I journeyed over to the Volvo dealership to test drive the 2009 Volvo I found on Autotrader.com (my favorite site to look for cars btw). I don’t think I made myself clear when I explained to the salesman that I wanted to test drive the 09 S60 because he gave me the keys to one of the 2011 S60’s. I read a bit about this car and while I had a feeling that it was out of my price range and after seeing the price tag my feeling was confirmed.
I journeyed over to the Volvo dealership to test drive the 2009 Volvo I found on Autotrader.com (my favorite site to look for cars btw). I don’t think I made myself clear when I explained to the salesman that I wanted to test drive the 09 S60 because he gave me the keys to one of the 2011 S60’s. I read a bit about this car and while I had a feeling that it was out of my price range, after seeing the price tag I was sure of it. The S60 that I test drove was priced at over 46,000 (which I believe was the only downside to this car). This didn’t dissuade me from hopping in the driver’s seat though and after the salesman copied my driver’s license we were off. A few words come to mind when I hear the word Volvo, regal and safety being among the few. Performance has never been a word I or most would use to describe a Volvo. But this S60 spit on that theory.
This car says, “Take what you use to think about Volvo, and shove it,” with its 3 driving modes that change how the car performs you have options to increase grip to hug the road or provide more comfort to your passengers. It also comes with a blind spot assistance device, which I found to be lacking. It would only light up if another vehicle was approaching, it would stay lit. I would have preferred it to flash until the blind spot was clear. The inside was also quite comfortable. Not cavernous like the TL but it had room to spare. When we got back to the lot and I was about to back the car in the space, the salesman told me that the S60 came equipped with a rearview camera. I’ve had a rearview camera since my second car so it wasn’t a big deal. I throw the S60 in reverse and the camera comes to life. I noticed that it also came with lines to line up to the parking space. Now I’ve driven a few cars that have parking camera lines so this wasn’t a big deal either, but as I turned the steering wheel to back in the lines of the camera turned in conjunction with the wheel. Yes you read that right, the lines curved as I turned the wheel. Can you say kid with a new toy? It was an awesome experience.
After the drive in the 2011, I actually got to test drive the car I came about. This car can be pushed and while it would probably enjoy the pushing, its performance is more subdued than the 2011 as well as the other 2 cars that I drove. You step on the gas and it goes, it doesn’t throw you back in the seat but you feel that you’re moving. “You know you have the power but why use it,” is what this car says. Like the 2011, this S60 is really roomy and like the other 2 car, comes with a Tilting/Telescoping steering wheel. I’m 6’3″ maybe 6’4″ and in smaller cars I’m so uncomfortable. I test drove an Audi A8 and my knees literally hit the steering wheel at its highest tilt when going to apply the 
brakes. My fiancé can attest that the drive was very uncomfortable for me. But in this car, there was no problem with wheel knees at all.
The S60s come with auto-manual transmission,s but unlike the TL and the Legacy, they do not come with paddle shifters. Not a deal breaker but it would have been more fun to have. They have the gear shifter however and that’s good enough for me. Since this is an actually a used vehicle, it has the most miles out of the 3 cars. I’ve never had a new car so my mind may be more firmly fixed on just the experience of having a new car but with this car having a little over 31,000 miles it would be like a new car to me. Two cars are down and there is one more to go. There will be more to come soon.