  2015 Volvo S60 T6 FWD & 2015 Volvo V60 T5 FWD. Click image to enlarge |
Review and photos by Peter Bleakney
Las Vegas – Sexy Volvo wagon. Yes, you read that right. No, it is not an oxymoron. At least not anymore, now that the 2015 Volvo V60 has hit our shores.
And be assured, our long-suffering Volvo retailers are welcoming this fetching five-door with all the relish of a pack of starving pooches staring down a sack of meatballs.
For the past few years, Volvo has been pretty slim in the product department. But like the proverbial duck in the pond, the calm upper part wasn’t giving away the furious paddling beneath. There’s been a lot going on at Volvo, and we’re seeing the initial phases of what will be Volvo’s largest product rollout in its history.
In mid-2010 Ford sold Volvo to Chinese corporation Geely, and since then there has been a US$11 billion investment in the Swedish automaker. All engineering and development is still done is Sweden, as is most of the manufacturing, although Volvo just opened a plant in China.
Our 2015 models, spearheaded by the V60 sport wagon, represent Phase 2 of the plan that will eventually see all Volvo passenger vehicles using variations of an all-new 2.0L four-cylinder Drive-E powertrain.
Phase 1 constituted last year’s interior and exterior cosmetic changes. Phase 3 will see the adoption of Volvo’s new modular SPA platform, with the first of these vehicles being the 2016 XC90 crossover, arriving spring of 2015.
Volvo’s fully in-house-developed direct-injection 2.0L four-banger is available here in two flavours – single turbo (240 hp, 258 lb-ft/280 overboost), or twincharged – turbocharger and supercharger (302 hp, 295 lb-ft). Both are mated to an Aisin eight-speed automatic transmission.
The engine/tranny Drive-E combo is also prepped for ready electrification, which we will see in the future. No plans for the diesel in North America for now.
Drive-E is available right across our 2015 Volvo lineup – S60, V60, XC60 crossover, S80, XC70 wagon – but only with front-wheel-drive. We won’t see all-wheel-drive Drive-Es until the SPA-platform vehicles come on line.
  302 hp Drive-E in 2015 Volvo XC60 & 2015 Volvo V60 T5 FWD. Click image to enlarge |
So if you want all-wheel-drive in your 2015 Volvo, you’ll choose between a trio of carryover engines – the 2.5L turbo-five, 3.0L turbo straight-six or naturally aspirated 3.2L straight-six – depending on the model.
But for now, let’s look at the 2015 V60, which is a wagon version of the S60 sedan. While not a fresh piece in Europe, it is new to North America and will surely tempt the Volvo wagon fans among us.
As of mid-January this sport wagon with familiar five- and six-cylinder engines is in Canadian dealerships. The Drive-E four-cylinder model shows up in the spring. The 2015 V60 will be available in five trims – the T5 (240-hp Drive-E four-cylinder FWD), T5 AWD (250-hp five-cylinder AWD), T6 AWD (300-hp six-cylinder AWD) and T6 R-Design (325-hp six-cylinder AWD).
We drove a pre-production base front-drive $39,800 V60 T5 equipped with optional sports suspension, 19-inch alloys and wearing Power Blue paint. Claimed fuel economy is 9.4 L/100 km city, 6.3 L/100 km highway and 8.1 L/100 km combined. At the conclusion of our mostly highway drive, the onboard computer showed 8.2 L/100 km.
  2015 Volvo V60 T5 FWD. Click image to enlarge |
If you’ve been in an S60 sedan, then the V60’s interior will be familiar. It features exceptional build quality, interesting textures, superb seats and a style all its own – a kind of clean Nordic simplicity with most controls huddled on the “floating” centre console. The buttons are small and fussy but we do like the stylized chromed humanoid HVAC control. [George! – Ed.]
We also like the adaptive TFT (thin film transistor) central gauge display that was introduced on the 2014 models. It offers three “themes” – Performance, Elegance, and Eco.
