Volvos are known to be one of the safest cars to be in. The Volvo S60 was one of the first cars offered by the Swedish car maker in India back in 2011. The midsize luxury sedan has had two updates since with the addition of the S60 Cross Country to the range in March 2016.
The Volvo S60 gets the trademark Volvo grille with the logo at the centre. The S60 lines are curvy yet muscular with the louvred bonnet and a sculpted front bumper. It gets twin barrel headlamps with projector units and fog lamps mounted on the bumper. While the shoulder line climbs towards the boot, the roofline slopes in to it. The L-shaped tail lamps flank the prominent ‘VOLVO’ badge on the boot lid.
Inside the car you have a fairly dated but a functional dashboard. It gets a display screen for the infotainment system and the vertical phone keypad like layout for the buttons. It gets the bells and whistles of a luxury sedan with cruise control, power adjustable seats with memory function, steering mounted audio controls, sunroof et al. The upholstery is in leather and includes the three spoke steering wheel too. You also get a sunroof on the top spec car.
The S60 is offered with three engine options - the T6 petrol and two turbo-diesels. The 2.0-litre twin charged four cylinder engine car launched last year develops 306bhp of power and 400Nm of torque. The diesel options develop 181bhp and 215bhp of power respectively from the 2.0-litre and the 2.4-litre five cylinder turbo-diesel engines. The Volvos are all mated to an eight-speed automatic gearbox except for the 2.4-litre engine which gets a six-speed gearbox. The S60 cross country is offered with a Haldex all-wheel-drive option which has the capacity to go from 95: 5 to 50: 50 torque split between the front and the rear.
The Volvo S60 is ideally a Mercedes C-Class, BMW 3 series and Audi A4 competitor with the latest Jaguar XE adding to the list. The S60 cross country can be pitched against the Mercedes GLA, the BMW X1 and the Mini Countryman owing to its four-wheel-drive and higher ground clearance.
