phred

They had a S60 driving event in the Hollywood Park parking lot. Very much fun. For comparison's sake, they had a Merc C Class and a BMW 3 Series, but no Audis in sight. When my wife questioned them on this, they had no answer. I would guess they didn't want to buy/rent the Audi. I'm also not sure they had the right comparo, perhaps they are similar price-wise but that size Volvo felt more like an A6 to me.

At previous events like this, the comparo cars were available to test drive, but not here. They had a buttload of S60s, a good mix of sticks and autos, and insisted that we beat on them, which we certainly did. And it worked - it's a good car and I would certainly cross-shop it when the time comes.

phred

Only the wagons at the moment are AWD.

The topline S60 T5 has about 250 HP, which is probably at the limit of managable wheelspin/torque steer.

During the hot lap portion of the day, when the driving instructors took the wheel and we donned helmets and sat shotgun, these guys absolutely flew! At one point on the course, we started to spin and the guy very deftly caught it with some opposite lock and sped on. These are some fine-handling cars, at least in this setting. I would need some real-world seat time to see how they feel compared to quattro.

Mike4.2CBW

><i>The topline S60 T5 has about 250 HP, which is probably at the limit of managable wheelspin/torque steer.</i>

A year ago, when I was considering the A6 2.7T, I looked at the S80 T-6. That has 268HP/280FtLbs and seemed a worthy competitor (I wanted a safe 4-door to carry my two daughters and a great-handling sports sedan for me). I asked about AWD, but was told there were no plans. Then Ernst "tricked" me into a test drive of the 4.2 and I forgot about Volvo. :-)

SloopJohnB

Of course they sold it, but it kicked butt at a Seattle area rallycross. Not to be confused with autocross. Crucified the Audi contingent. The same car took first and second place with different drivers. As I recall, they were over a minute faster (total of two runs) than the next fastest car(s).

The article may still be on www.ipdusa.com

That being said, about the only advantage the volvo has is price, in spades, over the A6 4.2Q.

petrie

I own both an A6 and an S80 T6 and didn't hear about this event. I'm nearby in Manhattan Beach so it would have been easy to get to and fun! I'm sorry I missed it.