The Volvo XC60 is one of the most handsome cars on the market, and certainly leads the SUV segment in terms of looks. But it's also a lot more expensive than most cars – the one we drove was pricier than even an expensive E-class.
Volvo’s XC60 mid-sized SUV first broke cover as a concept in Detroit in January 2007. Apart from some wacky seats and long sunroof, it wasn’t much different from the production XC60 which debuted the following year at Geneva. So much so, that we teased Steve Mattin, then Volvo’s design head, that the concept looked like something he’d knocked up a few months after he’d completed the production car.
The XC60’s stacked bonnet, curvaceous and spacious cabin, big wheels and the unashamed targeting of wealthy American markets hit the spot, however. It’s one of the most successful cars to have used Ford’s EUCD platform, which also underpinned Ford’s Galaxy and S-Max, Land Rover’s Freelander and Discovery Sport, Volvo’s V60 and V70 and the Range Rover Evoque.
It’s also, Volvo claims, the bestseller in its class and those volumes helped Volvo through the mid-noughties dog days of lacklustre sales that struggled to exceed 450,000 worldwide (some 150,000 short of its then-owner Ford’s ambitious target), until its purchase by Geely Automobile in 2009/2010.
Last year Volvo sales were a record 534,332 and while the old XC60 performed well as usual, it was the brand-new cars, the XC90 and V70 - both based Volvo’s new chassis platform - which pulled up the trees. This £6.27 billion scheme, known as Scaleable Platform Architecture (SPA), uses the same basic structure, which is compact and light as it only has to accommodate four-cylinder engines mounted transversely.
Now it’s the turn of the XC60 to be slotted on an SPA platform and Volvo is expecting great things when it goes on sale in the UK this July priced from £37,205, though the only UK-bound car on the launch was the top turbodiesel D5 Power Plus model in Inscription Pro trim, which costs £48,405. The most popular UK model is likely to be the 187bhp/295lb ft D4 diesel in R-Design trim, which starts at £39,705.
While the new car is recognisably an XC60, it’s also recognisably new, looking tauter around the wheels, with a lower and wider stance and meaner-looking headlights. Yes, it’s an SUV, but it’s a good looking one.
There’s also a new system to help steer the car back into its lane if it detects an oncoming vehicle (which is a bit alarming for us do-or-die overtakers), and a city braking system that also helps to steer away from the pedestrian/cyclist/moose in the way.
Since all big Volvos share the same four-cylinder, 2.0-litre engine configuration, they have to bolt stuff to those engines to make them quicker. In the case of the top model turbodiesel, it’s an ingenious engine-driven compressor, which charges up a cylinder of air that is pumped into the turbo housing to spin up the blades at low revs and reduce turbo lag.
It works pretty well and the engine is refined and quiet, although it does growl a bit at low revs. On paper its rapid, too, with a 137mph top speed and 0-62mph in 7.2sec, although this is a big car weighing 1.85 tonnes and the throttle has a very aggressive initial action, which leaves you wanting if you mash it to the bulkhead. Fortunately the Aisin eight-speed transmission does a fine job of metering out the power, only occasionally feeling lost for a ratio.
The electronically assisted steering isn’t as good as that in the XC90, especially around the straight ahead position, where it feels unresponsive.
Optional Pilot Assist, a limited self-driving system combining smart cruise control and automatic lane keeping, comes as part of the £1,500 Intellisafe Pro package. Volvo bravely allows the entire system to be controlled via one steering-wheel thumb switch cluster, which toggles between functions. That’s a confusing stretch even for experienced road testers and it was interesting that Karl-Johan Ekman, the president of this vehicle line, wouldn’t be drawn on whether this was the interface Volvo would take forward to further autonomous systems.
Source: carwale.com
The XC60’s stacked bonnet, curvaceous and spacious cabin, big wheels and the unashamed targeting of wealthy American markets hit the spot, however. It’s one of the most successful cars to have used Ford’s EUCD platform, which also underpinned Ford’s Galaxy and S-Max, Land Rover’s Freelander and Discovery Sport, Volvo’s V60 and V70 and the Range Rover Evoque.
It’s also, Volvo claims, the bestseller in its class and those volumes helped Volvo through the mid-noughties dog days of lacklustre sales that struggled to exceed 450,000 worldwide (some 150,000 short of its then-owner Ford’s ambitious target), until its purchase by Geely Automobile in 2009/2010.
Last year Volvo sales were a record 534,332 and while the old XC60 performed well as usual, it was the brand-new cars, the XC90 and V70 - both based Volvo’s new chassis platform - which pulled up the trees. This £6.27 billion scheme, known as Scaleable Platform Architecture (SPA), uses the same basic structure, which is compact and light as it only has to accommodate four-cylinder engines mounted transversely.
Now it’s the turn of the XC60 to be slotted on an SPA platform and Volvo is expecting great things when it goes on sale in the UK this July priced from £37,205, though the only UK-bound car on the launch was the top turbodiesel D5 Power Plus model in Inscription Pro trim, which costs £48,405. The most popular UK model is likely to be the 187bhp/295lb ft D4 diesel in R-Design trim, which starts at £39,705.
While the new car is recognisably an XC60, it’s also recognisably new, looking tauter around the wheels, with a lower and wider stance and meaner-looking headlights. Yes, it’s an SUV, but it’s a good looking one.
There’s also a new system to help steer the car back into its lane if it detects an oncoming vehicle (which is a bit alarming for us do-or-die overtakers), and a city braking system that also helps to steer away from the pedestrian/cyclist/moose in the way.
Since all big Volvos share the same four-cylinder, 2.0-litre engine configuration, they have to bolt stuff to those engines to make them quicker. In the case of the top model turbodiesel, it’s an ingenious engine-driven compressor, which charges up a cylinder of air that is pumped into the turbo housing to spin up the blades at low revs and reduce turbo lag.
It works pretty well and the engine is refined and quiet, although it does growl a bit at low revs. On paper its rapid, too, with a 137mph top speed and 0-62mph in 7.2sec, although this is a big car weighing 1.85 tonnes and the throttle has a very aggressive initial action, which leaves you wanting if you mash it to the bulkhead. Fortunately the Aisin eight-speed transmission does a fine job of metering out the power, only occasionally feeling lost for a ratio.
The electronically assisted steering isn’t as good as that in the XC90, especially around the straight ahead position, where it feels unresponsive.
Optional Pilot Assist, a limited self-driving system combining smart cruise control and automatic lane keeping, comes as part of the £1,500 Intellisafe Pro package. Volvo bravely allows the entire system to be controlled via one steering-wheel thumb switch cluster, which toggles between functions. That’s a confusing stretch even for experienced road testers and it was interesting that Karl-Johan Ekman, the president of this vehicle line, wouldn’t be drawn on whether this was the interface Volvo would take forward to further autonomous systems.
Source: carwale.com
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