Volvo XC60 Range Car Review

Facts At A Glance
Car: Volvo XC60 range
Prices: £25,395-£36,295 – on the road INSURANCE GROUPS: 13-15
Emissions: 159-284g/km
Performance: [3.0 T6] 0-60 7.1s / Max Speed 130mph
Fuel Consumption: [D5] (urban) 30.7mpg / (extra urban) 50.4mpg / (combined) 40.9mpg
Safety: ESP / Trailer Stability Assist / City Safety / Roll Stability Control/ Hill Descent Control
Dimensions: length/width/heightmm 4628/1891/1713

INTELLIGENT DESIGN

Our Rating: 7.6 / 10

Volvo’s first compact 4x4 is also one of the very best. Jonathan Crouch reports

Volvo’s XC60 offers a rather more measured and mature proposition than the typical premium compact 4x4. It’s one of the latest generation of products from the Swedish brand that feature both genuinely smart design and an industrial measure of inbuilt desirability as standard.

There’s something to be said for turning up late to any party. Volvo’s large XC90 was one of the last luxury SUV designs to make it to market at its introduction in 2002, yet it’s done really rather well, despite a falling market. Its smaller stablemate, this XC60, has exactly the same job to do in an even poorer economy with even tougher well established rivals. If it fails, Volvo’s long term viability is going to look even more shaky. It is, then, an extremely important car for the brand.

Just as well then that this really isn’t just yet another compact 4x4. For a start, it’s not really that compact – but we’ll come to that. While other manufacturers have battled over whose small SUV was the trendiest, the sportiest to drive or the most striking to look at, Volvo has stuck with what it knows. Sturdy build. Restrained Swedish style and class-leading safety.

Why do marketeers of this type of car always insist on calling them ‘sporty’? As with virtually every contender in this sector, there’s nothing very ‘sporty’ about an XC60 to drive, especially when fitted with the slightly noisy five cylinder 2.4D and D5 diesel engines that the overwhelming majority of buyers will choose. That doesn’t mean it isn’t an accomplished thing in day-to-day tarmac use though: this indeed is what marks out the premium end of the compact all-wheel drive market. Cheaper small 4x4s offer the old lumbering SUV experience in bite-sized form: whereas drop into one of these premium-badged alternatives after owning an executive saloon and you’ll notice very little difference, save the pleasure of that higher-set driving position.

Of course, this Volvo isn’t really intended to go off road, though you wouldn’t really know that from the pages devoted to its supposed mud-plugging prowess in the instruction manual. This reminds you that its 230mm ground clearance is superior to that of the larger XC90, that there’s a 22 degree gradient approach angle (plus Hill Descent Control to get you down the

Roadgoing ease of use is really what this car is all about. There’s roll stability control which you might need if you’re one of the very few opting for the flagship 285bhp T6 3.0-litre turbo petrol model and a clever TSA stability system to keep trailers on the straight and narrow. Otherwise, there’s a whole raft of acronyms emphasising the fact that this is the safest car Volvo has ever built. These include ABS with brakeforce distribution and brake assist, DSTC traction control, the WHIPS anti-whiplash and SIPS side impact systems and the BLIS blindspot information system, plus the usual front, side and curtain airbags. Pride of place on this little roster though, goes to the ‘City Safety’ set-up.

This technology uses an array of lasers mounted ahead of the rear view mirror to scan the road 6 meters ahead of the car. If it detects another vehicle and calculates from the closing speed that a collision is imminent, it applies the brakes and can bring the XC60 to a complete stop from speeds below 18mph. Above this speed, it can't avoid a collision, but it does reduce the impact.In urban traffic. Overall, it’s incredibly effective and has the potential to eliminate the low speed collisions that account for more than 75% of all accidents.

Can we really class a 1,825kg car measuring 4,628mm in length and 1,891mm in width as a ‘compact’ 4x4? British designer Steve Mattin says we can. The suspension of disbelief is made easier by the way the XC60’s exterior styling disguises its bulk. Imagine an XC90 that’s been on a hot wash cycle for a couple of hours and that’s what the XC60 resembles; shrunken slightly, a little chamfered in its edging but recognisably a Volvo product and one that the company claim has turned up the visual volume. The grille is a little bolder, the car’s ‘shoulders’ more distinctive, especially when viewed from the rear.

There’s only room for five but at least the rear seats are higher than the front pair to give better visibility for children a