Sexiness, safety and evolution are the axis of the 2007 Volvo S80 sedan.

At first glance the all-new Volvo S80 looks identical to the model it replaces. The overall length stays the same, but the wheelbase is a bit longer, the track a bit wider, and it is a little more than 1 inch taller. The subtle changes in dimensions and in sheet metal give Volvo's 2007 S80 a much more aggressive stance. Coupled with new and more potent engines, Volvo continues to roll sex appeal into its models.

The huge safety gap that Volvo enjoyed in the market no longer exists. Still, the Swedish automaker has managed to give the all-new S80 some safety features only found on luxury sedans that cost twice as much, like a crash-avoidance system with brake assist.

The 2007 S80 also gets an industry-first blind-spot information system. And its key fob will tell you what condition you left the car in — locked or unlocked. It will also tell you whether there has been an unauthorized entry, and whether that person is still in the car through a sensor that can detect heartbeats.

Change comes slowly at Volvo. The S80's design is evolutionary, not revolutionary. The new look started with the 1999 S80 and rippled its way through the product line. Volvo is not about to change its brand design cues any time soon. The new C30, as well as the upcoming XC50, which debuts at Detroit's North American International Auto Show, get their styling cues from Volvo's flagship.

Sassy chassis
Stronger steel, relocation of the oil pan and structural changes all contribute to a new S80 chassis that is 5 percent more rigid. Volvo switched from A-link front suspension arms to L-link arms to improve ride and handling. The new chassis is also better suited to accommodate both front-drive- and all-wheel-drive versions of the S80.

Like the old S80, the new model can be equipped with an adaptive chassis that automatically softens or stiffens damping based on road conditions. But unlike the old version, which had two settings, the 2007 Volvo S80 has three modes: Comfort, Sport and Advanced.

However, Volvo went too far in its effort not to alienate current S80 owners. On a run from Gothenburg, Sweden, north of the small resort fishing village of Smögen, we found the Comfort setting too soft. And the Sport setting wasn't much better. Neither could support the sporty, spirited driving experience that the 2007 Volvo S80 has been designed to deliver.

It wasn't until we dialed up the advance ride setting that we got the firmness and the confidence that went with it to push the S80 up the two-lane — and sometimes no-lane — rural roads leading to Smögen. Some keystrokes to reprogram the computer control chip could give the S80 much needed stiffer damping, at least on the Sport setting.

Piston power
The 2007 S80 offers two engines that are both transversely mounted.

A 4.4-liter V8 is the same engine, with little modification, that powers the Volvo XC90. It produces 311 horsepower and 325 pound-feet of torque. With 1000 pounds less mass to move, we found it tight, tough and smooth. This compact V8 really powered the S80 masterfully along Sweden's West Coast. Volvo said the V8-equipped S80 has a 0-62-mph time of 6.6 seconds.

Volvo's all-new inline-6 wasn't bad either. It's only a few millimeters longer than the automaker's inline-5-cylinder engine. Volvo switched from belt drives for the generator, power steering, air conditioner and flywheel to a gear drive to shorten the engine. The 3.2-liter I6 makes 235 hp and 236 lb-ft of torque.

Both the V8 and I6 were mated to a six-speed automatic gearbox also donated by the XC90. Under aggressive acceleration in the V8, this transmission was almost as smooth as a CVT without the noise. But at parking lot speeds, less than 10 mph, there was slippage in the I6's transmission before the gear actually caught and powered the S80 forward. Again, this is something that can be fixed by reprogramming the low-end gear ratios.

All-wheel drive comes standard with the V8 for the U.S. market, and front-wheel drive will be standard on the I6 when the S80 goes on sale February 1.

The S80 was not brutishly fast, but it was agile and quick. So were its brakes. The pedal was firm, response was instant, almost intuitive, and the 12.9-inch discs in front and 11.9-inch discs in back brought the car to on-the-spot slowdowns and stops. It was the brakes that generated our confidence to push the S80 hard up to blind curves and to the crests of steep hills.

Nasty competition
Both engines are nice but they're really not nasty enough to compete with the S80's stated competition. That's the Acura RL, Audi A6, BMW 5 Series, Infiniti M, Lexus GS and Mercedes-Benz E-Class.

Volvo has entered a competitive vice. The Asians have V6s that approach the power output of Volvo's V8. And the Europeans have normally aspirated V8s that outdistance Volvo's in terms of power. Go to their sport divisions and comparisons are laughable.

Still, Volvo is moving methodically ahead with its plans to sex up its cars with sporty driving attributes and more power. The S80 will have an available sport package. This includes the adaptive chassis, adaptive bi-xenon headlamps, speed-sensitive steering and high-performance 18-inch tires wrapped around alloy wheels.

