Volvo S80 epitomizes corporate focus on safety

The Volvo S80 proves it’s impossible to have too much of a good thing, at least if you believe that building cars with an uncompromising emphasis on safety is a good thing.

Overlooking safety is common in analyzing cars, because all car-makers are now striving to meet safety standards. Some companies build pretty good cars, then depend on such things as side and side-curtain airbags to reach proper safety levels. Volvo’s endless research into causes and effects of crashes has evolved to high standards for safety that range from structural innovations that are the standard of the industry to new methods for prompting drivers to stay more aware.

You can only do so much by computer, so Volvo runs the vehicles through exhaustive crash-tests at its safety facility in Gothenburg, Sweden. Volvo sends cars through frontal, front corner, side, and rear angle crashes, and a unique sled sends Volvo models down a long hallway and flings them to rude outdoor rollover tests.

The previous S80 was structurally among the safest vehicles ever built, with a platform strong enough to also work under the XC-90 SUV. Because Ford owns Volvo, it recalled the platform for use under the Ford Five Hundred (now renamed Taurus), and the Freestyle (now renamed Taurus X). The difference is that Volvo uses stronger “boron” steel, which is unbendable, in its pillars and at strategic occupant-protection areas.

The new S80 takes another step forward with even more advanced safety technology, while also continuing Volvo’s trend toward visually attractive lines and contours that make us realize the boxy and outdated Volvos from a decade ago were, well, boxy and outdated. Even then, they were very safe.

The interior of the new S80 is outstanding in its Scandinavian understatement. Excellent ergonomic controls include a little silhouette of a seated person, with push-button arrows toward the head, torso, or feet, for simple airflow selection. It also adopts the S40’s uniquely thin center control panel that has a small storage cubby behind it.

My wife, Joan, doesn’t like gadgets in cars, so she was skeptical of the flashing diode that blinks on the left front edge of the door whenever a car drives into the camera-detected side-mirror blind spot. But she soon changed her mind, appreciating the tip to recheck the mirror, and missing it after our week-long test ended. “I should have known,” said Joan, “that any gadget Volvo might put in would be beneficial for safety.”
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When the revised S80 was introduced, its all-wheel-drive models came with a 4.4-liter V8, specifically built by Yamaha in close contact with Volvo engineers to be narrow enough to fit sideways between the front wheels. Front-wheel-drive models came with a 3.2-liter, in-line 6-cylinder engine.

New for 2008 is a third model, with a turbocharged 3.0 inline-6 and all-wheel drive. Its 285 horsepower is 50 more than the FWD model, and 27 less than the V8.

The V8 AWD model has a three-button control on the console for setting the suspension firmness, and it works so well for optimum emergency-handling control that I was disappointed that the 3.0-turbo AWD model lacked that feature. It needs it, or else a simple alteration to the next firmer setting, because without it, the softer suspension lacks the same precision of agility.

In base form, the FWD S80 model is still expensive at about $35,000, while the loaded, top model with all-wheel-drive rises to over $45,000. That’s a lot of money.

Or is it?

When you consider how much we’ll spend for power or luxury, the perspective of expense breaks down quite directly. If we’ll spend unflinchingly for power or for luxury, then look at the S80. With good power, plenty of luxury, the best seats in the industry, and distinctively subtle style, how much are we willing to pay for that unswerving devotion to safety?

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• About the Author

  John Gilbert is a lifetime Minnesotan and career journalist, specializing in cars and sports during and since spending 30 years at the Minneapolis Tribune, now the Star Tribune. More recently, he has continued translating the high-tech world of autos and sharing his passionate insights as a freelance writer/photographer/broadcaster. A member of the prestigious North American Car and Truck of the Year jury since 1993. John can be heard Monday-Friday from 9-11am on 610 KDAL(www.kdal610.com) on the "John Gilbert Show," and writes a column in the Duluth Reader.
  
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• Exhaust Notes:

  PADDLING
  More and more cars are offering steering-wheel paddles to allow drivers manual control over automatic or CVT transmissions. A good idea might be to standardize them. Most allow upshifting by pulling on the right-side paddle and downshifting with the left. But a recent road-test of the new Porsche Panamera, the paddles for the slick PDK direct-sequential gearbox were counter-intuitive -- both the right or left thumb paddles could upshift or downshift, but pushing on either one would upshift, and pulling back on either paddle downshifted. I enjoy using paddles, but I spent the full week trying not to downshift when I wanted to upshift. A little simple standardization would alleviate the problem.
  
  

  SPEAKING OF PADDLES
  The Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution has the best paddle system, and Infiniti has made the best mainstream copy of that system for the new Q50, and other sporty models. And why not? It's simply the best. In both, the paddles are long, slender magnesium strips, affixed to the steering column rather than the steering wheel. Pull on the right paddle and upshift, pull on the left and downshift. The beauty is that while needing to upshift in a tight curve might cause a driver to lose the steering wheel paddle for an instant, but having the paddles long, and fixed, means no matter how hard the steering wheel is cranked, reaching anywhere on the right puts the upshift paddle on your fingertips.
  
  

  TIRES MAKE CONTACT
  Even in snow-country, a few stubborn old-school drivers want to stick with rear-wheel drive, but the vast majority realize the clear superiority of front-wheel drive. Going to all-wheel drive, naturally, is the all-out best. But the majority of drivers facing icy roadways complain about traction for going, stopping and steering with all configurations. They overlook the simple but total influence of having the right tires can make. There are several companies that make good all-season or snow tires, but there are precious few that are exceptional. The Bridgestone Blizzak continues to be the best=known and most popular, but in places like Duluth, MN., where scaling 10-12 blocks of 20-30 degree hills is a daily challenge, my favorite is the Nokian WR. Made without compromising tread compound, the Nokians maintain their flexibility no matter how cold it gets, so they stick, even on icy streets, and can turn a skittish car into a winter-beater.