5 cylinder engine choices

In the United States, power for the Volvo S60 comes from a choice of 3 five-cylinder engines, with or without  turbocharging, ranging from 168 to 247 horsepower.

Two transmissions are  offered:

• a five-speed manual gearbox

• a five-speed electronically controlled automatic transmission, available with optional Geartronic manual shifting mode.

Sporty interior

For the first time since the Volvo 1800 ES sports coupe of the early '70s, the driver sits behind a three-spoke steering wheel. The S60 offers the smallest steering wheel on the market with a 60-litre airbag. Just as sporty and interesting is the gear lever - the Spaceball - with its alloy finish.

The seats have been specially developed with a sporty look and provide generous lateral support. This is also evident in the rear, where the contoured seat back also gives excellent lateral support to rear-seat passengers. Perhaps even more important, there is plenty of room. The rear seat is much roomier and headroom is much more generous than appearances suggest, especially at the rear roofline. Rear seat passengers enjoy plenty of headroom and plenty of legroom while sitting both safely and comfortably.

There are two different interiors, Dynamic and Comfort. The Dynamic version is even more heavily sculpted in order to make the car more of a 2+2 seater, whereas the Comfort version caters more for the comfort of a third rear passenger.

Premium sound systems

For audiophiles, S60's offer a number of different premium sound systems:

• Three different radio units, three loudspeaker levels, tweeter elements in the front doors, two external amplifiers of 4 x50 and 4x 75 W respectively, two types of remote control, TV/RTI preparation and CD changer for 10 discs.

• The audio system is connected to the multiplex electrical system through a databus  which controls several functions, such as programming, volume, damping and control lighting.

• The most powerful audio system in the Volvo S60, the Premium Sound system, features a hefty 4 x 75 W amplifier, Dolby Surround Pro-Logic and no less than 13 loudspeakers: in the front doors there are tweeters, woofers and midrange speakers. In the rear doors, there are also woofers and midrange speakers but they are combined, while the parcel shelf houses twin woofers with separate tweeters. In the middle, on top of the dashboard, sits the special speaker for the Surround system.

Innovative trunk

The S60's trunk holds almost as much as that of the S80 and is accessible by folding rear seat backrests. It also has one very practical new feature:

• It has two separate floor sections, where one can be folded upwards and forwards thereby forming a protective wall. Grocery bags and the like can be easily stowed and secured in a safe and convenient way by means of two elastic straps.

• There are also a number of attachment hooks for various smaller items. This also offers the advantage of dividing the large compartment volume into two smaller areas.

• The mechanism is easily operated with one hand and, when not in use, is part of the standard load compartment floor, so it does not reduce any of the usable space.

Safety features

Built on the same platform as the S80 and V70, the S60 has the same high level of crash safety. At the same time, it is the smallest car in this trio. In order to keep the high degree of passenger-compartment integrity, a number of adaptations and modifications were made to suit the size of the car. The shorter front of the S60 has been compensated for by a different bumper system and slightly different packaging of the engine compartment and the way in which it is used. At the rear, the structure has been redesigned in order to provide more effective deformation since both rear doors must be able to be opened even after a high-speed crash from behind.

Interior crash protection is provided by three-point belts with pre-tensioners and load limiters. That means that the belt is able to sense and adapt the way in which it is activated in order to provide the best possible protection. The belts work in cooperation with the dual-stages airbags. The side airbags move with the seats according to established Volvo engineering philosophy, so they always protect the occupants from an optimum position. Furthermore, the inflatable curtain - IC - has been redesigned to suit the specific geometry of the S60. It also protects the heads of rear seat occupants in a side collision by covering the side windows and door frames.