between a 2003 Acura CL Type S 6 spd and a 2006 Volvo S60 R 6 spd with 300 hp turbo engine, which one would you pick? Which one would be considered a better handling and performance car. Please chime in and give your opinions.


Thanks in advice

 

I always likes turbo...

 

My concern on Volvos (and Euros in general) is reliability, but nothing seems as reliable as Acura/Honda to me. Maybe the Volvos are improved now. Reliability is one of my top requirements, may not be for others.

 

okay, let me state that my family has always bought japanese cars (toyotas/lexus and honda/acuras, some nissans/infinitis).

i find japanese cars very reliable and their build quality is phenomenal.

euro cars, in general, aren't as great to me. maintenance costs are expensive, build quality is okay (BMW has some shitty interiors... pieces just start falling off), reliability is not up to par to japanese cars.

so japanese cars > euro cars in costs (in the end).

but remember, this is biased information...

but in performance... the cl is like a boat... it's big... not sure about the volvo

 

My son-in-law works for volvo for 20 years he is a engineer for them I have drove it what I FOUND was fun to drive, not as fast as it should be ,good looking but they do have brake downs ,there is nothing like a jap. car

 

Personally, if I had the itch for a new car I would lease the Volvo for three years. In that time you might encounter a few issues and hopefully, had them resolved to your satisfaction.

With the CL-S you are pretty much out of warranty (unless an extended was purchased). Of course CL-S reliability is steps above the Volvo in the long run.

Personal preference wins over all the time.

 

I agree not as fast as I would have expected. I test drove when it first came out.

My whole family was Volvo drivers, I am the only Honda head. They are safe cars and I think thats why my dad got into them. And that it was AWD which was needed where they used to live, some snow.

Now I got half of my family into honda/Acura now. Lots of repairs on the 99' turbo Volvo that we had. The AWD gave trans problems and the cooling system always had a leak.


Do you have a CLS-6 ?
Trading it in?

 

Considering a possible trade on my Cl-S supercharged. Not quite sure if the swap will occur. I am just looking for a faster, better performance and handling car without going broke or going into the american muscle cars.

 

IMHO.....

Honda/Acura > anything...

i dont think ill ever wander away from honda/acura... honestly... theres something for everyone.. if u want pure luxery, TL... if u want some speed and luxery, CL-S, TL-S, if you want speed, S2k or eve NSX..... if u want Economy and luxery, TSX.... ill stick with honda.acura til teh day i die.

 

Here's my take on Volvos.
Since i was a kid, my family has owned two Volvos, and i can attest that they're very safe cars. When i was seven years old my dad got in an accident on christmas eve and wrecked his 850. Looking back on it now, i realized how lucky I was that even as a little kid riding in the front seat i was still able to walk away from the crash with nothing more than a scratch on my hand.

However one thing i can say may be a deterrent from Volvos, at least from my experience, is their reliability may be sub-par. My friend Brice's parents got him an mewer first-gen. S40 because they were concerned about safety and he isn't the safest driver out there. However after only a couple months he blew the tranny and did something to the engine so that it was totalled and he had to get a new car.

So there it is. My thoughts are that Acuras are more reliable, more luxurious (at least from my point of view) and also considerably safe. Volvos are very safe and have pretty nice interiors, but have the potential to fall apart. Performance-wise, I think that you'll also be able to get more out of your SC 6-speed than you could out of the Volvo, but i would leave that to a test drive to decide.

Good luck with your choice

 

NSX for sure

The new lex GS is nice
or IS comes in a 6

 

I am not sure about long term reliability but my brother used to have one of those S70s with a T5 engine and auto. I drove it many times and that thing is fast as a rocket. You punch it on the highway from whatever speed and it just pulls like a train. Overall a solid car I'd say. Not the best looking but very solid. But also I think the volvos are not the cars you want to modify, they're daily drivers.

 

i agree, i have had a bmw and a MB in my family over the last 6 years or so and it seemed like there was always something wrong with them. Nothing major but just enough to have to take it to the dealership for repair. honda/acura is not only demendable but better quality . . . more solid, i think

 

The S60 R is 30-40k right? Thats double the price of a CL-S

 

thats a tough one, my friend who parks infront of me at school has an S60R and that thing is beautiful, but it has broken down several times this year and he doesn't drive it hard at all on the way home from school (he lives down the street from me). Stock for stock the volvo is faster from what I read (14.0 sec 1/4 mile). Both interiors are excelant IMO but the front lip on the S60 is very prone to rock chippage.

 

volvos are safe, known for safety from what i heard, i have couple neighbors who own like old school wagon volvos, not sure what they are called but they both have well over 200k on them and still run, they stay away form the new volvos cuz they say volvo has been trying to do too much and they break down easily.. honestly i would rather pay for the maintenence on a cls rather than s60, and i think kyle77 is right they are double the price too

 

the '08 IS500 is going to be sick

 

I think there are a lot of biased opinions here. Sure mostly everything else fails in comparison to the reliability of Honda/Acura, but my best friend's family has only owned Volvos, three of their cars are over 175k miles and still running with little/no problems. I think out of all Euro cars the Volvo has the least reliability issues and if you're looking for an almost new car, I'd take the S60R.

Yeah, I have an Acura CL-S, but everyone does. I've only seen a few S60Rs on the road, they're fast, safe, AWD, and comfortable. When it comes down to it though, I say test drive both and then decide.

I do also agree with Paclark01. If you're still unsure after a test drive, I'd say lease the S60R and if you still love it after 3 years, buy it. Good luck!

 

First of all if I had to make a choice between an Acura CL S and anything else is the last thing I would do is ask the opinion of Acura CL owners because your not going to get mostly unbiased opinions. I own a CL type S and a BMW and I like both but for different reasons. Yes generally European cars have more problems and cost more to repair but if $ is no issue then don't worry about it. You own a 2003 Acura currently and only you know how strongly you feel about it Test drive the Volvo if you haven't already and make a decision it probably does out perform the CL but just know you probably will have some issues with it in the future but you will also have a warranty so for at 3-4 years so don't worry about it for the immediate future if you decide buy it.

 

everyone i know with volvos has had reliability issues with them. i have no personal experience with them.

 

i think you can tell from my name what my opinion is but facts are facts... so the fact of the matter in this situation is that Volvo's lose their resale value really fast and they break down just about as fast as their value goes down... as far as speed... it doesnt act like it has 300hp and awd... it could be faster in my opinion. my brother in law has an 01 Volvo S80 T6 which has 268hp twin turbo, right... well Im sorry but my 00 TL-P can keep up with it and so... Im thinking... twin turbo? where is it and when does it kick in? just my

 

no offense to all you loyal honda,acura followers, but after this car, im going back to lexus/toyota. my mom drives a camry with crazy miles on it and i want my car to last that long. i can see why acuras and hondas are desirable, but the toyota bug bit me first i guess.