2002 Volvo S80 Review

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2001 Volvo S60 T5 by Eric Peters (7/2/2001)
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It's been a few years since Volvo wowed the automotive community with its introduction of the S80, a surprisingly sexy luxury sedan that didn't look like a box. Packed full of Volvo's safety innovations, it opened up a new market segment for the company, providing existing Volvo owners something to move up to (indeed, a third of S80 purchasers did just that), while providing the market at large a peek at what this stodgy old Swede could do.

But when your stated competitive group included the Acura 3.5 RL, Audi A6, BMW 5-Series, Cadillac Seville, Jaguar S-Type, Lexus GS300, Lincoln Continental and LS, Mercedes-Benz E-Class, Oldsmobile Aurora, and Saab 9-5--strong personalities all--it's hard to make a distinctive impression. Volvo's traditional values of safety and engineering have, with varying degrees of success, been appropriated by competitors. When entry price hovers at the $40,000 threshold, strong performance and/or luxury statements are mandatory, and the base S80 2.9 has had trouble finding a voice, losing recognition even to its testosterone-tweaked, twin-turbo twin, the S80 T-6.

Serious progress