Today I drove a new S60 2.5T

I took my 2001 S80 2.9 in for a brake job and the dealer provided me with a
loan car. The loaner was a BRAND NEW '04 S60 with 13.5 miles on it. A
virgin.

Man! What a nice car.

A little smaller overall than I like. Not much room in the back seat when
the front seats are slid back, but heck I didn't have to sit back there
anyway. It had a good, solid, quiet feel. Lots of scoot, too.

I think what impressed me so much was that a couple of weeks ago my wife's
'98 M-B C230 needed some transmission work and I took it to my local M-B
dealer who also provided a loaner - one of their entry-level new C240's with
a standard naturally-aspirated 2.6L V6. That thing moved pretty well for a
small car too but I hated the cramped narrow seating area, and was amazed to
find that although it had a power adjuster for the seat back angle, the
actual fore & aft adjustment was manual. All my older Mercedes' have had
the power seat switches mounted in a handy position on the doors, but this
C240 had it stuck on the side of the seat and I guess my left hand was just
too big to reach it easily because the door panel was too close. The Volvo
on the other hand - ALSO had the power seat positioning switch on the side
of the seat but the car seemed wider and I had unobstructed access to it.
The whole car just felt good. Seemed solider too...but in fairness it was
several months old and had 13,000 miles on the odometer.

I was pretty impressed. I'm 6'1" and weigh 300 lbs. and I had plenty of
room. The S60 was quieter, rode better, accelerated better, had better
seats and upholstery with full power seat adjustment, and although it looks
a little truncated compared to my big S80 I sort of prefer its looks over
the C240.

Here's my point: my wife's '98 M-B is reaching an age where it may be wise
to replace it. On the basis of what I've seen in the past couple of weeks
I'm inclined to think the S60 is a MUCH better car.

Anybody have any comments - particularly somebody who has 2 or 3 years'
ownership experience with an S60 with the 2.5T engine?

Pat

 

I'm a lousy editor. The 'seemed solider' part above refers to the Volvo.
The 'in fairness' part refers to the M-B.

Pat

 

I've got friends with the 2.4T motor in their V70, and it's a damn fine
engine, they have 130K+ on it over the past 3 years, and not one engine
issue, just the gas cap related check engine light, they did have to fix the
DSTC system tho, but hey, that's on the first model year, bound to have
problems on a year one car.

It's a faster car then your S80 cuz you have the 2.9, not the 2.9T, unless
you didn't include the T. The 2.9L engine can only use a 4 speed gearbox,
where the 2.5T has a 5 speed.

If your 2.9L six is anything like its original design counterpart; the 960
engine, then I know why the S60 feels in general quite a bit faster. The
2.9L in the 960 hasn't got the good low end grunt of the turbo 5's, you
really need to wind it out to get the power down.

The S60 or V70 2.5T would be my car if I had the money for one...

 

I own a S60 D5, registered 10.11.2001 with now 122.000km on it (76250mls).
The engine is a 5 cylinder diesel, with 163hp, not known in the states, but
the most sold version in europe. Anyway, my S60 is a wonderful nice to ride
car. I like it very much. It had some small issues, but nothing real
exciting. Most things are fixed now in 2004 models. And all things are fixed
by my dealer.

My car is filled with GSM telefone, RTI, Leather, power drivers seat, and so
on. The equipment is very different between USversions and european
versions. Here leather, cruise control, power drivers seat and sure,
automatic transmission are options. On the other hand DSTC is standard.

Jürgen

 

Hi, Pat - - -

Most of us out here with S60's have the 2.4 engine. I love my '02
S60AWD (includes the "T"), but even though the reported numbers aren't
notably better, I feel that the 2.5 engine has more guts. It's the old
story of nothing being able to beat cubic inches - or cc's either!
Buying an '04, you have the benefit of the larger engine inclusion.

As to space, I have to admit that if the S80AWD had been available when
time to buy came around to act, I'd likely have gone that route. I was
looking seriously at the BMW 330xi, and took the wife down to give it a
try (same Dealer). She didn't complain about the space on the test hop,
but on returning to the Dealer, went and sat in the S60. Even though
she is likely even more of a Volvo lover than I, that was it. Just look
at the specs - being derived from the S80 chassis, the S60 has 2" more
track width than does the 330xi. That's a lot! Those chassis inches
translate directly to interior inches, too.

No service issues at just under 25K miles, just a thoroughly pleasant
ride. Overall fuel mileage at this point is about 24mpg - most tanks
are at that point, with the best ever just short of 30mpg. My friend
Juergen Schrader weighed in on this thread, but took mercy on those of
us in the U.S. by not mentioning his incredible diesel mileage on the
Autobahn.

bob noble
Reno, NV, USA

 

great car. WAAAY better than the little M-B C240 I drove for a couple of
days the previous week. I cannot exaggerate how much better. It puts the
competing C240 to absolute shame - and I have no axe to grind against
Mercedes. I own a Mercedes and a Volvo and am happy with both.

My concern is How Good is The S60 Turbo on a Long Term Basis? (My larger
S80 is 2-1/2 years old and has 42,000 miles and I've had no real problems
with it, but it is naturally-aspirated and perhaps a little less fussy.) By
the way - I'm new to Volvo. Unlike some of you guys I never owned one
before I bought my S80.

My wife doesn't get a new car as often as I do...so if we replace her C230
with something it better be a good car for a long time. Thanks again for
your thoughts.

Pat

PS - I even liked the color of that loaner. It's the same color as our M-B,
and ironically enough, I'm sick of looking at it on that car. Might be a
problem. Maybe I ought to check out some other colors too.

 

Hi Pat,

I see your concern is mostly about the reliability of turbo engines. I would
say: the VOLVO turbo 2.4 or the "new" 2.5 engines are good for at least some
200.000mls. I have no doubts about that. And they deliver a fine torque
moment. Sure, "normal" treatment "required". That means: no racing with cold
engine. But this is standard with all engines.

In the latest issue of the magazine "Auto Motor Sport" there was a
comparison test between BMW 330IX, Audi A4 3.0 Quattro and the S60 2.5T AWD.
The S60 2.5T AWD won. This is not very often here in germany that a
non-german car wins over a 2 german cars..... Sure, the overall differences
are small: 479 points to 474 and 473.

In my opinion you can`t do anything wrong with choosing a S60.

Jürgen

 

Thanks Jurgen. I am nearly convinced now. I'll discuss it with my wife,
after all it is going to be HER car, but right now I'm thinking we may
become a 2-Volvo family.

By the way, I posted a picture of my S80 2.9 on alt.binaries.pictures.autos
yesterday (P1310047.JPG). It will probably be visible for a couple of days
before it "times out".

Pat

 

Funny, because American magazines tend to never let the Volvo's win over the
German stuff....

 

My turbo was leaking oil at only 50K under normal driving condition.
Warranty replaced it with new.


People who can afford expensive cars should not worry themselves over a few
hundred dollars of parts. Enjoy the technology, maintain it well and if it
breaks down, get it fixed. Why worry over nothing.

 

But a Jaguar only has two seats and if you carry a mechanic around
whereever you go to fix it everytime something breaks, you don't have
room for a passenger

People are paying for reliability, not technology. If technology makes
something unreliable, it is CRAP.