Volvo has also managed to transfer the essence of Scandinavian luxury into the S80's interior. The wood trim was understated and it had the look of paneling versus shiny veneer. The interior was peaceful, almost serene. Surfaces were beveled and lines were clean. The car's perforated leather-covered seats were soft but lean and lithe. The interior of the new S80 has really been bumped up a couple of notches.

A 2007 Volvo S80 equipped with the inline-6 will start at less than $40,000, with the V8 version beginning at less than $50,000. That will put Volvo's S80 in the same price range as its competitors. So there's no price advantage over its more powerful rivals.

But what Volvo does have is an enviable and venerable brand heritage of quality, endurance and longevity. The S80 should have no trouble reaching its modest target of 40,000 annual sales, half to come from the U.S.

The bottom line is that the 2007 Volvo S80 holds on to what makes Volvo great — safety and sturdiness — while moving the carmaker closer to its aspiration of delivering a sexy and spirited driving experience.

Over the past decade, the cars coming from the once-staid Volvo brand have been curvier, sexier, and ever more luxurious than those boxy, utilitarian workhorses of the '70s and '80s. More importantly, the performance and interior appointments of Volvos have improved to the point where they can take on the best luxury cars.

Yet luxury still means something different to Volvo, and to understand what it is and why, it's necessary to take a look at Swedish culture and heritage. The idea of Swedish luxury is quite the opposite of traditional luxury, according to Volvo, as it doesn't aim to be exclusive. It's less apparent than the gadgetry and driver-focused devices in top German cars, or the wool, leather, wood, and other fine materials in high-end British brands.

According to Steve Harper, Volvo's British-born platform chief designer for the S80, the idea of Swedish luxury involves aesthetic contrasts and accessible technology. A Swedish luxury is always functional but never pretentious or exclusive. Technology for technology's sake is to be avoided.

So, you see, functionality, accessibility, and even modesty play an important part in what makes a Volvo luxurious. But above all else, according to Harper, Swedes rank time as their number-one luxury - the time to relax, follow pursuits, or the time spent to oneself, in the car.

Saving time…with your right foot

To cut to the chase, the new V-8 engine offered in the new S80 can save you plenty of time if you toss away a little social responsibility for the moment. The Yamaha-supplied 60-degree V-8 (essentially the same design as in the XC90) makes 311 horsepower, allowing the S80 to dash to 62 mph in a short 6.6 seconds, and it has a rip-roaring growl when you stomp on the gas. V-8 models are fitted with V-rated tires and limited to 127 miles per hour, but with the Sport Package it adds 18-inch, Z-rated Pirelli tires and 155-mph capacity.

And to keep all that torque from driving the front wheels crazy, Volvo's latest Haldex-supplied all-wheel-drive system is standard on the V-8 model. It sends nearly all torque to the front wheels during normal driving, but can reapportion up to 50 percent to the rear wheels as needed, either preemptively for better stability under heavy throttle or with less than one-seventh of a wheel rotation if a front tire slips.

U.S. model offerings will start with a 235-hp, 3.2-liter six-cylinder model with front-wheel drive. The 3.2-liter in-line six has variable valve timing and two different cam profiles for smooth, economical operation and good performance. It's peppy, with plenty of power and a nice, slightly sporty sound, but it's not the jolt of java that the V-8 is.

There's also a turbocharged version of the six a year or two down the road, though there's almost no chance of getting a manual transmission.

Both engines are paired with a new six-speed automatic transmission that has a separate manual shift mode (Geartronic). Most of the time, in Drive, shifts were smooth, but with the V-8 there was some lumpy shifting and indecision at moderate throttle - especially when you back off from full throttle to partial throttle. But the extraordinary V-8 especially makes up for it with its instant throttle response, ever-present torque, and sweet, raspy sound.

Even with the V-8, the S80 isn't at all a gas-guzzler. On the trip computer, in a preview drive in Sweden, we saw an average of 12.2 liters per 100 km over a mix of rural and suburban driving that varied from relaxed to aggressive, a figure that equates to about 20 miles per gallon.

Variable responses

Both the V-8 and six-cylinder cars we drove were equipped with the optional Sport Package, which besides the tire and wheel upgrade also includes variable-assist Servotronic power steering with steering effort that can be adjusted, via an instrument-panel menu. With three levels of effort, it can range from quite heavy to fingertip-light, and assist actually completely disappears at high speed. It's nicely weighted for a [mainly] front-driver, but don't expect a lot of feedback from the road.

The Four-C active-damping system is also part of the Sport Package. Four-C now offers three settings: Comfort, Sport, and Advanced. 'Sport' offers more body control and sharper responses, and 'Advanced' minimizes suspension travel, with firmer settings, for enthusiastic driving on smooth roads. On the mostly smooth, coarsely surfaced Swedish roads on our test loop, with the optional Sport package and grippy Pirelli tires, we wished for an even tighter suspension setting to take advantage of the V-8's power out of corners, but we'd guess that the Advanced setting will be plenty for rapid driving on pockmarked American roads.

