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The all new Volvo S80 – Advanced technology provides first-class driving experience

27 February 2006

• Highly advanced body structure boasts exceptional torsional rigidity
• Active chassis helps improve the driving properties whatever the situation
• All Wheel Drive distributes the power to ensure optimal roadholding
• Adjustable power steering and electronic parking brake make life easier for the driver

The all new Volvo S80 has been developed to provide a high-class experience behind the wheel.

A rigid body and optional active chassis contribute to the excellent dynamic driving properties. Three alternative chassis settings allow the driver to alter the car’s personality to suit his or her personal tastes.

And to ensure optimal power efficiency and roadholding in all situations the V8 model is equipped with Volvo’s All Wheel Drive system.

Not just the driveline but the entire car has been developed and honed to provide a driving experience of absolute premium calibre. The entirely new body features a highly advanced structure that not only contributes to excellent deformation properties in a collision, it also boasts exceptional torsional rigidity. Torsional rigidity is crucial to good driving properties.

What is more, the chassis has been further developed for the purpose of a stable, predictable and controlled behaviour on the road. Much effort has also been invested in components such as the suspension system and engine installation to achieve high-class comfort.

Active chassis with Four-C – and three choices
The all new Volvo S80 with V8 or in-line six-cylinder engine can be optionally specified with an active chassis based on Volvo’s Four-C technology. This is an advanced self-adjusting chassis system that uses a number of sensors to continuously monitor the car’s behaviour. The dampers can readjust to the current driving situation in a mere fraction of a second.

Four-C modifies the chassis setting to suit the car’s speed. The higher the speed, the greater the damping. As a result, the technology helps to control the car even at high speeds. This technology also reduces the car’s tendency to squat, dip or roll under firm acceleration, hard braking or fast steering manoeuvres.

"The active chassis adds an extra dimension to driving pleasure," says Silvia Güllsdorf, S80 Project Director at Volvo Cars. "The driving properties improve whatever the situation. Progress is both safer and more entertaining."

The system has been further developed from the previous S80 model and now offers three alternative chassis settings instead of the previous two. The driver simply presses a button to alter the car’s personality to suit his or her personal tastes.
• COMFORT makes for sedate progress with gentle, harmonious body movements.
• SPORT provides more controlled body movements, faster steering response and added road contact.
• ADVANCED minimises damper movement and maximises contact between the tyres and road surface – the setting for enthusiastic driving on smooth tarmac.

In an emergency situation, however, it makes no difference which alternative the driver has selected. Four-C always reacts to help the driver out of the situation – by automatically stabilising the car.

All Wheel Drive
The V8 model of the all new Volvo S80 is equipped with Volvo’s system for four-wheel drive – All Wheel Drive. With the help of an electronically controlled hydraulic clutch, All Wheel Drive distributes the power between the front and rear wheels to ensure optimal roadholding in various situations. The latest version of the system features Instant Traction, which switches power from the front to the rear wheels at lightning speed when starting off on a slippery or loose surface.

The All Wheel Drive system has been beefed up to handle the power from the powerful new engines.

Adjustable power steering
Speed-dependent power steering is an option in the new Volvo S80. It provides more power assistance at low speeds, for instance to make parking easier. The power assistance gradually declines as road speed increases, disappearing entirely at high cruising speeds.

In order to give all drivers optimum road feel, the steering servo assistance can now be adjusted via the car’s information and set-up system. Power steering assistance can be set at one of three levels.

Power Parking Brake
In order to help when starting off on an uphill gradient, V8 versions of the all new Volvo S80 (and all right-hand-drive models) are equipped with an intelligent electronically operated parking brake – Power Parking Brake. This makes things far easier for the driver, especially if the car has a manual gearbox. If the parking brake is engaged at a stop light, for instance, it is automatically released as the car moves off.

S80 cars without Power Parking Brake have a pedal-operated parking brake.

DSTC fitted as standard
DSTC (Dynamic Stability and Traction Control) is fitted as standard in the all new Volvo S80. DSTC is a stabilisation system which, when necessary, reduces the engine’s torque and applies suitable braking force to help reduce the risk of a skid.

"Each one of these systems contributes to both safer driving and more driving pleasure," says Silvia Güllsdorf. "By combining them this way in the all new Volvo S80, we can offer a particularly high-class driving experience whatever the driving conditions."

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