A driving enthusiast with three kids, I'm always interested in driving manual-shift sedans and wagons in the $30,000 range. I visited a Volvo dealer interested in driving any S60 or V70 they had with a manual transmission. The only such car this dealer had in stock was a base S60, so that was what I drove.

More recently I tested the other end of the S60 range, the high-performance R. That review can be found here. This review evaluates the base sedan.

Volvo S60 Reliability

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Styling

Through the late 1990s Volvo’s were widely regarded as some of the least stylish cars on the road. Although beginning in the early 1980s some concessions were made to aerodynamics, none were made for aesthetics. Nary a curve was to be found. Somehow this boxiness did not hurt Volvo’s sales. Many loyal customers even found its cars’ simple lines appealing for their connotation of simplicity and strength. Their distinctiveness was also a draw—those Volvos could be mistaken for nothing else.

To grow beyond its loyal base Volvo recently began endowing its cars with more flowing lines. It first cast aside its proud frumpiness with the 1998 C70 coupe. However, this new, curvy body was based on the existing 850/S70 platform, and was a coupe, and thus was of limited significance. After all, a few times in past decades Volvo had sold a stylish coupe. Real change began with the 1999 S80 sedan, the top of the Volvo line. The S80 contained more stylish curves than any previous Volvo sedan, most notably an elegantly sweeping roofline and beltline. Lest all continuity be lost, these curves were highlighted by strong creases and sharp edges. Thanks to these, and a strong shoulder running the length of the car a few inches below the beltline, the new S80 retained a visual solidity that clearly said “Volvo.”

These days every car company seeks to cut costs by sharing basic engineering elements across models. In Volvo’s case, a pair of smaller vehicles were derived from the S80’s platform: the 2001 S60 sedan and V70 wagon. The S60 is nearly ten inches shorter than the S80 in length. The V70 wagon, meant to serve as a companion to both sedans, falls between them in length. (Click on hyperlinks to go to my reviews of related vehicles.) One result of this platform sharing: although the S60 is roughly the same length as other European luxury compacts (BMW 3-Series, Mercedes C-Class, Audi A4), it is roughly the same width as European midsize cars (5-Series, E-Class, A6). More on this later.

In exterior styling, the S60 strongly resembles the S80, only with more compact proportions and a more sweeping roofline. It is easily the best-looking Volvo sedan yet, both elegant and sporty. It’s main aesthetic weakness to my eye is a touch of slabbishness in the bodysides, intentionally put there to provide a link to the past. Given the obvious value of retaining Volvo’s image of safety and durability, this concession seems a wise tradeoff. All in all, a masterful design update if not quite a beauty.

Similarly, although some people might wish the two sedans looked less alike, I personally believe that a shared aesthetic across a brand’s models makes a brand stronger. Especially when a brand is as small as Volvo it cannot afford to go off in many different stylistic directions. (I’m not sure large brands can afford this either.)

Volvos’ interiors, which all look alike, have also been made more stylish, but not to the same degree. Rectinlinear lines continue to dominate, softened only through rounded faceplate corners and soft-touch materials and controls. The overall look recalls Scandanavian furniture (if not quite so much as the interior of the new BMW 745i) in its connotation of restrained luxury. Material quality is roughly equivalent to VW’s, which is to say it falls between that of good mainstream brands (Honda, Toyota) and the better luxury brands (Audi, Lexus).

Two details catch my eye in these new interiors. Air vent selection is controlled through three large adjoining buttons on which a seated person is outlined. Very intuitive. To direct air to your feet, push the button on which the feet are drawn, and so on. Overall the minor controls are designed and arranged more logically than in other European luxury sedans. “Good design” in the European sense goes beyond styling to include usability. This is good design in the European sense. The second detail is present in manual-transmission cars: the shifter is wrapped not in a boot but in a curved piece of hard silver plastic which slides around beneath a similarly finished rounded bezel. It looks somewhat like a computer joystick. I suppose the intent might have been to connote high-tech. It is distinctive, but I’m not sure it fits the rest of the interior.

Accommodations

The S60 combines the length of a compact with the width of a midsize. Consequently, it offers the legroom of a compact and the shoulder room of a midsize. An interesting combination.

In the front seat there is plenty of room in all directions. Owing to its width, the S60 feels like a midsize car to the driver and front passenger. This carries over to the basic character of the car, such that it feels much larger than the compact Germans with which it competes.

Volvo has long been known for large, comfortable seats. People of all sizes should be pleased with the comfort of the S60's seats. Aside from their size, they are less firm than those found in German cars, yet still provide support in all the right places. For driving long distances, I can think of few better. One major issue for me, though: The seat in the base S60 is too flat and slick to hold the driver in place during aggressive driving.

