De V70 volgens Top Gear. Oeps!

[Ben]

There's a danger of misunderstanding this car, especially if you know a bit of Volvo history. Think of the new V70 T6, realise it's got 285bhp and a turbo, and what's going to pop into your mind?

The 1995 850 T5 R, the first time Volvo got serious about performance in this size of estate. It had lairy banana-milkshake paint, sinister anthracite blade-spoke alloys and a drastic tendency to smoke its front tyres.

It wasn't the best-mannered machine in the world, but boy it could put a smile on your face. But bury that memory because if you approach the new T6 expecting more of the same you might be a bit disappointed. It's not such an engaging car as the old one. But it is quite a lot better in every other respect.

The T6 is the top version of the new V70 range. It isn't a facelift of the previous V70 but an all-new car. It's just that you might not notice it because Volvo has elected to keep the design very, shall we say, recognisable. Fair enough, the old one was a bit of a landmark for estate design.

The new V70 is slightly more chubby so as to look more substantial, it's got a nicer interior, the detailing of the nose is cleaner, and the glassy tail has fine new lamp jewellery. But is the body shape any more elegant? I was chewing this over with a few colleagues and by the end several of us had pitched our tents in the 'no' camp.

It's almost completely new compared with the old one, because it's derived from the S80, itself all-new last year. The T6's engine is an adapted and turboed version of the S80's straight-six. It also has 4WD as standard. Which is the reason it doesn't go in for any of that old tyre-smoking malarkey. And that turbo engine delivers the goods so much more progressively than the old T5 R job.

So in the end what we have here is a top-end expression of the 2007-era Volvo estate philosophy, rather than some kind of ninja mutation of it. That means it's a car designed to appeal to your mature side, and to integrate itself seamlessly into every area of your varied life.

You really couldn't need any other car than a rapid four-wheel-drive Volvo estate, could you? Of course, your less mature side might want one, but that, it appears, is no longer any of Volvo's business.

The V70 is as per the S80, all the way back to the dashboard and seats. For the cabin Volvo talks about clean Scandinavian design, and you really can see something of that open Swedish sensibility in the high-tone colours, matt timbers and the general lightness of the visual masses. It's deliberately not as chunky as an Audi or as frowning as a 'Benz, and I love it for that.

Moving back to the business end, Volvo has made it bigger than the old car but, oddly, has shortened the S80's wheelbase by a couple of centimetres. Apparently V70 owners like their car's size: they didn't want it to balloon. But meantime the Passat and Mondeo have crept up from below. In fact the new Mondeo wagon (which has many of the same platform parts) is actually bigger in length and wheelbase than the Volvo.

So back-seat space for six-footers is a bit marginal. There's extra controversy in the bootspace. Apparently these things are officially measured up to the window-line, and because the V70 is a glassy sort of car, its boot doesn't show up that well on the official figures, but because the tailgate's so upright it actually does well in swallowing big awkward objects.

There's a 40:20:40 split on the seat, and a profusion of rails, nets, levers, racks, carriers, compartments and dog guards so you can clip and constrain pretty well anything while you set about exploring the performance, handling and brakes. Just beware dog vomit down the back of your neck.

The engine might not feel like it has 285bhp because it's saddled by the auto and by AWD, but it will gather speed effectively because the surge is always on hand from anywhere in the rev range. But the full-throttle noise is a bit drab and there are a few annoying booms on the over-run.

In fact the alternative unblown petrol six sounds far more interesting and is sweeter to rev. Both of those come with a smooth responsive auto as standard, but only the T6 has the 4WD system.

The 4WD gives the V70 handling that's like the performance: effective but not vastly interesting. The car just tracks around - you don't really get any sense of the tyres working on the road, or of being able to fine-tune the outcome yourself.

There's an adaptive damper system but you'll just leave it on the middle setting, as the hard setting ruins the ride without improving the cornering on real roads. Still, on an unpredictably slippery winter road, all this secure traction would be tremendous. And that's what Volvos are for isn't it? The bad times as well as the good.

Volvo publishes pages of highly plausible detail on the innovative crash-safety systems in this car, as well as the stuff to prevent the crash, like the blind-spot system that flashes a light at you when there's someone approaching from behind in the next lane, or the radar alert that primes the brakes if you neglect to notice the guy in front on the motorway has jammed on the brakes.

Having discovered the T6 wasn't the bundle of excitement I'd hoped, I had a go in the D5 turbodiesel, which is the one most people will actually buy. It'll squeal the tyres a bit because it's front-wheel drive, and the engine is quite noisy by the standards laid down by the competing V6 Audis, but there's not too much wrong with the ride or handling. They're better than the old car's. Trouble is, they aren't as good as the Mondeo's. Oops.

Paul Horrell

[fransb85]

boeiend, het moet toch ook geen ford mondeo zijn. het lekkere van een volvo estate is dat je er altijd comfi mee kunt cruisen en als het moet ongegeneerd hard mee kunt smijten zonder dat de auto raar gaat doen. en dit allemaal zonder het irritante stuiterkarakter van een BMW (of het proletenimago). bovendien, audi's zijn van hetzelfde laken een pak. weinig opwindend maar wel enorm snel. perfect als je haast hebt en het regent. wat je inlevert op 'rijplezier' (subjectief bovendien) krijg je terug in het volvo gevoel (als je na 400 km uitstapt verheug je je alweer op de terugreis)

[ruuds70]

Perfekt! Echt een VOLVO dus! Hangt daar waar het mag in de richting van een Benz, BMW of Audi, maar blijft gewoon een ECHTE VOLVO.
Heerlijk toch? Wat willen we nog meer?
En dan het geleuter over een Passat en Mondeo, als je meer ruimte wilt als in een V70 moet je wat anders, als je niet zoveel wilt uitgeven aan een Volvo idem, maar beide zijn geen Volvo, neen, de nieuwe V70 is als ik het TopGear verhaal lees een ECHTE VOLVO, exactly my sentiment.

[JV]

En ik rijd liever in een Volvo dan in een Ford!

[Walter]

yep, Ruud helemaal mee eens. De auto verloochent zijn afkomst niet en dat is gewoon goed. Ik heb met de T6 gereden (in een S80 nw) en die motor is heerlijk. Nee, geen explosief goedje als een T-5R maar langzamer gaat het echt niet. Is overigens ook niet de bedoeling van deze auto. Maar het vergelijk met die Mondeo... Moet deze kerel niet tegen zichzelf beschermt worden? Ik heb op de RAI in die Ford gezeten en was bang dat er van alles af zo breken... Mijn schoonvader rijdt een vorig type Mondeo en die zit voor mijn gevoel meer solide in elkaar.

[blastaway]

hmmm...toch een mondeo dus...