Volvo S60 Test Drive

Volvo S60

Had some free time on my lunch and decided to check out Volvo having no idea what to expect there.  Well they have this really nice looking S60 AWD sedan with 300 hp turbocharged engine.  So in I went and set myself up with a test drive.  They also have 1.9% lease rates and free AWD ($2,200 rebate) I quickly found out.  So sales guy was more than accommodating, never even took a copy of my license just told me to go have fun and show the car to whoever wanted to see it…. Now this guy knows how to sell cars.  So it has the standard upscale sedan keyless entry and push button start…. which is a cool feature.  I really liked the leather seats, they were very comfortable, on par with the bmw seats.  Nice interior layout, had a few more buttons and gadgets than the bmw, which can be good and bad.  The BMW is for driving, not for button pressing.  I actually had a hard time figuring out how to change the radio station on the Volvo, seriously, it is not intuitive at all.  There is a nice little video screen for all the audio but I could see someone really struggling to get their favorite channel on.  Imagine trapped in a Volvo with nothing but country music to keep you company…..

So once I figured all the buttons out and set the heat up to nice and toasty I promptly opened the sunroof, put the window down and set out down

Topsail Road

to the highway.  You can feel the 300 hp, it is not primarily rear wheel drive like the bmw so you don’t get the huge push from behind but this thing is really quick, definitely quick enough for going to Costco and back.  It does feel a bit heavier (and it is a couple hundred pounds heavier) than the bmw so it’s not as nimble but it handles great all the same.  I really liked the interior, lots of great features and a couple of decent cup holders to boot. 

So the test drive was a success and I asked sales guy to email me some 4 year lease quotes and a purchase quote for a 2011 they had leftover, he said they were discounting it $5,000.  He said they couldn’t lease the 2011…. Go figure.  So sure enough later on today the quote showed up, and it was a bit high at $740 a month to lease the 2012 over 4 years, the 6 year purchase on the 2011 was $800 at 3.5%.  I checked into the lease and part of the reason it is at $740 is because there are $2,700 in useless (to me anyway) options included such as active headlights ($1,200), blind spot info system ($750), nav prep ($125) and rear park assist ($600).  I have 300hp, if someone is in my blind spot I will hit the gas pedal and get rid of them, no big deal.  Anyways I haven’t gone back to ask for a better deal yet but I will of course.

I was more inclined towards the 6 year purchase, he discounted the vehicle $6000 but of course they already have $2,200 discounts on the 2012s and lower rates so really he is not giving me that much of a deal…. Yet.  Overall I really liked the Volvo, right up there with the bmw but it is $80 more a month to lease so that’s not going to work.  So I am going to go back and see if he can do a better deal on either.

In the meanwhile I posted an online poll on autos.ca to see what type of car people would buy if given the option, check it out and vote:

http://www.autos.ca/forum/index.php/topic,76236.20.html