Before Buying The 2023 Volvo S60, 10 Things To Know
The new Volvo S60 sedan offers class, comfort, and luxury with several cool standard features.
10Â Classy Exterior Styling
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The third generation of the Volvo S60 which hit the American market in 2019 is one of the best-looking luxury compact sedans in the segment. With no major design changes from this 2019 model, other than the inclusion of a few design packages and subtle updates to the front silhouette, the 2023 Volvo S90 does turn heads when out on the road.
We admire the clean proportions of the S60 coupled with the elegant LED headlights and taillights, beautifully crafted front end with dual air vents and a large grille, and multiple blacked-out elements. The Black Edition package offers glossy black detailing in the form of black 19″ wheels, rank marks, and grille, all of which help it to stand out well. The 8 exterior color palettes and multiple alloy wheel design give it the required customizability too.
9Â Beautifully Crafted Interior
Step into the cabin of the 2023 Volvo S60 and you would be impressed with the overall feel and design this moniker from Sweden comes with. The cabin looks very different from any of its German rivals and that is something many prospective buyers are going to appreciate. The Nappa leather upholstery makes it a comfortable cruiser and the panoramic sunroof brings in a lot of light.
Instead of the boring design of the rivals, the Volvo S60 gets a beautifully crafted dashboard with a neatly integrated infotainment and digital gauge cluster display. The crystal shifter, premium leather inserts, and metal mesh inserts on the center console add to the premium factor too.
8Â Comfortable Cabin
The 2023 Volvo S60 turned out to be superior to the other compact luxury sedans in terms of height, width, and wheelbase, and all of these helped the moniker to come out with one of the best overall cabin room. The front seats offer 37.4″ of headroom and 42.3″ of legroom, both of which are superior to the Audi A4 and BMW 3 Series.
Even the rear row has nothing to complain about as there is more than enough space for three passengers to seat in comfortably. The only gripe is the slightly protruding transmission tunnel of the S60. When it comes to cargo space, the 11.6 cu ft is just about adequate for the class. However, there are more than enough storage spaces inside the cabin.
7Â Turbocharged Four-Cylinder Resides Under The Hood
The base non-hybrid Momentum trim comes with the B5 powertrain under the hood. This is a 2.0-liter turbocharged direct injection inline-4 motor that comes with no hybrid assist and produces 247 hp and 258 lb-ft of torque. The power is put down through the FWD or AWD drivetrains and the transmission duties are handled by an 8-speed automatic.
The 0-60 MPH comes in 6.1 seconds and the car could achieve a top speed of 131 MPH. The gearbox is plenty fast and that helps the S60 to come out with acceleration figures better than that of the Audi A4 and Cadillac CT-5. However, the 2023 BMW 3 Series offered a faster 0-60 MPH time of 5.3 seconds.
6Â There Is A Plug-In Hybrid Trim
The plug-in hybrid powertrain is offered with the Recharge trims of the S60. It gives better performance and acceleration than the B5 non-hybrid powertrain, along with superior gas mileage. Coming with the 2.0-liter direct injection turbocharged and supercharged inline-4 engine mated to an electric motor, it produces an impressive 400 hp and 472 lb-ft of torque.
The punchy powertrain that comes with the S60 Recharge makes sure that you get the best of the acceleration and performance in the compact PHEV luxury sedan segment. The 0-60 MPH time of 4.3 seconds and the quarter-mile time of 13.1 seconds makes it faster than BMW 330e and Lexus ES 300h. The AWD drivetrain comes as standard too.
5Â A Polestar Version Is Offered Too
Like the outgoing 2022 model, the 2023 Volvo S60 can be had with the coveted Recharge Polestar Engineered trim if you want a more aggressive acceleration and driving dynamics from a compact luxury sedan. Offered for a base MSRP of $68,050, the performance turned out to be even better than the regular Recharge trim, and it also gets many Polestar-specific updates to the interior, exterior, and mechanicals.
It also comes with the Ohlins chassis, forged 19″ alloy wheels, and brakes from Akebono, all of which make sure that it puts a wide grin on the driver’s face. Producing 453 hp and 523 lb-ft of torque helps the car to reach 60 MPH from a standstill in just 5.1 seconds, beating all the high-performance trims from the competitors. The interior and exterior upgrades in the form of Nappa leather upholstery, Orrefors crystal gear selector, sport steering wheel, interior high-level illumination, and Polestar 19″ alloy wheels are offered too.
4Â The Base Non-Hybrid Powertrain Is Frugal
The 2.0-liter turbocharged inline-4 engine that resides under the hood of the base Momentum trim of the 2023 Volvo S60 makes it a frugal daily driver. It offered 26 MPG in the city and 35 MPG on the highway, equating to combined gas mileage of 30 MPG.
With a fuel tank capacity of 15.9-gallons, the 2022 Volvo S60 offers a highway range of 556 miles as well. However, if you want an even more frugal daily driver, we would recommend you to opt for the Recharge plug-in hybrid trims as it offers 74 MPGe and an electric-only range of 41 miles.
3Â Comes With All The Safety And Driver-Assistance Techs
Volvo is a brand that is quite famous for its unmatched safety and the ethos is carried forward to this 2023 model year of the S60 as well. The car offers solid build quality and this unibody design is constructed in the SPA platform of Volvo. All the basic safety features aren’t skimped as well.
Along with that, it also comes loaded with all the driver-assistance techs like rear cross-traffic alert, forward collision monitoring system, automated emergency braking, blindspot monitoring system, lane departure warning, and lane keeping assist. It received a 5-star overall crash safety rating in the NHTSA crash test too.
2Â Gets A Tablet Style Infotainment System
The Sensus Connect 9″ touchscreen infotainment system comes as standard with all the trims of the 2023 Volvo S60. It gets the digital service pack and Google comes built-in. As a result, all the apps like Google Assistant, Google Maps, and Google Play are onboard. You can also download any other apps according to your wish from the Play Store.
Other connectivity and entertainment features like Android Auto, Apple CarPlay, SiriusXM radio, steering wheel controls, voice recognition, and Bluetooth are standard too. The audio is played through a 10-speaker audio system, however, you can also get the Bowers & Wilkins 1,400 watts 15-speaker audio system as well.
1Â Many Changes From The Outgoing Model
One of the major aspects of going with the 2023 Volvo S60 instead of the 2022 model at a discounted price is due to the long list of upgrades it comes with. There has been shuffling of trim configurations and the naming for the powertrains have also been changed. The T8 PHEV powertrain now offers a better electric-only range, even though there are no changes to the power and torque output.
When it comes to the packages, a new Black Edition and Advance package are on offer. The Advance package adds in an enhanced air filtration system and the Black Edition package gives the S60 many blacked-out elements. There are some design changes and some of the trims have missed out on a few features as well.