Twin-Charging That Just Works - 2015 Volvo S60 Long-Term Road Test

Edmunds.com

Twin-Charging That Just Works - 2015 Volvo S60 Long-Term Road Test

Edmunds.com explains why the twin-charged engine in its long-term 2015 Volvo S60 is so effective.

Read the full story here

ebeaudoin

Excellent write-up Carlos. Perfect for people who don't understand the difference between a turbo and a supercharger. I've been trying to wrap my head around the differences for a few weeks; you've presented it clearly and succinctly. Thank you very much!

kirkhilles1

Interesting stuff. Now, I'd just like to know the repair cost of it. Can this setup reliably get you beyond 200k? I'd be terrified of owning it out of warranty.

allthingshonda

kirkhilles1 said:

Interesting stuff. Now, I'd just like to know the repair cost of it. Can this setup reliably get you beyond 200k? I'd be terrified of owning it out of warranty.

I agree, sounds good works good but will it stand the test of time. There is a lot happening here that can go wrong. Those old 740's from years ago were slow but you could count on those 4 cylinder engines to work reliably for 200,000 miles.

Mr_Shiftright

Yeah, it's very clever, but I'm wondering if it merely provides the answer to a question nobody asked. I wonder what the complexity-to-benefit ratio really is here. Turbocharging advances over the last 20 years seem to have eliminated most of what we call "lag" and loss of torque.

schen72

allthingshonda said:

kirkhilles1 said:

Interesting stuff. Now, I'd just like to know the repair cost of it. Can this setup reliably get you beyond 200k? I'd be terrified of owning it out of warranty.

I agree, sounds good works good but will it stand the test of time. There is a lot happening here that can go wrong. Those old 740's from years ago were slow but you could count on those 4 cylinder engines to work reliably for 200,000 miles.

I've only owned 4 cars in my life and I'm almost to my mid-40s. I still have 3 of those cars reliably running. I'm just not used to my cars breaking down, and this Volvo engine, while interesting, looks to be horribly complex and probably not reliable. I'd would also like to see some long term reliability data.

torquefill

It's really not as mechanically complicated as it sounds. If this engine used two exhaust driven turbos like many other cars, you'd have a mess of oil and coolant lines running to both turbos. The supercharger is self contained and runs off the accessory belt like an AC compressor. It blows air into the inlet side of the turbo and disengages above 3500 RPM and really the only thing complicated was the development of the engine management program that controls the by-pass valve during the boost hand-over to the turbo. A twin-cam, 24 valve V-6 with variable valve timing and lift, cylinder deactivation and two cylinder heads has FAR more moving parts than this engine and is actually more complicated. It's just that since they've been around for awhile most of us have forgotten that! Twin charging has been used for years in heavy diesel applications and this engine should prove like most other Volvo engines to be very durable and reliable.

janet_k

Thanks for the clarification @torquefill.

stever

A reporter is looking to interview owners of the Volvo S60 Inscription. Please email PR@edmunds.com before January 4, 2016 with a few words about your experience with the car if you'd like to be considered for this interview.