Brief background to the Volvo S60
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Source: Volvo Car Corporation.
S60 2000 -
A Volvo has always been a comfortable and safe car. Since the introduction for the Volvo S60 there is a compact sedan with a coupé look in Volvo’s product range that carries the torch from the Amazon Sport of the sixties but with performance levels well in line with the most powerful cars of the 21st century.
Volvo S60 is not just an outstanding touring car or a flexible family car. It is also a competitive racing car, something it has proved in both the STCC (Swedish Touring Car Championship) and the ETCC (European Touring Car Championship).
Introduced in year 2000 Volvo S60 appeared in an updated version during 2004. This includes a new rounder shape of the front end with new grille and bumper as well as new lights front and rear, a more powerful engine for T5 and a six speed manual transmission. The advanced electronically controlled chassis system FOUR-C is made available for Volvo S60.
In the area of safety, BLIS, was introduced. A system to detect objects in the blind angle with a small camera close to the outer rear view mirrors. A warning light close to the rear view mirror tells the driver that there is something hidden.
Model: Volvo S60
Variants: AWD and R-version
Produced: 2000 on
Volume: Production running
Body: 4-door saloon
Engine: 5-cyl in-line DOHC, 1.984, 2.435, 2.521 cc or Turbo Diesel 2.401 cc
Transmission: 5-speed or 6-speed manual, 5-speed automatic
Brakes: Hydraulic, disc brakes all round
Dimensions: Overall length 458 cm, wheelbase 272 cm
Launch
The Volvo S60 was launched in autumn 2000 as a somewhat smaller sedan than the Volvo S80. The design brief was to create a car with the same basic lines and safety as the S80 model, but in a more compact body and with a sportier profile.
Design
Four-door sedan.
The Volvo S60 has a sloping roof line, swept-back C-posts and short rear section – a combination of sedan and coupé design that gives the car its sporty appearance.
In order to further emphasise the S60 model’s sporty profile, the nose section has been extended, the haunches are more pronounced and the body has a ground-hugging stance.
Although the body is compact, the interior offers generous space and comfortable seating for four occupants. However, this is space for a fifth passenger, along with a fifth seat belt and head restraint. One of the reasons for the good interior space is Volvo’s modern powertrain concept which features transverse engine installation.
Safety
Volvo Cars adopts a holistic view of safety that encompasses both Preventive and Protective safety.
Preventive safety is closely linked to the car’s driving properties. The body of the Volvo S60 features immense torsional rigidity and the car has a sturdy chassis, a combination that results in consistent, predictable behaviour on the road (see also under "Powertrain and Chassis").
Volvo Cars has developed various information systems designed to help the driver while on the move. One such system is IDIS (Intelligent Driver Information System) which for instance delays incoming phone calls in complex traffic situations that require the driver’s undivided attention.
BLIS – Blind Spot Information System – registers if another vehicle is in the offset rear blind spot alongside the car and alerts the driver via a visual signal.
Active Bi-Xenon Light – moving headlight beams that follow the curvature of the road – help maintain the best possible visibility in the dark on twisting roads.
S60 models intended for the US market are equipped with a tyre pressure control system – TPMS (Tyre Pressure Monitoring System).
Protective safety in the Volvo S60 is structured around a network consisting of exterior and interior safety systems that interact with one another to reduce the risk of occupant injury in a collision. The exterior systems have the task of distributing and absorbing incoming collision forces so that the passenger compartment remains as intact and undamaged as possible. The body is therefore built in the form of a metal cage where all the components interact with one another to ensure controlled deformation.
The interior safety systems aim to keep the passengers securely in place and also to reduce the risk of serious injury. In order to provide the most effective protection possible, Volvo Cars has developed a number of in-house systems, such as WHIPS (Whiplash Protection System), SIPS (Side Impact Protection System) and IC (Inflatable Curtain). All are fitted as standard in the Volvo S60. What is more, all five seats are equipped with three-point inertia-reel seat belts, belt pre-tensioners and head restraints. The highest possible safety requires that all the car’s occupants always use their seat belts.
Powertrain and chassis
The engines in the Volvo S60 are five-cylinder, transversely installed in-line units. A five-cylinder engine gives low vibration and smooth operation. Together with large displacement, the five-cylinder configuration provides high torque across a broad rev band, and thus also swift acceleration and excellent driveability within a wide speed range.
The Volvo S60 T5 is the top model, featuring a turbocharger and a six-speed gearbox. The engine range also includes diesel engines with particle filters, and the environmentally optimised Volvo Bi-Fuel which can be run on methane or petrol.
The chassis, with spring struts at the front and Multilink axle at the rear, is set up for stable, reassuring driving manners and alert steering response. The Multilink rear axle is an independent rear suspension system featuring a number of links and it is designed to offer a good combination of controlled wheel movements and high ride comfort. Some of these links have the task of providing a certain degree of anti-skid steering effect. A long wheelbase and wide track, together with a very torsionally rigid body, contribute to the predictable, controlled driving manners.
Volvo’s advanced DSTC (Dynamic Stability and Traction Control) stability-enhancing system is fitted as standard. DSTC cuts in and helps stabilise the car if it registers any tendency to skid. An active chassis with advanced Four-C technology is available as an option. With this system, the chassis settings are adjusted automatically to suit the current driving conditions, thus improving both handling and ride comfort. Two alternative chassis settings are programmed into the system. At the touch of a button, the driver can thus alter the car’s behaviour to suit driving conditions and personal taste.
