Category: Executive 
Price Range: £22,245 to £36,745
Comfortable seats, good ride quality on smaller wheels.
Doesn't have the cachet of competitors, nor is it as good to drive.
An improvement over predecessor, but it's still not up to the German competition.
This was always where the big Volvo was going to shine. Along with a full complement of curtain, front, side and knee airbags, as well as stability and traction control, the S80 offers up some truly innovative safety measures.
Take, for example, the Blind Spot Information System (BLIS). At the base of the windscreen on either side you'll find a red warning light that comes on when cars approaching from behind move into your blind spot. This is spotted by small cameras mounted under each wing mirror. If there's a big speed differential, the warning lights won't come on, as the real danger is when two cars are going similar speeds. It sounds gimmicky, but it's actually quite useful as long as you're not stupid enough to rely solely on them for moving across lanes.
There's adaptive cruise control, too, which maintains a selected distance to cars in front and brakes or accelerates in traffic without input from the driver, although that doesn't mean you can delegate emergency braking to it.
Intelligent Driver Information System monitors how much stress the driver might be undergoing based on throttle inputs, steering angle and indicator action. If it thinks you've got your hands full with the driving, it delays any incoming information that isn't safety-related, such as incoming phone calls or texts.
Add to all of this a more deformable crash structure thanks to engines - even V8 and straight-six - mounted transversely, as well as a stiffer overall structure and you've got one of the safest cars on the market.
