The 2017 Volvo S90 T6: A Five-Star Hotel Suite On Wheels

The 2017 Volvo S90 T6 features bespoke styling elements. Many of them are drawn directly from the masterpiece XC90. Despite retaining the same specs of the said XC90, this luxury sedan sports a different grille and unique headlight and tail-light graphics as well as added chrome and individual wheel designs.

The 2017 Volvo S90 T6 revamps up performance and luxury at a reasonable price. The car is but a younger brother to the XC90. It seems that the designers went a little bit away from the square-ish design. It worked in Europe but not globally. Some people find it a bit too different.

Under the hood of the T6 lies a 2.0-litre super- and turbocharged I-4 with 316 hp and 295 lb-ft. Both are paired solely to an eight-speed automatic transmission.

The interior

It’s a real, luxury sedan with a pinch of sport for flavour. It rides as contentedly as any car in its class, and the interior is way better and hotter than most cars costing twice the price.

Every spot of the interior comes coated in fine materials—soft two-tone leather, natural wood—and put together a level of care and skill usually reserved for far lavish cars. It stands as an inviting and welcoming change from these cold, tech-heavy modern layouts favoured by other luxury automakers.

The Volvo comes equipped with one of the best infotainment systems on the market. Centred around a large touchscreen that falls easily to hand, and the so-called Sensus system looks so intuitive.

And if you are into the high-end sounding system, there’s always the Bowers & Wilkins stereo to turn to. The Gothenburg Concert Hall surround sound setting creates the feel of being inside an auditory-mastered performance space with eerie precision.

The good thing about the S90 is that it puts you on the hunt for flaws, rather than presenting them for the instant verdict. If Volvo keeps it up and thus goes on turning out cars like this one, there should be good times in Gothenburg for the time to come.

Safety

The 2017 S90 comes packed with a host of advanced safety features, many of which come standard on all models. Apart from Pilot Assist, the S90 also comes with adaptive cruise control, automatic emergency braking, forward collision warning, blind spot warning, pedestrian detection, lane keeping assist and large animal detection.

The editor’s note

No doubt that the 2017 S90 surpasses in balancing agility with comfort and refinement, making it a great all-around midsize luxury sedan. The car can easily curb the road imperfections and the well-designed suspension gives the S90 great handling for a large car. Smooth gearshifts are achieved thanks to the efficient 4-cylinder engine, and for added security, dynamic Stability Control supplements the drivetrain. Finally, I can sum it up by saying that the interior of this masterpiece is dampened enough to keep most of the hideous powertrain noises out.

Key competitors

• Mercedes-Benz E-Class
• BMW 5 Series
• Audi A6
• Lexus GS