The Volvo S60 2.5T AWD has Volvo’s electronically controlled All-Wheel Drive system with Instant Traction, for fast and effective distribution of traction even when moving off on a slippery surface.
The environment
The Volvo S60 is designed and equipped to impact as little as possible on the global environment and to offer a clean and healthy interior climate.
Petrol engines with low internal friction, efficient combustion and advanced exhaust filtration technology result in low emissions. Energy-efficient diesel engines with particle filters produce low emissions of carbon dioxide and soot particles. Methane-powered Bi-Fuel cars with petrol as the back-up fuel reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 25% compared with petrol-only cars, if the methane is extracted from natural gas. When running on biogas, the net greenhouse effect is instead virtually zero. The engines in the Volvo S60 can be optionally specified with a catalytic radiator coating known as PremAir®. This system converts harmful ground-level ozone into pure oxygen as the car drives. Its benefits are greatest in dense city traffic and in strong sunlight.
Volvo’s IAQS (Interior Air Quality System) effectively reduces the amount of particles, pollen, gases and certain unpleasant odours in the air entering the cabin. All the textiles and leather upholsteries are certified according to ÖKO-TEX 100, an international standard that ensures that the interior trim is free from allergy-producing and hazardous substances.
Production
The Volvo S60 is made at the Volvo Cars factory in Ghent, Belgium.
Production in previous years:
2003 85,292 cars
2004 68,529 cars
2005 62,157 cars
Technical specifications
Drive Front-wheel drive. All-Wheel Drive available as an alternative on the
Volvo S60 2.5T.
Chassis Front suspension with MacPherson spring struts. Independent
Multilink rear axle.
DSTC (Dynamic Stability and Traction Control) is standard.
Active chassis with Four-C as an option - with two alternative chassis
settings.
Dimensions mm:
Length 4603
Width 1813
Height 1428
Track, front/rear 1561/1542 (with 16" wheels)
Wheelbase 2715
Aerodynamic coefficient, Cd 0.28
Frontal area m2 2.19
Engines
Petrol
Configuration, Displacement cc, Power kW/hp, Torque Nm:
T5 I5 2401 191/260 350
2.5T I5 2521 154/210 320
2.0T I5 1984 132/180 240
2.4 I5 2435 125/170 225
2.4 I5 2435 103/140 220
Bi-Fuel (methane power with petrol as
back-up fuel)
2.4 I5 2435 103/140 192
Turbodiesel
D5 I5 2401 136/185 400
2.4D I5 2401 120/163 340
D I5 2401 92/126 300
S60 2019
The S60 is Volvo’s 4-door mid-size sedan. It is built on the Scalable Product Architecture (SPA), Volvo’s advanced modular product platform that underpins all Volvos in the 90 and 60 Series.
Like the V60 estate, the S60 carries the proud and confident face of Volvo’s design language, along with classic Volvo styling cues. Key features include the iconic “Thor’s Hammer” LED headlight design, the new grille and Volvo Iron Mark, and the expressive use of the Volvo word mark on the rear.
Inside, Volvo has taken cues from the clean, Scandinavian interior design first introduced in the 90 Series cars, raising the bar in the segment with natural materials and new details on the dashboard and instrument panel.
Connectivity and infotainment
All new Volvos are connected, thanks to Volvo’s connectivity and infotainment system called Sensus. It delivers an intuitive touch screen interface that combines car functions, navigation, connected services and in-car entertainment applications such as Spotify, Pandora, Baidu or TuneIn. The portrait-oriented touch screen enables easy and fast access to a host of functions and features. As in the 90 Series cars, smartphone integration with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto is also available.
See the Sensus factsheet for more details.
Powertrain technology
The S60 is powered by Volvo’s Drive-E petrol powertrains and is the first Volvo car to be sold without a diesel, signalling the company’s commitment to electrification and a long-term future beyond the traditional combustion engine. The S60 is also available with two petrol plug-in hybrid options: the new T6 Twin Engine AWD that generates a combined 340hp and the T8 Twin Engine AWD that delivers 400hp.
Volvo’s Twin Engine plug-in hybrid delivers all the benefits of a high performance, low emission petrol engine with an electric motor that delivers power on demand with ultralow CO2 emissions and more than 40 km of pure electric range.
More details around the powertrain offer can be found in the Technical Specifications.
Safety and driver assistance
Volvo’s leadership in the field of automotive safety is confirmed in the S60. The SPA platform has resulted in the strongest Volvo cars to date because of extensive use of boron steel, as well as numerous safety systems designed to protect people inside and outside the car.
Volvo’s City Safety technology, standard on all Volvo models, combines automatic braking functionality and collision avoidance systems to cover a range of potential accident scenarios and help keep you safe. City Safety is the only system on the market that detects pedestrians, cyclists and large animals such as moose and deer.
The Pilot Assist driver assistance system, optional on the S60, works up to 130 km/h on clearly marked roads and is another step towards Volvo’s Vision 2020, which states that no one should be killed or seriously injured in a new Volvo by 2020.
See the Intellisafe factsheet for more information.
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