All-New Volvo S90 Challenges World’s Top Sedans

MALAGA, Spain – After languishing for a decade as a rarely considered premium sedan, the ’17 Volvo S90 is completely new from the ground up and ready to climb into a higher segment where it hopes to challenge the best in the world for luxury-car supremacy.

Coming on the heels of the highly successful launch of the XC90 large CUV – and drawing on that much-lauded model for most of its chassis, powertrain and interior parts – the S90 has a great chance of making good on its marketing promises of “relaxed confidence” and “legendary comfort” topped off by assured occupant safety.

Just don’t get into a drag race with your neighbor’s BMW 5-Series, because the S90 T6 isn’t built with all-out performance as its guiding principle. Rather, this latest iteration of the “Scandinavian Sanctuary” is a calm boulevard cruiser with the ability to quicken the pulse when necessary, but not as a primary mission.

We sampled the new 4-door as well as its V90 sport wagon sibling on a variety of routes in southern Spain, from wide-open winding mountainous roads to congested urban thoroughfares that provided ample opportunity to get a feel for the car’s powertrain and driving character while also testing its myriad driver-assistance and safety systems.

After a year of extensive exposure to the XC90 – a winner of both Wards 10 Best Engines and Wards 10 Best Interiors awards in 2016 – we’re quite familiar with the latest Volvo has to offer, from its calming interior to its playing-above-its-weight-class 316-hp, 295-lb.-ft. (400-Nm) turbocharged and supercharged 2.0L I-4 engine.

The S90 offers more of the same but in a lighter weight and sportier package with a lower seating position that automatically gives the S90 a more sophisticated feel. Dropping 547 lbs. (248 kg) from the curb weight compared to the XC90 doesn’t hurt either. While the CUV is no slouch at 6.5 seconds 0-60 mph (97 km/h), the sedan does the same sprint in just 5.7 seconds and feels very responsive in the process.

From the outside, the S90 projects a strong and planted appearance but without straying too far from the sedate sedan styling synonymous with Volvo. Still evident are the long hood, short tail and abrupt front and rear cuts common in past Volvo designs, yet this take is more rounded and softened to create a less boxy and far more handsome appearance.

The unmistakable upright Volvo grille, partly a concession to pedestrian-collision mitigation and partly a Volvo heritage cue, is there, along with the sweeping C-pillar sail and the Swedish company’s unique rear side-glass contour that adds an extra kink to BMW’s Hofmeister.

A strong beltline runs front to rear, defining the car’s upper sill, while a lower swage line breaks up the typical Volvo slab-sided look and helps reduce the sedan’s visual height. Tisha Johnson, senior director-design, says the swoopy profile is derived from the coupe-like lines established in the Volvo Concept Coupe revealed at the 2013 Frankfurt auto show.

Wraparound taillamps surround the trunk lid at the rear, while Volvo’s trademark “Thor’s Hammer” LED headlights define the front corners. A horizontal, concave take on the traditional multi-bar Volvo grille echoes the Volvo P1800 from the 1960s.

Sophisticated Interior and Safety Engineering

Inside, Volvo designers clearly have upped the flagship sedan’s game to a far more premium level. Plush and ultra-supportive seats stitched in high-grade leather rest low in the chassis, providing a superb driving position as well as ample head room. Four seats are upholstered as buckets with a fifth center-rear seat available in a pinch.

Low-gloss wood and satin trim elements are offset by jewel-like switchgear and the large glass of the center control screen. A single satin metallic bar runs the width of the dashboard, providing visual and actual structural support. Unlike the XC90, the sedan incorporates simple and artistically styled “air blade” vertical vents fitted with diamond-cut knobs to direct cabin airflow.

An interior weak point, especially for a player moving up in class, is the clunky mechanical lever release required to tilt or telescope the steering wheel.

From the cockpit, the combination works to increase the door-to-door spaciousness while reducing the visual height of the cabin, resulting in a closer-to-the-road sedan feel. Instruments are bright and visible while the large vertical infrared touchscreen (not capacitive, so it works with gloved fingers) provides access to all manner of onboard systems from navigation and communications to entertainment and vehicle controls.

