Experiences with 19” wheels on the S60

salter5

I’m going for a test drive of the S60 that has the 19” wheels. I don’t have much experience with the larger wheels. (I still remember when 13” was standard on a BMW, for example!) - the tires don’t look too low profile but I want to test drive just to see. I’d hate to feel every bump in the road. Wheels that big kind of seem ridiculous to me. And antithetical to Volvo. But I’ll keep an open mind.

This particular model also has the climate package (which I don’t really need in Southern California). And sport seats. I test drove two cars -- one with and one without the sport seats. And both were fine. Sport seats maybe give better support. But the regular Volvo seats were pretty good too.

Just thinking aloud here. Experiences over the long term?

Anyway, just some superficial first impressions: I thought the S60 drove great. It doesn’t have the power of a BMW Straight 6 but it seems really put together well and the steering and suspension is tight and the acceleration with the turbo is pretty good. The BLIS was a bit weird at first (gotta check to see if the bugger can be turned off -- could get annoying [and even distracting?] if it goes off on freeway driving in close quarters) I think for city and freeway driving, it’s a pretty good value and the price is pretty reasonable too.

Thanks.

salter5

Though I think the 19" wheels are antithetical to the "old" or "iconic" Volvo aesthetic, I have to say the ride on them was pretty good. I drove on a combination of well paved and bumpy city streets. Nothing too fast but along with the sports suspension it was stiffer than the non sports suspension S60 driving experience (and that latter car also had the regular seats -- no sports seats) and the sports seats and sport suspension was more to my liking. Not as stiff as some of the 3 series BMW's I'd driven. I kinda liked it. Just an initial superficial impression.