Test Driving A New Car For The First Time: Volvo V60 Reax

"Timothy Burke" (bubbaprog)
07/01/2014 at 23:59 • Filed to: volvo v60, test drives

"So you know those guys from Jalopnik, huh?" the salesman asked. "Tell me about Travis, did he ever recover from the Jeff Gordon incident?"

I've only purchased two cars in my life, both used VWs from small family Volkswagen sales & service-type places. So when I dropped by an actual dealership to—gasp—consider purchasing a new car, it was with some anticipation. I've never done this, & neither had my wife. But upon suggestion from our Jalop pals we both had a pretty good idea of what we were looking for in a car to replace both her Jetta and my Cabrio; would the V60 prove to be it, after all?

After nearly two hours spent at Volvo of Clearwater, I'm still not quite sure. The car is very nice. It's certainly as close to a luxury automobile as I've ever imagined owning, and its price tag (nearly 40k as tested) is on that threshold too. But when I finally went on the test drive—which came more than an hour after our arrival, after looking at every inch of the car and detailing all manner of my experiences with the Jalopnik crew to the 20-something salesman (a big fan of the site)—I was expecting something big. This car has more horsepower than both cars currently in my driveway, combined.

Can the car go fast? Yes. It can go faster than I'd ever care to drive it, and handles remarkably at speed. But most of the acceleration from that 2.0T comes from, oh, 60-100. The 0-60 part didn't seem all that much faster than my old Mk3 Jetta with minor bolt-ons. But, then, that car weighed 800 pounds less.

Still, this is a 250 hp car with an 8-speed transmission. And I guess that's the point of the Volvo, to be so smooth that you don't notice anything—shifts, speed, et cetera. The V60 gets 0-60 in 6.1 seconds; my old Jetta was closer to 10.

But this isn't a Volvo V60 review, it's a review of test driving a new car. In the end, I just wanted to get a feel for whether I could spend the next ten years in this car. The dealership did a good job of answering those questions for me. But we're still quite a ways off from actually buying (I just installed a new front end on my wife's Jetta this morning, after all) and we still need to test drive the Mazda 3 and probably a few used M-B and BMW wagons.

Regrets: the dealership had one of only, we were told, two Polestar V60s in the country. They sent it off to another dealer five days before we walked in. Damn World Cup.

DISCUSSION (12)

Vicente Esteve > Timothy Burke
07/02/2014 at 00:22

Cabrio driver! What sort is yours? And curious to see what you end up buying

Soloburrito > Timothy Burke
07/02/2014 at 00:28

Travis will never ride in a cab again.

Timothy Burke > Vicente Esteve
07/02/2014 at 00:43

I have a 2001, so the Mk3.5 era. I bought it because a) I wanted a convertible, living in Florida and b) because I had a garage full of spare parts from my Mk3 Jetta, which gave up the ghost at around 240,000 miles.

Turns out some of those spare parts were useless things like brake drums that the Cabrio doesn't have, but whatever. That case of MANN oil filters I had shipped over from Germany has done me well on both my car and my wife's though.

rad_mike > Timothy Burke
07/02/2014 at 01:40

Timothy - if you're going to buy a new Volvo, do an overseas delivery. You can do it through that dealer, but there are also specialists that know how to make it seamless for you (also dealers). Price is fixed below MSRP, order exactly what you want, and free trip to Sweden with your wife (drive your car around and they ship it over when you drop it back off). I did it and would do it again in a heartbeat.

Vicente Esteve > Timothy Burke
07/02/2014 at 10:01

Another MK3.5 Owner! I also bought it because I wnted a convertible. Here is my first post of it.

Timothy Burke > rad_mike
07/02/2014 at 10:30

Honestly I've never heard of this. I wonder if I can sell my wife on the idea.

mados123 > Timothy Burke
07/02/2014 at 11:48

It does sound like a great idea. I found out about this when I leased my V60 (of which it doesn't apply). For those interested in a thorough V60 review: http://www.cars.com/volvo/v60/2015…

rad_mike > Timothy Burke
07/02/2014 at 12:16

Yeah, I don't think they publicize it much because the dealers don't make as much money on sales, but I can't think of any reason not to do it if you're going to buy: cheaper car made to your spec and free trip (search Volvo's site for the pricing for the V60). There's a couple guys that moderate the OSD forum on Swedespeed that are who you want to work with - they have the process down: http://forums.swedespeed.com/forumdisplay.p… . Reach out to "universityvolvoOSD" if you want more information. If you're on the west coast, reach out to "William" (that's who I worked with). You pick up in Gothenburg, Sweden (Volvo HQ) and drop in pretty much any major city in Europe. I drove all through Sweden, Denmark, and Norway. Great trip. I'll shut up, but I could go on...

Timothy Burke > rad_mike
07/02/2014 at 12:22

Yeah I already plotted out a trip from Gothenburg to Rome!

area man > Timothy Burke
07/02/2014 at 12:59

Hey Tim! Is this your first Oppo post? If so, welcome!

Timothy Burke > area man
07/02/2014 at 13:06

Nah, I've been around since Oppo opened up. I just don't post much here, being a bit busy with my actual, paid Kinja duties.

area man > Timothy Burke
07/02/2014 at 13:14

Oops, that's a bit embarrassing on my part. Oh well. Too bad about the low-end acceleration!