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Volvo killed its V-8 almost four years ago and now it’s getting out of the five- and six-cylinder engine business,
too. Future Volvos will be powered by four-cylinder engines with
turbochargers, four-cylinders with turbochargers and belt-driven
superchargers, four-cylinders paired with hybrid powertrains, and
turbocharged four-cylinders that burn diesel fuel. From roughly the end
of next year until internal combustion is criminalized, fours are all
Volvo will have. So those fours had better be pretty damn good.
So here’s Volvo’s shot at pretty damn good: a new family of
four-cylinder engines—diesels and gas burners built around a common
architecture—destined to power every Volvo into the foreseeable future.
All that’s riding on them is the company’s viability and what’s left of
the Swedish automobile industry.
The first three versions of these 2.0-liter Drive-E engines will go into
Volvo’s recently updated S60 sedan, V60 wagon, and XC60 crossover for
the 2015 model year. We recently drove 2014 preproduction versions of
those models in Euro-spec form in southern France. The gas versions wear
familiar T5 and T6 badging, but rest assured they each have only four
holes. The S60 was powered by the T5-level mill using a single
turbocharger and making 241 horsepower. The XC60 had a 302-hp T6 version
featuring a Roots-style blower and a turbocharger. And the V60 got the
D4 turbo-diesel rated at 178 horsepower. All three engines are lashed to
a new eight-speed automatic transaxle that, in the sampled machines,
drives the front wheels (all-wheel drive will be available). A six-speed
manual will be offered, but likely not in the U.S.
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