New Volvo S80

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These are not illustration. And they are not the current model either.

The first official photos of the all new S80 show a car that looks pretty much the same as the old one.

I will repeat myself (again).
But this looks like the same mistake Ford did with the Jaguar XJ in 2004. All new, but looking the same.
That is not the way to bring new people in the showrooms.

And that’s what Volvo needs.

But… The car does look nice and upscale. With a good looking interior that looks like a cross between the current S80 and the S40.
And on top of the old 5 cylinder, they now offer a new 3.2 6 cylinder engine and a V8.
The 6 might just be the all new inline 6 that will be used in the new Jaguar S Type.

And it would be a good idea to put it in the X type as well.

Conversation 38 comments

  1. meh, FWD luxo barge. Boring. You are right about the design Vince. They had a chance to design something new. They didn’t. Nobody will take notice.

  2. Yawn!

    These cars don’t impress at all. The interiors feel funky to me, they don’t ride very well, the power band is strange with the CVT, etc….

    There’s only so many New York Times reading, clog wearing Volvo lovers out there.

  3. Agreed it looks almost identical to the current model, but I can’t help seeing some Mercedes lines in the new one.

  4. “These cars don’t impress at all. The interiors feel funky to me, they don’t ride very well, the power band is strange with the CVT, etc….”

    You are an idiot and you have never driven one. Volvo doesn’t have a CVT.

  5. Oh you shouldn’t let facts get in the way of a stupid post.

    Lets stick to the cars and leave the ignorant commentary to some other website. ( NY times/clog comment )

  6. I don’t think it’ll seel well compared to the TL.
    The Acura is very popular, more than any Volvo..
    As for the 9-5, this car is almost dead. So I am sure it’ll seel more than that…

    As for the Camry. The Toyota is half the price than the Volvo.
    So I don’t expect to look that good. (And I don’t think it looks great either).
    But at least the Toyota doesn’t look exactly the same as the previous generation…

  7. I love Volvos, and this car is beautiful. I showed a whole bunch of my friends the car after photoshopping out the badges, and they couldn’t tell what kind of car it was…And you know what? One of them’s mother drives an S80.

    This is exactly what Volvo needs styling-wise. They should push the AWD models as they did with the old model, as most of the ones sold are AWD… Also, this car should be priced as excellently as the former model. Upper thirties to low forties for a car that can compete with a $50,000 Honda Legend/Acura RL in terms of quality…but while the Volvo falls short on performance against the Acura, the Volvo does offer something that a Honda/Acura product will never ever ever ever EVER EVER EVER NEVER NEVER offer…and that’s character and soul. Volvo still hasn’t lost that…and Lexus, Acura, Infiniti, and the other me-too luxos have, including BMW with the Bangleossity of late. Volvo has its charm, and Volvoers know that.

  8. Wonder if they could stick the XC90’s Yamaha V8 and some sort of all-wheel drive system onto it; you try to call the s60 sporty, come on Volvo….

  9. The wheels are really nice but the rest of the car is just like an s60. Like I said before, this car should have shown the new design direction of the company and not copy itself. Also, the overhang at the front is way too long which unbalances the whole car.

    The doors look like the ones in a 97 accord…

    Good luck volvo… This won’t help Ford against bankrupcy.

  10. To the previous post up a couple…

    Japanese luxury imports don’t have souls yet this does? I like the design, but I can honestly say the TL (even though the two are in different classes) has a LOT more soul than this snoozefest.

  11. “You are an idiot and you have never driven one. Volvo doesn’t have a CVT.”

    Hey asshole, Where do you think Ford got their CVT!?

    And I have driven one…Go pop a zit or study for your first driver’s license.

  12. Yea that guy is right, Ford did get their CVT from Volvo…..That’s the transmission in the Ford 500.

  13. I don’t know for sure, but I’d believe that Volvo has a CVT. Many years ago in the late 1950s, there was a sub-compact car called a DAF that that had a CVT. Volvo absorbed DAF I don’t know how many years ago. So, CVT technology has been readily available to Volvo and it’s likely that Ford now has that technology.
    The comment a few posts above saying that Volvos are wonderful and Hondas, Acuras, et al by comparison have “no sole” is utter nonsense.
    A friend of mine had a Volvo S60 for 4 years and it was an excellent car.
    I drove it often enough to like it. But when it was time for me to buy a new car, I chose the Honda Accord EX-L which is every bit as good, if not better, for almost $10,000 less. My Accord has as much “sole” as that Volvo had and my bank account has plenty of “sole” in the $10,000 that wouldn’t be there if I’d bought an S60.

  14. “Hey asshole, Where do you think Ford got their CVT!?”

