The Elegant Volvo V60 R-Design – A Car Review

Hello and welcome to Automotive Tales! On today’s 
video we’re going to look at another car from
the Automotive Tales fleet – this time we’re 
looking at my 2020 model year Volvo V60 R-Design
[kettle clicks on]
[Kettle boils and clicks off]
[Loud match strike]
[Woodburner door slams as music starts]
[Funky intro music… yeaah!]
This is my daily driver and one I share with 
Mrs Automotive Tales, and if you’re watching this
video wondering why have I gone all James May 
with my very long hair well we’re in lockdown
we can’t do our normal Tall Tales videos that 
we would do in the studio with other people
so we’re going to introduce you to various cars 
within the fleet and as it’s been a long time
since the hairdressers have been open my hair is 
looking a little bit unwieldy sorry about that
we’ve had this car now just approaching a year 
in fact it’s just been in for its first annual
service so we bought this car in early 
March 2020 before we went into lockdown
as a replacement for our previous daily which 
was a Volvo V40 also R-Design, also Osmium grey
at the time we bought this car we had kind of two 
regular use vehicles we had a Volvo V40 R-Design
and we had a first generation Volvo XC90, a 185 
horsepower D5 we needed something that would
kind of tick both boxes, and sure, the V60 is not 
going to match the XC90

in off-road capability
but in most other aspects it is fairly comparable
so it offers you know a large boot space uh it
offers five comfortable seats and it offers a
tow bar while also offering the comfort the modern
luxuries and of course the fuel economy of the V40
so it seemed like an obvious choice to make the
trade. So what spec did we go for with the V60 so
we went in with a fairly open set of requirements
we needed something that would replace both cars
and that was about it to be honest but what we
wanted was a V60 we needed the estate for its
practicality uh and the only requirements we had
were a winter pack which means heated seats heated
mirrors etc and we want it to be a manual now this
isn’t because I am the purest and everything must
be a manual I am more than happy to admit that
automatic is a very good piece of equipment and
has its place and for a daily driver it certainly
makes sense for an automatic. In fact I imagine
this car as an automatic would be very capable
however Mrs Automotive Tales doesn’t feel that an
automatic gives her full control of the vehicle so
on that basis we went for a manual so here we are
today in said V60 on a lovely miserable English
day uh it’s raining sideways which is lovely
so um those of you that are into continuity will
notice the exterior shots and all the other shots
probably won’t be filmed on the same day because
it’s grim! So what does the V60 give us well you’ve
got a very modern very Germanic feeling interior
cabin lots of nice quality materials all nicely
put together there’s no squeaks or rattles in here
apart from obviously the rain on the windscreen
we’ve got a selection of data displays so
we’ve got the usual for all modern cars
we’ve got the sort of touch screen centre console
which is a great big tablet of a thing which I’m
not personally a fan of but does give you a lot of
functionality within the vehicle so that’s where
you can control all your audio you can control
your navigation access to your phone car messages
settings etc then you have a secondary display
in the dashboard so not only have you got your
normal two dials which are digital in this case
you also have a screen that’s nestled in between
them as part of a single display and that can
give you a number of different options at the
moment I have it set to maps which seems like
the most useful option so I don’t have to glance
across to the middle screen which really isn’t
well placed for driving in addition to that you
also have a heads-up display on the V60 which is
a standard option so at the moment this is telling
me my speed and it also tells you what the speed
limit is in the area as its best guess so it has
a camera that reads the signs as you go along and
it works out what the speed limit is in that area
so the heads-up display gives you a third option
for your navigation not only do you have a map in
the centre console you also have a smaller version
of the map in the middle of your dial binnacle
and then you have the next turning or the most
important piece of information you really need
actually on the heads-up display
so alongside your speed and your
speed limit signs it will also tell you
what the next movement is you need to make
so I’d like to say the heads-up display is a
great example of modern ergonomics and design
it’s ideally placed to avoid having to take your
eyes off the road which is you know important in
modern busy motoring however as a juxtaposition
to this this application of a large centre console
screen is quite the opposite if I need to go and
change the radio station or even a simple thing as
upping the temperature within the cabin I’ve
got to go and dive into the touch-screen menus
and that really isn’t something you can do very
easily without taking your eyes off the road
and I think we’ve got two pieces of technology
that seem conflicting in their application
using the heads-up display to provide all the
important data for the driver so they never
have to take their eyes off the road it’s
a wonderful safety feature and a great idea
and then you counteract that with this massive
great big screen which is craving your attention
and requiring your input and taking your eyes
off the road if you’re in the car on your own
to change such basic things as the cabin
air conditions or the seat heaters or
to turn the radio on and off now I will say to
Volvo’s credit this this isn’t just a Volvo thing
this is an all modern cars thing uh one of my
kind of pet hates I have to say. uh and to Volvo’s
credit they do have some basic functionality on
the steering wheel and below the touch-screen on
tactile buttons so we’ve got a dial in the centre
for turning the radio up down and I sort of play
pause button so you can stop the audio should
you need to take a call but you can’t access
any of the cabin controls for air conditioning
temperature etc without going into that screen
so my kind of plea to automotive manufacturers
let’s take the basic things there’s a few things
you need to be able to do without interacting
with the touch-screen taking your eyes off the
road you need to know what speed you’re going tick!