Volvo tells us the 2.0L four-cylinder engines weigh about 45 kg less than the five- and six-cylinder units, and this V60 does indeed feel less nose-heavy.
The single-turbo 2.0L performs well. It has a broad torque band and is helped in no small part by the eight-speed auto that shifts smoothly and keeps the engine in the meaty part of power delivery. Paddle shifters are standard, and like the eight-speed ZF transmission that BMW uses, this Aisin unit responds immediately to flicks of the fingers.
There are three drive modes, with Sport and Eco+ on either side of the default Drive mode. Sport calls up more aggressive gearbox mapping with further manual control from the paddles while Eco+ relaxes the shift algorithm, reduces throttle sensitivity, alters the HVAC and has the auto start/stop shutting the engine down before the car rolls to a stop.
 2015 Volvo V60 T5 FWD. Click image to enlarge |
Like all modern direct-injection fours, this one exhibits some diesel-like clatter at idle, is slightly gruff when stepping off and doesn’t have a lot of character. But it moves the wagon out smartly and efficiently. Welcome to the future.
On the road, the V60 is everything we’ve come to expect from this platform. It’s an exceptional tourer, eating up the highway miles with composed serenity. And those chairs (optional sport seats in this tester) will keep your backside happy for an eternity.
Back seat room is adequate for two adults. Just.
Get the V60 on some twisty blacktop and it gets the job done but doesn’t inspire you to hustle. There’s not a lot of playful harmony between the steering and chassis, but then again, we know that about this car.
You love a Volvo for its other attributes. The electric power steering has three selectable weights – I preferred the middle one.
Of course, besides looking pretty darn slick, this sport wagon adds a layer of utility over the S60 sedan. Traditional Volvo wagon owners might carp over the fact they can’t carry that fridge back from the Brick in the V60, but despite its rakish roofline there is still a functional cargo area that expands to a flat load floor with the 40/20/40 rear seats folded. There’s hidden compartment under the floor too.
One might well ask, if Volvo wants to swim with the big fish, is it wise to completely abandon six-cylinder power? Trust the Swedes to be different.
  2015 Volvo V60 T5 FWD. Click image to enlarge |
The answer lies in the supercharged and turbocharged version of this 2.0L unit. It puts out the requisite 300+ horses and, according to Volvo, handily bests all six-cylinder competitors when it comes to fuel economy.
While this twin-blower version is not found in the V60 sport wagon, it is available in the 2015 S60 sedan and XC60 crossover.
In the S60 T6 FWD (starting $42,850) we tested, there was no lack of urge, showing considerably more punch off the line thanks to the supercharger that huffs air into the cylinders right off idle. Between 2,000 and 3,000 rpm is a transition zone where the supercharger fades out and the turbo comes on line. Power delivery is linear and immediate, and this engine has more character than the single turbo unit – I quite enjoyed that faint supercharger whine at lower revs.
The S60 T6 FWD returned 9.0 L/100 over a 200 mile journey. I also experienced this engine in the 2015 XC60 T6 AWD ($46,350 start), and it had no problem hustling the hefty crossover through the boulevards of Vegas.
A word on nomenclature. Moving forward, the T6 and T5 badges no longer refer to cylinder count. T5 = 200 to 250 hp, and T6 = 250 to 300+ hp.
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There’s a lot riding on this new modular engine strategy from Volvo. Like, oh, the entire future of what’s left of the Swedish auto industry. But I’d say they are on to something here. Not only is the supercharged/turbocharged strategy petty cool and unique (yes, VW has a 1.4L unit in Europe), it delivers on its promise of power and efficiency.
Back to the sexy wagon. Efficient front-wheel-drive four-cylinder power is all very nice, but my advice would be to go for the 55 grand V60 T6 AWD R-Design Platinum in Rebel Blue. With its 325-hp turbo six-pot, your Billy bookcase will make it home from Ikea in a quarter of the time it takes to find out that pesky fastener is missing.
Competitors:
Audi Allroad
BMW 3-Series Touring
Cadillac CTS Sport Wagon