In ordinary driving, both the V-8 and the six felt very similar in terms of ride and handling - the V-8 itself is only about 55 pounds heavier than the six - until you step down on the gas. Brakes, as would be expected, are tremendously able.

Back to appearances, on the outside, the new S80 is a distillation of the outgoing S80's rather conservative lines with the current S60's slightly more radical shape. Even though the platform is extensively different, taking on more Ford global underpinnings, exterior dimensions are more or less the same as those on the outgoing S80, but the net effect - perhaps of the more rounded greenhouse - is that it S80 looks a bit more compact, especially from a distance.

Inside, what counts

The changes are more dramatic inside, especially around the instrument panel, where the curves are smooth and graceful and the smoothly sloped, coarsely finished padded dash top (said by Volvo to resemble a snowy meadow) takes up quite a bit of real estate over a neatly designed instrument panel. Most striking inside is the 'floating' center-stack instrument panel design like that used in the style-setting S40. With a look that brings to mind flat-screen monitors and high-end audio systems, including buttons inspired by the popular Bang & Olufsen remote control, the S80's center stack contains controls for audio and climate control, along with a very simple menu-system screen at the top. Most notable in the center stack is a new system that enables some customization of the car, including seat and mirror settings, audio and navigation settings, and steering effort.

The screen for the optional navigation system pops up from the top of the instrument panel, much higher and in the line of sight than in other cars, and hides away when not in use.

Seating is still a strong point. The front seats have been reapportioned, with perforated, heated and cooled, fan-driven ventilated upholstery now optional. The back seat is actually large enough for three petite folks or two American-sized adults, and nicely contoured, and the climate-control system has vents built into the B-pillars for better comfort in back.

Volvo is staying with transverse engines, according to engineers, for their crash-safety advantages. The new six-cylinder is only three millimeters longer than the in-line five that the majority of Volvo models have used for the past decade.

While the platform remains similar to the outgoing S80, the crash structure has been extensively modified, with four different grades of steel used for more progressive deformation in a crash. The side airbag system also has more separate chambers, for better protection for a wider range of occupants, and the WHIPS whiplash protection system has been improved.

One of the best preventative safety features is optional, though. With the available adaptive cruise control, there's a new Collision Warning with Brake Support, which primes the braking system for peak boost if a collision is expected. Before such a situation, there's a red warning bar projected on the windshield, and a loud warning beep.

Another clever new feature is the camera-operated blind-spot detection system, termed with the acronym BLIS. Just in front of the rearview mirrors and inside the cabin, there's a red light that illuminates if a vehicle is in the blind spot. Though not officially a safety system according to Volvo, BLIS is a useful driver's aid.

A keyfob that's not clueless

There's also a smart keyfob system, called the Personal Car Communicator and unlike that offered by any other automaker, that can tell you up to 100 meters away the status of the security system, with a system of color-coded lights, details such as whether or not the alarm has gone off, or even whether there is a heartbeat inside.

In addition to a high-end audio package including surround sound and twelve speakers by the Danish audiophile company Dynaudio, there will be two main options packages on the S80. The Sport Package will add the 4C chassis system, ventilated front seats, active headlamps, and speed-sensitive steering; the Climate Package brings heated seats, nozzles, and wipers, and headlamp cleaning. Standalone options include run-flat tires, a navigation system, adaptive cruise control, park assist, the blind-spot detection system, the Personal Car Communicator keyfob, and Bluetooth compatibility.

The new S80 will go on sale in February, as a 2007 model. A front-wheel-drive V-6 will start under $40,000, while the V-8 will start at under $50,000.

We see the S80 as being a very formidable competitor for the Acura RL and Audi A6, with a good blend of comfort, sophistication, and, of course safety. While its outside styling definitely plays it safe, it's matched with some very clever design inside…and, of course, that time-saving V-8. That may be exactly the luxury to attract new buyers to the brand.

Volvo Cars of North America today announced pricing on the all-new 2007 Volvo S80 sedan. The all new Volvo S80 will be the first Volvo sedan with a V8 engine, as well as the first sedan with the company's new inline 3.2 liter 6-cylinder engine.

The inline-six model will start at $38,705, while the V8 version will go for $47,350.

Volvo first unveiled the new luxury sedan in January. The I6 version offers 238 horsepower, while the V8 version pushes 315 hp. The I6 model comes equipped with front-wheel-drive, while the V8 version has all-wheel-drive. Both feature a 6-speed automatic transmission with Geartronic sequential shifting. Optional equipment includes a radar-based Adaptive Cruise Control system, swiveling bi-Xenon headlights, and the Personal Car Communicator — a remote car monitor.