The driving position provides good but not great visibility. The view forward is much like that in the German competition, maybe even a little better. The top of the dash is high enough to suggest luxury but not so high as to impede visibility or provide that “in a bathtub” feeling I personally dislike. (The top of the dash in the smaller S40/V40 is considerably higher, such that I do not like to even sit in the front seats of those cars.) The view to the rear is hampered somewhat by large headrests, those sweeping pillars, and a moderately high rear deck. Still, I felt comfortable using the mirrors to change lanes.

The rear seat is not quite so happy a place to be. Headroom and kneeroom are limited back there, especially if the front seat occupants are tall and put their seats most of the way back. People taller than 5'10" or so will have to scrunch down in the seat to avoid contact with the ceiling. To provide even such limited headroom given the steeply raked rear roofline, the seat cushion is moderately low. Nevertheless, decent thigh support is provided by a raked seat cushion--outboard rear seat passengers are cosseted in a pocket. Comfy—as long as these passengers are not tall. Three back here would be a squeeze, and the person in the middle will not be happy.

If you want a better rear seat, the solution is the V70 wagon, which provides two inches more rear legroom and an inch more rear headroom.

Trunk space is typical for an upscale compact (i.e. adequate but nothing to rave about). The opening is a bit tight owing to the car's styling (a common issue these days). The rear seat folds in two parts. The headrests must be tilted forward first, but this isn’t hard. Bucking a recent trend (the new Acura TSX, for instance), the pass through created by folding the seats is generously sized.

Overall, accommodations are typical for this class of car. I read somewhere that the S60 was controversial within Volvo because it compromised functionality for the sake of style. These compromises have been noted: rear seat headroom and the size of the trunk opening. I suspect most people will willingly pay this price for the stylishly raked rear roofline. I certainly find the S60 much easier on the eyes than the S70 (nee 850) sedan it replaced.

On the Road

The base S60 felt a bit prosaic for a niche brand, in character falling somewhere between a Camry and a Passat (not quite as bland as the former, but not as distinctly European as the latter). All in all, such a bland driving experience (with the exception of its five-pot “song”) that I could not summon up the will to write up the review until now.

Details: The 168-horsepower five-cylinder engine sounded coarse and the shifter lacked slickness and was long of throw. Acceleration was marginal for a near-luxury European import. The brakes were strong, as they have been in all Volvos I have driven lately. Thankfully they were not as touchy as those in the V70 wagon I tested a couple of years ago.

With five cylinders, the S60's engine will never sound nearly as sweet as a good six, or even a mediocre six. It's exhaust unmuffled by a turbo, the base car has the roughest sounding engine in the line.

Why doesn’t Volvo (and Saab for that matter) just join the crowd and equip its cars with larger, normally aspirated sixes? The explanation generally given is fuel economy. The R’s EPA numbers are 21/28. The 240-horsepower 3.0-liter six in the Accord earns 21/30 even with an automatic transmission. So much for the fuel economy argument.

Handling bordered on mediocre, with firm-yet-numb steering and more lean in turns than I expect from a European sedan. The car felt fairly solid, but so does a good Japanese sedan these days. The ride quality and noise level (when cruising) were good, but nothing exceptional.

The car I drove did not have the $750 sport package. This package does not alter the seats or suspension, so my complaints in these areas would remain.

Pricing

For quick, up-to-date pricing, and especially user-specified price comparisons, check out the website I created: www.truedelta.com. Why yet another vehicle pricing website? Well, I personally lacked the patience to keep using the others. They were too slow and required too much effort, especially when trying to compare prices. So I taught myself some programming and created a site where there is no need to dig through option packages, prerequisites, and the like one by one -- the TrueDelta algorithm figures these out for you in one swift pass.

The following is from when the review was originally written:

Even the base S60 when equipped with heated leather seats and a sunroof breaks the $30,000 barrier. The car is clearly not worth the $30,600 it lists for. For that price, many other cars make more sense. The market seems to agree. As I write this, the typical selling price for this car is $25,100, according to Edmunds. This, however, includes a $5,000 factory-to-dealer incentive to get rid of the 2003s because the 2004s are already out. A similarly equipped 2004 lists for $31,190 and typically sells for $30,500. For that kind of money I’d rather have a Cadillac CTS, Infiniti G35, or even a Saab 9-3.

A tougher question for Volvophiles: this car or the 2004.5 S40? Given that incentives currently make the prices of the two about the same, I'm inclined to go with the S60 in 2.5T form (a much better value than the base S60). It's better looking, better riding, and has more comfortable seats. But to really say I'd have to drive them back-to-back.

Final words

The S60 is stylish, comfortable, and safe. However, it’s engine lacks refinement and the car’s acceleration and handling are both mediocre. In this price range many other cars are preferable.

To learn more about my reliability research and sign up to participate in it, or to perform thorough new car price comparisons, visit www.truedelta.com. A link to this website and alphabetized links to my other vehicle reviews can be found on my profile page.

Amount Paid (US$): 30,500
Model Year: 2003
Model and Options: Base S60, manual, heated leather, sunroof