Volvo S90 Review--VOLVO CONTINUES TO IMPRESS

This is the Volvo S90. This is the second car in a real Volvo renaissance. First of all, Volvo is a Swedish manufacturer that is owned by a Chinese parent company called Geely. Geely has invested a lot of money into Volvo to resurrect this brand. In North America, Volvo sales are not that strong, but in Europe, Volvo still is a force to be reckoned with. Last year, you might remember, they brought out the XC90 SUV. It won the North American Truck or SUV of the year. It won all kinds of design awards for the outside and the inside, and this is the second vehicle to be built on that platform. Now, large car sales are dropping in North America, being replaced by SUVs. So the product that's really going to help Volvo after that XC90 will be the XC60, the smaller compact crossover vehicle. But anyway, for people who are in the market for a luxurious mid-to-large size sedan, this car is stunning to look at. You notice right away, it's got a long, powerful hood, gives a sense of presence and power. You have a grille in the front that is reminiscent. The designers tried to make it concave and made it look like the P1800 grille from that iconic sports car from years ago. Even around the back, the way they have Volvo on the deck lid looks like those older cars, and the way that it's tilted up to give a nice reflection really is stylish. So this car is really all about Scandinavian luxury. So it's very handsome on the outside. I do like the aggressive-looking headlamps, very clean sheet design. It's not over-styled in any way. It's the opposite. It's very understated and subdued and looks very classy. Has a long, low, and wide stance that makes it look aggressive and sporty. It's the inside, though, that really gets people excited. Now, the inside of this S90 picks up exactly where the XC90 left off. It has a minimalist, pure Scandinavian luxury approach with the finest materials that you're going to see really in any car. It's all centered around the screen. You basically do all of the interactions with the screen. So all of the connections you have with the car are either done on the steering wheel or this sort of iPad-on-its-side look, and it takes a little while to get used to. There is a bit of a learning curve, but once you kind of master all the main commands of this system, you learn it quite quickly. But what sort of overshadows all of that is the finish and the level of detail in these new modern Volvos. They've always had, I think, some of the most comfortable seats in the auto industry, and then you match that to wonderful materials. So you get this wonderful contrast between high-tech with the screen in the center and sort of old-world craftsmanship. Open-pore wood, beautifully stitched leather, wonderful finishes on the inside, chrome. The ignition switch is still here in the center of the console. Here's a small thing, but I love it, is the fact they've got carpet all the way up the center of the console. Now it seems like something silly and small, but a lot of times there's hard plastic there that's nice and soft to the touch. Nice looking steering wheel, a virtual screen behind the steering wheel to give you your instrument cluster. The back seat of this car is large, so this is competing with the E-Class and 5 Series in terms of size, but it has plenty of room in the back seat. A very minimalist approach, the latest tech combined with old-world craftsmanship, and it all comes off as absolutely something unique in the automotive industry. So this has the same engine that's in the XC90. Now think of that, that's a three-row, seven-passenger crossover vehicle with a turbo and supercharged four-cylinder engine. It's the same engine that's in this sedan, has a slipperier shape, lower to the ground, 316 horsepower, and very usable bottom-end grunt, because you've got the supercharger for getting off the line and the turbocharger for RPM, and it really all works together. It even has kind of a rewarding sound, which you wouldn't expect from a four-cylinder powerplant. And the car feels fairly light and agile on its feet. I wouldn't put it in the most dynamic category, but it certainly is rewarding. On top of that, there's a dial here, you can go from Eco to Comfort to Dynamic, Eco for the best efficiency, the everyday mode, and Dynamic. The nice thing I like about Dynamic, you can keep it in that setting to firm up the suspension, make the steering heavier, and better throttle response, but it doesn't keep the engine jacked up in high RPMs. But when you just put your toe into it, it is much more responsive. So they've done all of that very well. It's a very comfortable car. I would love to take this on a cross-country bomber. It would be a lot of fun. So, you know, think about other cars that are in this category. I would suggest that the new E-Class maybe has as avant-garde, if more avant-garde interior than this car, a little bit more blingy. This one's more subdued. The 5 Series is getting kind of old on the inside. This car has a much more sophisticated looking interior and polished as well. So they all have their own sort of feel and place. The E-Class, probably the most subdued of the bunch. The 5 Series, maybe the most aggressive. And this might just be the Goldilocks of the bunch. Now, Volvo calls this a four-door coupe, and we're seeing that a lot in the auto industry. It's kind of a silly term, but it's out there. The one that this competes against is the car that I own, is the Audi A7. It doesn't have the same kind of grunt as the A7, because I've got that big V6 turbocharged diesel. And it's not as quiet, but I can see what they're going for here. And they've got a lot of style and a lot of power under the hood to back it up. Along with advanced safety systems that Volvo is known for, the S90 features Pilot Assist. This is a semi-autonomous system that aids the driver in driving at many different speeds. At low speeds, for example, the driver can take their foot off the brake and the accelerator. And the Volvo S90 will maintain a safe distance from the car in front. If the car in front speeds up, the S90 will speed up. If it slows down, it'll slow down as well. Steering is also semi-autonomous, but the driver needs to keep their hands on the wheel. At higher speeds, the Pilot Assist will keep the vehicle in its lane, maintain speed, and also assist with steering. So this S90 starts around $57,000. This inscription version starts at $63,000. Plus there's optional packages you could put on top of that. It's going to be interesting to see the T8, the plug-in hybrid. That's going to come. But I think a lot of people are going to be excited by the V90 that's coming in the beginning of 2017 to North America. The estate wagon built on this platform that really looks spectacular. Kind of a cross between a sedan and an SUV and a beautiful looking estate. I think that will be something to see. This car is beautiful on the outside and the inside. The sedan market, as I mentioned, really is dropping in sales. People are going to SUVs. So it'll be interesting to see how it sells. Thanks for watching and it really does help if you can subscribe. If you'd like to watch a review of the Volvo XC90 SUV, click the picture on the left.