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.
These are some of the most comfortable long-distance seats we've encountered, if not the most laterally supportive for more aggressive B-road driving. They can also be specified with perforated leather and cooling fans. The cabin's pretty roomy, with good rear legroom, though the boot's not quite as large as you'd think it would be, with a narrow loading aperture.
Another innovation that Volvo is calling a world first is the Clean Zone Interior Package - when the car is unlocked via the remote, the cabin is automatically ventilated for about one minute if the outside temperature is above ten degrees Celsius. Just so you know, this provides interior air that has been approved by the Swedish Asthma and Allergy Association.
Volvo offers a development of its active damping with the option of selecting Comfort, Sport or Advanced mode. As the labels suggest, this increases the firmness of damping and steering response up to the point when damper movement is 'minimised for enthusiastic driving on smooth tarmac'. We'd draw attention to the 'smooth tarmac' qualification...
Entry level S80s come with dual-zone climate control, cruise control, an alarm, 16" alloy wheels and an 80-watt MP3/iPod-compatible sound system. Move up to SE specification and this adds leather upholstery, 17" alloys, electrically adjustable driver's seat and a 160-watt sound system. Compared with its German competitors, the S80 offers more equipment for the money.
