#02#About a year ago, we reviewed the Volvo S60 D5 and we didn't want to give it back. So you can imagine my enthusiasm to see I was down to review the S60's big sister the S80, fitted with the same D5 engine / six-speed automatic combination. Volvo was going to have to beg to get this one back...

As seems the way with the prestige marques styling trends, the S80 shares styling cues with the smaller S60. It's just scaled up; apparently, customers like it this way, and more to the point, the scaling up works. The S80 looks as least as stylish as its little sister. Open the doors, and feast your eyes. Cream leather isn't my favourite (too hard to keep clean), but there's no mistaking how good this interior looks, the cream leather bringing light to an interior which would otherwise be dark with grey trim elsewhere, and no sunroof. Sit in it; the driver's seat like a favourite armchair. It feels as good as it looks.

Look around and the toy count seems high, although much of it came from the options list on our car. There's the optional satnav system (£1850) that hides in the top of the dash when not in use, although didn't seem to do traffic information. You'll also find dual-zone climate control, a built in Bluetooth system (an option at £250) for the phone, buttons for everything, front and rear parking sensors (£650), switches for this, switches for that, but all laid out in easy to use fashion.

I've waited long enough, time to go out and enjoy. I put the remote control unit into the slot in the dash, pushed the start button and oh dear, that's louder than I remember. Gruffer too. Slot the gearstick into drive (it's a six-speed automatic box with manual shifting if you require) and off we go. It's pretty quick - the D5 engine doesn't seem to be too blunted by the extra bulk of the S80 - but oh my word, that noise. It's still there. There's no getting away from this; the big sister S80, the more expensive one, the one presumably aimed at the older customer, it's just too noisy. #p##04# The engine absolutely dominates every facet of the car. It's not even a typical diesel noise, just very gruff and very loud. Accelerate hard and you're in no doubt the engine is working even if the gear shifts are seamless. Accelerate gently and it's still noisy. If this were an Aston Martin or a Lamborghini Gallardo, the engine noise levels would be acceptable, no, make that considered a virtue. But this is a luxury saloon car, and unfortunately the noise quality is not that of an Aston or Lambo either. Even motorway cruising is noisy. I think the Volvo S80 is commendably free of wind noise, but I just can't be sure. That's how much the engine noise affects this car, it's just not relaxing to drive.

And that is a real shame. The seat comfort is first class. Ride quality is right up there with just the proviso that maybe it's a little too soft. There could be more fore/aft control to stop the S80 from pitching; some passengers complained it was making them nauseous. But on the open road, the S80 cruised along just great. Except for the noise!

As mentioned before, the Volvo S80 comes pretty well equipped. Unfortunately, the user interface for the toys leaves much to be desired. The satnav is operated by remote control - not brilliant compared to touch screen models - and it's hard to fathom how to use it without resorting to the manual (I'm sorry, I'm a man. We don't read manuals!).

The audio system displays "Dolby Pro Logic" on start up, but it didn't sound like it at first. Took an eternity of pressing buttons to break in to the audio set up where I expected to see some weird settings screwing with the sound quality. But everything was set flat/level/central - it just sounded disappointingly tinny, which is unusual given our past experience with Volvo sound systems. And as for the Bluetooth. Easiest of all to set up, hooked up with my phone straight away and displayed the pass code I should use. My phone said it was hooked up too, but when I tried to use it... nothing; no sound of my caller, no ringing and no pick up of me talking. Dial a number via the dashboard and it just hung. But worse, without rebooting the phone I couldn't retrieve the call back to the phone either. And until I deleted all trace of the Volvo from my Bluetooth options in my phone, the Volvo would keep trying to pair with it no matter how many times I declined its kind offer. This can't all be "user" failure. Can it?

Elsewhere, the instrument display is minimalist, just the two round dials, but then these have space centrally to multi-function, displaying the mileage and trip, and outside temperature on one and the trip computer displays on the other. The computer displayed mpg, miles to go on this tank, average speed, all since the last reset unlike some which reset every journey, or every day. But you have to reselect your preferred display option every time you start the car - the default is no display. I like to watch the average fuel consumption; I find it promotes economical driving style even when using the performance and it becomes a battle to eke out another mpg. We were doing well; the figure was settled in the low 35s, about 10% down on the smaller S60. But then Syd (our intrepid photographer) took the S80 away for the day and returned it with an average down in the 33s! Maybe Syd was pushing hard, or maybe all that to-ing and fro-ing to get the photo just right took its toll... By the end of the week we were just back under 35mpg so guess that's what to expect in normal usage.

The Xenon headlamps were all you would expect, right up there with the best. But in the unsure weather conditions during our test period, I noticed that applying the windscreen washers first cleared the screen, then the left headlamp and then the right one if they were on (this is a Volvo, they are always on). But by then the wipers had stopped, the screen was clear and then it got sprayed (and not swept) as water bounced up from the right hand headlamp. So you put the wiper back on and the left side of the screen (dry) smeared! All these little foibles were adding up, leaving me frustrated. Volvo was not going to have to grovel as much as I had thought to get its car back. #p##04# The S80 is not a push-on kind of car. It shows. The suspension is set for ride quality and although you can get the Volvo S80 round corners relatively quickly, the steering is lifeless, providing the driver with no feel, and roll sets in enough to upset the passengers. Stick to cruising, wear earplugs or headphones and it's excellent.

As from February 2007, the Volvo range has been realigned, meaning that the S80 is even better value than before with the S80 D5 starting from just £24,995. Make sure you take your test drive with the radio turned off to ensure that you can live with the noise from the D5 engine in return for the decent performance/economy trade-off.

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2007 Volvo S80 range overview

Model	UK (£ on-the-road)	Ireland: (€ on-the-road)
2.5T S	n/a	€51,000
D5 S	n/a	€54,070
Volvo S80 2.5T SE	£24,995	€55,000
2.4D SE	£25,495	n/a
D5 SE	£26,495	€58,070
2.5T SE Lux	£27,495	€57,500
2.5T SE Sport	£27,845	n/a
2.4D SE Lux	£27,995	n/a
2.4D SE Sport	£28,345	n/a
D5 SE Lux	£28,995	€60,570
3.2 SE Geartronic	£28,995	n/a
D5 SE Sport	£29,345	n/a
3.2 AWD SE Geartronic	£30,130	€61,400
3.2 SE Lux Geartronic	£31,495	n/a
3.2 SE Sport Geartronic	£31,845	n/a
3.2 AWD SE Lux Geartronic	£32,630	€63,900
3.2 AWD SE Sport Geartronic	£32,980	n/a
V8 AWD SE Geartronic	£36,995	€80,500
D5 Executive Geartronic	£38,530	n/a
V8 AWD SE Lux Geartronic	£39,495	€83,000
V8 AWD SE Sport Geartronic	£39,845	n/a
3.2 Executive Geartronic	£39,995	n/a
3.2 AWD Executive Geartronic	£40,995	n/a
V8 AWD Executive Geartronic	£47,995	n/a