Volvo’s sleek new big sedan is good enough to challenge the Germans

MALAGA, SPAIN — This might not be the first-ever S90, but it’s certainly the best. But is it good enough to propel Volvo into the realm of BMW, Mercedes and all? Read on to find out. 

It’s a new Volvo, it’s a big sedan…we’re guessing S80 replacement?
You’re right, but you’re also wrong. Volvo’s S80 sedan has always been decent  – we tested it as late as last year and found it sound – but class-leading it never was. Thing is, it never really had a class per se. It and the VW Passat always occupied the not-quite-luxury-but-still-Continental big sedan territory. And while the Passat has kept to that category but become something that can rival a 3 Series yet pack more space, the successor to the Volvo S80, the S90 sedan, has become something else altogether.

Isn’t this a concept car?
The S90 is based on the Concept Coupe but it isn’t just a figament of some designer’s imagination. Based on the same SPA architecture as the XC90, the S90 has grown considerably over the S80 it replaces. It’s so big, in fact, that is longer and has a larger wheelbase than the biggest of the big luxury sedan class, the incoming W213 Mercedes-Benz E-Class. And at 2,010mm wide, it’s almost as wide as a Lamboghini Aventador. Volvo’s new design language works well here, the car looks almost like a squashed XC90, but in a good way. With that sort of scale and drama, it looks more like a GT coupe than a staid Swedish sedan – which it no longer is.

How does it drive?
The S90 we tested had the T6 engine option plus the optional air suspension – there are two gasoline turbo engines slated for Singapore, one is the 241bhp T5 and this is the 321bhp T6. We kept thinking we were back in an XC90, but with even less roll. The car’s default mode is clean, easy cruising and it can do that quickly or slowly – it doesn’t egg you on, given the power delivery and flat engine note – but if you want to chuck it around it won’t protest either, dispatching apexes with clean efficiency.

Volvo says the car’s dynamics were based on the concept of ‘relaxed confidence’ and that seems spot on – nothing to throw the driver off, but no hair-raising performance neither. The figures all tick the boxes for a big, luxury sedan too, and its refinement is very high, such that high-speed highway travel is easy work.

What else can it do, then?
Well given it’s got the longest wheelbase in class, the amount of legroom is positively huge – you can easily cross your legs in the back, and it only lacks things like adjustable rear massage seats to stop it from being a limo. The front seats can have that as an option though, and the airy, clean-designed cabin (just like the XC90’s again…) is a lovely place to spend time in. The tablet-esque infotainment system remains fiddly though, and can be more of a distraction than a help at times.

Other things reduce driver load, though. Like the new E-Class, there’s a Pilot Assist system which helps you keep distance or speed (like Adaptive Cruise Control) and even steering at speeds of up to 130km/h. There are also the usual Volvo improvements to safety: City Safety now detects large animals (though nothing boar-sized. We asked…) and the car will save you if it detects you trying to veer off the road in the search for escaped lattes, for instance.

So Volvo’s legitimately in the big time?
Arguably, with the XC90 it already had arrived. But the XC90 was the continuation of a strong predecessor – this is something new entirely and meant to take on the best of Germany in a very tough segment. The answer to the luxury big sedan equation used to have four prime answers: BMW 5 Series, Audi A6, Mercedes-Benz E-Class and, if you wanted to be really apart from the crowd, a Lexus GS. Now, there’s a fifth.

Volvo T6 AWD
Engine 1,969cc, 16V, inline 4, turbocharged
Power 320hp at 5700rpm
Torque 400Nm at 3700-9000rpm
Gearbox 8-speed automatic
Top Speed 250km/h
0-100km/h 6.1 seconds
Fuel efficiency 7.4L/100km
CO₂ 169g/km
Price $TBA
Availability September 2016

Also Consider: BMW 5 Series, Lexus GS, Mercedes-Benz E-Class