    Ok dumb ass go to the Volvo web site and find one model that has a CVT. When you do show us the link. Otherwise STFU. You don’t know what you are talking about. There are no volvo models today or in the last 30 year that used a CVT. The DAF example was only used in the 60s to the early 70s when it was discontinued by Volvo.
    The CVT in the ford 500 is a completely separate development by Ford for the 3.0 V6 and was never used in a volvo. Yes Ford used Volvo’s P2 platform to develop the 500 and its derivatives.

    GET YOUR DAMN FACTS STRAIGHT

  15. I hate to butt in here but I’ve been reading along with the argument. Volvo DOES use a CVT transmission like that second guy said, they just don’t spell it out.

    Take a look at this link as it lists all the cars in available with a CVT. Note the long list of Volvo cars at the bottom.

    Thanks.

  16. Holy smokes! There’s a long list of cars with CVT!

    When Ford bought Volvo they pretty much copied the S80 underpinnings, including the CVT transmission. Thus when you’re driving a 500 or Montego, you’re really driving a Volvo.

    That CVT unit is supplied to Volvo & Ford by Asia Warner, I believe it’s made in Japan.

  17. “The CVT in the 500 was a new transmission, no current Volvo has any CVT, look at the link again.”

    Yea, under “New automobiles equipped with CVT” there’s (6) Volvo models…..

    Volvo S60
    Volvo S80
    Volvo V70
    Volvo XC70
    Volvo XC90
    Volvo S40

  18. What are you all smoking!?! The Wikipedia entry only states the Volvo 66 and Volvo 340 as Volvo vehicles with a CVT, yet that’s under the “Old” section.

    S40/S60/S80/C70/XC70/XC90 2.5T: 5-speed automatic

    XC90 V8: 6-speed automatic

    Some of you are just idiots…

  19. ON A DIFFERENT NOTE…

    Vince, if you do a side-by-side comparison of this car with the Lincoln Mark S (MKS) concept, you’ll see (especially) the interior. Check it out!

  20. Hey yea! “STFU” must be playing games with that list! Those models were all listed and then they disappeared!!!

  21. The Lincoln concept is related to the S80.
    So I’m sure there a re similarities…

    As for the CVT.
    Right about DAF. These little “dorky” looking cars were bought by Volvo who just renamed them “Volvo”. They also used the CVT in their slightly larger models.
    But thees CVT didn’t work with larger engines and were not used in their large cars.
    I don’t think Volvo uses any CVT in the US now.

    Another note..
    What happeend to the Audii CVT???
    Just a few years ago they used it in the A4 and A6.
    But they’ve been replaced by the 6 speed auto.
    Does anyone here know if they were having problems??

  22. Do you have a link to the BULL SHIT you just posted about models with CVT?

    You are an idiot and a liar.

    S40: 5-Speed “Geartronic” Microprocessor-Controlled Automatic with “Auto-Stick” Function

    S60: 5-Speed Microprocessor-Controlled Automatic
    or
    5-Speed “Geartronic” Microprocessor-Controlled Automatic with “Auto-Stick” Function

    S80: 5-Speed Microprocessor-Controlled Automatic

    XC90: 5-Speed “Geartronic” Microprocessor-Controlled Automatic with “Auto-Stick” Function
    or
    6-Speed Adaptive Automatic with Geartronic, Electronically-controlled with Lock-up and Winter Mode Selection

    So STFU liar.

  23. Thank you to the above! Volvo currently has NO CVT vehicles in the US! So much for many of you being car fans…

  24. i dont understand i think this thing looks alot better than the old one, and no where near as bland as the jaguar redo, and as bland and ugly as the camry is, and how much it looks like the old one, there is alot of complaining here on such an insignificant volvo

  25. Ford codeveloped the CVT with ZF corp. whick I think is german. Volvo long ago stopped making cars with the CVT they inherited from DAF of Holland.

  26. More on topic, I think the new Volvo S80 pictured here is better looking than the current S80.
    Lots of competition in this segment, so its success will be price dependent.

  27. “The first official photos of the all new S80 show a car that looks pretty much the same as the old one.”

    Yet when the great exalted Toyota does the same thing with the new Camry, we’re all supposed to stand in awe and reverence.

  28. I think modeling the s80 on the pretty popoular s60 design gives them the opportunity to capitalize on that success and leaves the door open for a new and sportier s60 replacement down the road. I think some folks might even consider a v8 awd s80 over an a6 quattro which would cost $15k more.

  29. Hey, calm it everyone!I’ve done some research and it turns out that the Volvo 300 series launched in 1976 was available with CVT (continuously variable transmission. This was indeed inherited from the Dutch DAF company which Volvo absorbed. In fact the factory was used as recently last year to produce the MKI S/V40 and Mitsubishi Charisma.It seems unlikely that the Ford F500 would be using a 1970s DAF technology, however I may be wrong. It could have been updated since.I found this website, which might help clarify things:

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