Braking, Tyres, Safety - Volvo S80 V8 road test

With 8 Airbags, AWD and the legendary tough Volvo build-quality, this is some seriously safe fun!

Braking

This car stops on a dime, as clichéd as that may sound. If you stomp on the brakes and someone’s not wearing their seat belt, well, watch out for flying objects! A car that goes this fast needs brakes this powerful. Even in the wet at crazy speeds, they’ll rein in speed effectively and without drama. They lack a little feel during initial travel, especially at low speeds. There’s good feedback beyond halfway of the pedal’s travel and then you can modulate them well. The fearsome bite needs a little getting used to, but when you find out how fast the car can be, you realise that it is necessary. A whole raft of technologies accompany and assist braking: ABS, EBD, Fading Brake Support that eliminates fade, Hydraulic Brake Assist that helps you use your brakes to the full in an emergency situation, Ready Alert Brakes that anticipates severe braking and prepares for it by moving the brake pads closer to the discs… The list is endless and effective, as is shown by the braking distance figure.

Tyres

The S80 V8 is shod with 245/45 R17 Michelin Primacy HP tyres, with a W speed rating. They have more than enough grip for most situations even in pouring rain. They don’t generate any intrusive noise at any point.

Safety

‘Volvo’ is synonymous with safety, so there’s a list of safety systems a mile long. A few are available under ‘braking’, here are some more:

DSTC (Dynamic Stability and Traction Control), Emergency Brake Lights that make the brake lamps flash under hard braking, IDIS (Intelligent Driver Information System) that withholds unnecessary information like phone calls during overtaking manoeuvres, then displays it after the manoeuvre is complete. Eight airbags are present, including dual-stage airbags for driver and passenger, dual-chamber side airbags, and ‘Inflatable curtain’ airbags. There is also a soft plastic beam in front of the bumper and the engine is one of the automotive world’s few transversely mounted V8 engines for better pedestrian impact safety.