New S80 compared to old S80
 

Has anybody got a new S80 or driven one. How does the new S80 compare against the old S80, comfort of ride, handling, engine noise in the cabin and general driving.

I have not driven an old S80 but can comment on the new.
I had to pick between a new S80 D5 or a nearly new V8. I found the two be very different - enough to make me gladly pick the V8 and dismiss the D5 as disappointing.

The V8 benefits enormously from the adaptive suspension. The ride, whilst not quite supple enough, is much better than in the standardly sprung car, and benefits from much more secure roadholding when pressing on (AWD too). Also, whilst both the D5 and V8 are quite vocal units when extended, the woofle from the V8 is rather becoming. It is also much more responsive than the D5, which IMHO feels a little sluggish - but maybe that was because I had already driven the V8!

The ventilated seats and distronic cruise control simply sealed the deal!

In short, I think that at £30k (new D5 or used V8) the car makes sense and represents good value. At nearer £40k (new V8) it'd be a 535d for me.

Justin.

I think the V8 must be a fantastic car with understated looks and bags of performance. Hope you enjoy the V8.
Best of luck.

I've driven them all, and while the performance of the V8 was quite good I was not particualrly impressed. The D5 is absolutely fine for legal uses, and you get the benfit of cheaper fuel use. All the gizmos are avaiable on every model, if you pay! The ventaliated seats though are a must I would agree.
The car is now far too expensive if you were paying anything like the full price, especailly the V8. And, in my view, the car does not look like an expensive exec car.

At the Gaydon 50th Anniversary Show I was in an odd mood and went looking at the new Volvo range with the intention of finding fault with all the cars. To be fair to Vovlo the new S80 is a lovely car, but I did find a couple of things that would annoy me if I were an owner.

Firstly the boot. The boot itself is huge and anyone under 6' tall would almost have to climb in to reach anything at the back, but the aperture to actually put stuf in the boot is very small. Anything taller than about 2' just will not fit through the hole, so whilst shopping bags and suitcases are fine a large cardboard box is out.

Secondly the interior trim. The dark colours are fine, but the tan coulour is horrid. On the older Volvos the steering wheel and indicator/wiper switches are kept black/grey whereas in the S80 (and the new V70) they are now in the same colour as the rest of the interior. To my mind this makes them look very cheap and nasty and not worthy of an expensive, classy saloon.