politically aware.
And as boring as the cars themselves.
For a very long time, Volvo might as well have painted all its cars dry-grass beige and issued a family’s worth of canvas sandals with every sale, because their cars looked like that.
Sprout eaters who sang We Shall Overcome and Kumbaya at school board elections all bought, or hankered after, a Volvo.
And it was all Volvo’s own fault, for being bloodless, politically correct and devoid of passion as it seemed to design cars with an “excuse me for living” attitude. One could have sworn that many of those who made Volvos actually disliked cars.
And, as a result, nobody with the least bit of passion for something special would have anything to do with them.
Which was sad, because under the skin of every Volvo there was quite a nice car just waiting for the opportunity to escape the mediocre chrysalis and sprout colour.
Those intelligent sprout-eaters knew a good thing when they saw it. Apart from the odd hiccup here and there, Volvo has always been known for delivering well-built automobiles with a high safety rating.
It does not appear as if that has changed. But what has changed is that some Volvos are starting to look better.
Like the red V60 T6 all-wheel drive I had in my driveway recently. And then I am going to spoil my whole argument by saying red does not actually suit the car.
But then, neither will dry-grass beige.
And, once you drive this car, you will find it has a blood-red, pulsating heart, because it goes rather well, especially in the twisty bits.
Now, as all Volvo aficionados have come to know, the V60 is the station wagon. S60 is the sedan. And Volvo’s wagons have always been a bit special. Over the years, it has made the best of them. Sometimes, one could be tempted to say it should stick to building wagons rather than sedans.
And it still remains, after all the years of driving cars for a living, a special feeling for me to drive a wagon that is as hot as a hot sedan and, on top of it, handles as well as a sedan.
The Volvo boffins will be quick to tell you the V60 is fitted with Advanced Stability Control. With a new roll angle sensor, it is possible to identify any skidding tendency at a very early stage, they say.
This means that the anti-skid system can step in earlier and with greater precision. And then it also has Corner Traction Control, a new feature that uses torque vectoring so the car corners even more smoothly. This technology is said to be a further refinement of the Dynamic Stability and Traction Control system.
Whatever. It works rather well.
The T6 petrol engine has a displacement of three litres and produces 224kW and 440Nm of torque. Volvo claims an acceleration from 0-100km/h of 6.2sec. I got there or thereabouts in an informal, non-tech test, so it must be right.
Fuel consumption was not too shabby either for a car with this kind of voomah. Over my roughly 500km of test driving, I returned 11.1 litres/100km and, I am sure, one could do better if one tried. I didn’t, because the willing engine and sweet transmission called my name…
Inside, things are also less bland than they used to be, even if they are by no means as sparkly as those of, say, an Audi A4.
At R474 600, this car is not a bargain, but it compares well in its segment and is definitely worth considering. - Argus Motoring