you need to know your navigation tick! you need to
be able to control the radio yep tick! in this
case, you need to be able to control the cabin
environment and that’s one thing that most cars
fall down and I think that’s a minimum requirement
for something that should be on a tactile button
that you can feel your way to without ever taking
your eyes off the road so what other things are
good and bad about the V60 well starting with the
interior because it’s where I am right now as I’ve
mentioned it it’s beautifully appointed uh the use
of piano black around this centre console screen
really makes it quite a nice place to be we’ve got
a matte finish to the top of the dashboard which
helps with any reflection and then we break up the
sea of kind of darker coloured materials with
some chrome highlights albeit they’re brushed
chrome so you don’t get any massive reflections
from those and some what I can only assume is like
a carbon fibre weave effect trim which I think on
other models you can get as like a wood effect or
actual wood insert trim in addition to that the
piano black I mentioned on the centre console
does follow into the lower section around the
gear shift now that that I don’t like because
this is an area of high wear so in there goes
my phone goes my key I mean currently the audio
device you’re listening to me on is sitting
in the centre console there recording my audio
as well as other things your car pass for
work car parks all those sorts of things
and having anything that’s a shiny gloss piano
black material next to a high use area like that
is just a disaster waiting to happen so our
car is just over 12 months old and already
starting to show signs of very light
surface scratches on that material
without wanting to sound too much like Doug
DeMuro other cool kind of quirks on this car
so if you wave your foot under the boot it
will open without having to touch the boot
[Clunk of the car unlocking and a beep to recognise the signal to open]
now we’ve talked about this on our podcast before
and certainly Greg the “YorkshireEngineer” uh has
quite a disdain for this technology uh he believes
it’s much easier if you just push a button and
open boot yourself and although I do agree with
him in so much as excessive technology for the
sake of technology isn’t really a good thing I
have found more than one occasion when I’ve got
both hands full of equipment which let’s be
honest this car is going to be used for load
lugging we’ve used it for a lot of DIY work and
when I’ve got my camera kit in two big Peli cases
I don’t really want to put one down on a wet floor
I want to be able to open the boot and put them
straight in and in that instance I have found that
feature be really very useful however there is the
odd occasion where you’re standing behind the back
of your car on one leg hovering your other foot
underneath the car trying to open it when the
key is maybe in your back pocket not in range
and you get some very funny looks from the
neighbours like you maybe have lost the plot
[triple beep from the car to signify a fault]
really? (from off camera) take three?
so what other sort of Volvo quirks and
features are there to the car well there’s one
little thing which I don’t think non-Volvo
owners and drivers will really know about
which is incredibly simple but a really
delightful little addition to the car
at the base of the A-pillar there’s a
tiny piece of little clear Perspex plastic
which is spring-loaded against the windscreen the
purpose of this is simply to hold a piece of paper
or whatever it might be; a piece of cardboard, to
the windscreen so this little piece of plastic
under the A-pillar great little piece of design
it’s been there since the Volvo 240 I think I’m
willing to be correct… If you know when they first
use that Volvo let us know in the comments below
other usual Volvo things so there are cargo nets
in the back of the seats so if you’ve got luggage
in the back of your Volvo estate and you don’t
want it flying through in the case of an accident
there’s some mesh nets that pull up and clip
into the ceiling to protect you from anything
that might fly around also stops dogs from jumping
over onto the back seats if you’re carrying a dog
in the back. Nice little feature. In addition on
this more modern Volvo with a hideable tow bar…
is that the right word? hideable? removable? It’s
not removable because it’s hidden ,it’s behind
the rear bumper, it’s a hideable tow bar!
There’s a little button within the boot
you push that button it releases a tow bar
and it comes out from underneath the bumper
[Faint noise of an electric solenoid]
[Loud clunk as the tow bar locks into place]
and then when you’re done with it you
push the button again it releases it
and you push it back up behind the
bumper you don’t see the tow bar
[Faint noise of an electric solenoid]
[Loud clunk as the tow bar locks back behind the bumper]
really neat little feature
other quirks and features I really like about this
Volvo V60 is the pedal box! Now this is something
that might seem a bit left field and
probably hasn’t picked up on other reviews
because I suspect 90% of the Volvo V60s that are
sold are sold with an automatic gearbox it suits
a more modern engine with the turbocharger much
better so why is the pedal-box specifically of note
well what I discovered and it’s something
that carried over from the V40 we had before
and I was quite amazed about is the pedals are
perfectly set up for a little bit of heel and toe
so if you’re like me you do like a little bit
of enthusiastic driving, yes I know this isn’t
a sports car it’s a 2 litre diesel Volvo
estate, but you can still hustle it around
a good country road and enjoy the handling
of those big wide tyres on a modern chassis
and the pedal box has clearly been set up
by somebody that really enjoys motoring
so as you’re leaning on the brakes coming into a
corner you’ll find if you flip your heel across
that accelerator pedal is at just the
right height to blip the throttle as you
pop through the gears something that when you’ve
got a manual gearbox it’s quite a nice thing to do
not necessarily important when you’re dealing with
a big heavy diesel not exactly going to get peak
performance from it but it feels nice to drive
a car in that enthusiastic manner so bravo Volvo
really appreciate that tiny little feature that
most people won’t appreciate because I think 90%
of these are delivered as automatics
How to
summarize this V60 then well it’s a practical comfortable and frugal car
Thus far at least it has also achieved its primary purpose as a joint replacement for our V40 and XC90
and has been 12 months of trouble free motoring.
And as an added bonus it’s way more elegant
and stylish than a car you would call
‘practical’ has any right to be, not bad for a car
you can drive for as little as £245 a month [correct as of March 2021]
A sensible choice then but not one you would
walk away from without a glance back
[Thank you for watching – subtitled edited by Jon – if you found them useful please leave us a comment below]