Updates to the system since the introduction of XC90 include integrated Apple CarPlay (Android Auto will be available later this year) accessible on a fourth screen on the center display.

Like the XC90, the S90 and V90 ride on Volvo’s Scalable Product Architecture that establishes a fixed front axle-to-dash distance for the front-wheel-drive chassis but allows wide flexibility in other dimensions.

Suspension is double-wishbone in front and transverse composite leaf spring at the rear, with rear air suspension optional. Steering is electric-assisted rack-and-pinion, while disc brakes at each wheel provide the stopping force.

Power from the aforementioned 4-cyl. routes to the AWD system via an 8-speed automatic transmission.

Those are the basics, upon which Volvo engineers layer a suite of electronic safety features and driver aids, including the second generation of the automaker’s Pilot Assist that gives the new sedan semi-autonomous-driving capability in many situations.

The radar- and camera-based system provides both low- and high-speed adaptive cruise control, adds steering assistance up to 81 mph (130 km/h) and can read lines on well-marked roads to follow the path, rather than having to follow another vehicle.

Like the XC90, the S90 also can mitigate road run-off, detect and minimize low-speed collisions with vehicles, bicyclists and pedestrians, and recognize, warn and avoid or mitigate impacts with large animals such as moose, elk and deer.

Driving Excellence, With or Without Aids

We find our air-suspension-equipped S90 tester an easy car to drive comfortably, with accurate and responsive steering when clicked into Dynamic mode. The car is surprisingly steady with little body roll when driven aggressively.

The 2.0L 4-cyl. in the T6 model we drove provides good power, albeit with a distinct level of small-displacement engine noise permeating the quiet cabin on acceleration and an almost diesel-like clatter at low speeds. But Peter Mertens, senior vice president-research and development, says he never considered piping an artificial V-8 engine/exhaust note into the cabin to give the S90 a large-engine aura.

“Over my dead body – no way in hell,” says Mertens. “This is a 4-cylinder and it needs to sound like that.”

The S90’s Pilot Assist system is remarkable in operation and likely would be a headline feature if not for the expectation of safety leadership and required driver involvement by Volvo.

Volvo officials are adamant Pilot Assist is strictly intended for semi-autonomous driving, not full autonomy, and is optimized for open-highway driving. The car’s warning systems are designed to make it very evident the driver needs to share control and keep hands on the wheel.

“With semi-autonomous driving, we believe the role of the driver is very, very clear,” says Thomas Boberg, Volvo senior safety engineer. “It should be clear when you are supposed to be the driver.”

Though we encounter some operator error and consternation activating the system, once up and running Pilot Assist functions flawlessly as a driver aid. At one point, our test car “drove itself” – accelerating, braking and steering – for about two minutes at 70 mph (113 km/h) while following another vehicle on a highway with clear lane markings.

That was stunning, especially considering the autonomous steering is supposed to time out after 30 seconds without a driver’s hands on the wheel. The system is equally adept at lower speeds, handling braking down to a full stop, but steering assistance drops out below 6 mph (10 km/h).

Volvo V90 wagon arrives in 2017.

With the S90 on sale now and the similarly equipped V90 due in 2017, Volvo is doubling down on its promise that nobody will be killed or seriously injured in a new Volvo by 2020. With further refinement and expansion of the capabilities of Pilot Assist, that promise may hold whether or not they actively are driving the car.

Volvo marketers say the leases on 150,000 premium sedans will expire this year, opening the door for the rejuvenated Chinese-owned Swedish automaker to win some new business. The S90 T6 is available now, followed this September by the T5 equipped with a 250-hp, 258-lb.-ft. (350-Nm) 2.0L turbocharged I-4. The T8 hybrid arrives in 2017.

The T6 sedan is offered in two trim levels, Momentum starting at $52,950 and the uplevel Inscription starting at $56,250. The front-drive T5 starts at $46,950 and $50,450, respectively. Four packages are available: Climate, Momentum Plus, Vision and Convenience. Prices do not include a $995 destination charge.

[email protected] @bobgritzinger

'17 Volvo S90 T6 Specifications