volvo s80

volvo s80

could hear it even before I could see it. I had barely glanced at the rear view mirror to see what was making that fabulous exhaust music, and the whit Volvo S80 has overtaken me and the car in front in a dangerous manoeuvre. It was a blind crest and I was sure that the past, went flat-out over the crest and disappeared before I could follow suit.

volvo s80

But keeping up with that machine would have been dfficult, as after all, the following weekend was the Sardinia leg of the wrc and I was not surprised to see one of the cars of the wrc circus doing its rounds here. Would I have traded places and cars with him? Not at that moment. You see, I was driving the brand new Volkswagen Polo which is all set to be launched in India next year, and while it may not haver the performance of the bumped-up S80,it was brilliant in its own way.

volvo s80

Brilliant because it looks ravishing and the 1.2 TSI with the DSG in the polo was like a dream over those superb sardinian roads. The car was hanging on to those curves and every once in a while the Mediterranean would suddenly come up glistening in that bright sunshine. Policing (I assumed) would be lax, so I was a bit bold breaking those unfair speed limits and the little Polo played along. If I was caught, I could always tell them I was evaluating a surprise special stage for the Rally. Yeah right.

volvo s80

The new Polo has lost all the cuteness of the fourth-generation model it replaces. Instead, it looks much more serious and sober and gets that face now made famous by the new Scirocco and Golf. While it may not be overtly flamboyant like Italian cars normally are, it does look a bit Italian to me, especially when wearing that gorgeous Flash red paint. It was not because I was in Italy, but because the top designers at Volkswagen are Italian after all. To me it looks like you can't keep the Italian spirit subdued even in a thoroughbred German company. That, and the way the Polo drives felt Italian to me, but more about that later.

volvo s80