Tested: 2023 Volvo S60 Recharge Makes the Leap

Back when mad Maine tuner Ross Converse was dropping Mustang V-8s into Volvo engine bays, it was hilarious to conceive of a Volvo that could hit 60 mph in less than six seconds. Those were cars for Paul Newman and David Letterman, supercharged sleepers with raucous performance that belied their Bar Harbor-antiques-dealer styling. These days, Volvo is its own tuner, as exemplified by the 2023 S60 Recharge. Like Newman's Converse-modified 960, the S60 is supercharged. Unlike that tuner sled of yore, it's also turbocharged and electri-charged, by dint of its rear-mounted electric motor. With 312 horsepower from the 2.0-liter inline-four up front and 143 horsepower from the electric motor, the S60 Recharge claims the title of Most Powerful Volvo Ever, packing a combined 455 horsepower and 523 pound-feet of torque. Sure, that title also applies to every other model that offers this powertrain, but a win's a win.

As complicated as this powertrain is, it proved plenty reliable during our 40,000-mile test of a 2020 model, with modest service costs too. That car, which made 400 horsepower, hit 60 mph in 4.3 seconds. This one, with its additional muscle, knocks a couple of ticks off that time, reaching 60 in 4.1 seconds and dispatching the quarter-mile in 12.5 seconds at 112 mph. That quarter-mile time would be quicker if the S60 didn't approach its stingy 114-mph speed limiter during the run, causing it to start cutting power at around 110 mph.

That conflict—sports-car acceleration pitted against a party-pooper speed limiter—is emblematic of the S60 Recharge's broader contradictions. On one hand, it seems determined to uphold a safe-and-sane Volvo image, to the extent that there isn't even a sport mode. But on the other: 455 horsepower and a 60-mph time that's the same as a reasonably recent 2014 Porsche 911 Targa 4S PDK. Discovering that the respectable, dapper S60 Recharge can smoke Camaros off the line is like discovering that Ned Flanders is ripped. Stupid sexy Flanders.

Besides adding raw power, the upgraded hybrid componentry enables the S60 to work perfectly well as an EV, which wasn't really the case back when it had 87 electric horsepower. Now, with 143 horsepower and its bigger, 14.9-kWh battery, the S60 could work as a legitimate daily driver in EV mode. Its EPA-rated range is 41 miles, and we saw 34 miles of range during our 75-mph highway test. In traffic, you no longer need to feather the throttle to prevent the gas engine from firing—in fact, if you're on the throttle during a 90-degree turn across an intersection, you may well hear a tormented howl from the inside rear tire. (In EV mode, the S60 Recharge is rear-wheel drive.)