Cruise Control
Elyza Khamil takes the latest addition to the Volvo family, the XC40 T5 AWD R-Design, for a thrilling ride around Penang.
Another shoot, another city. This time, the BAZAAR Cities digital series takes on the vibrant island of Penang, often dubbed as Malaysia’s food capital and the go-to for street art and immersive culture. Fashion savant and good buddy Melissa Yang was intent on showing me around the city in the mere 48 hours I had. Challenge accepted. With the latest Volvo XC40 T5 AWD R-Design to whizz Melissa and I through Penang traffic, getting to our shoot locations sprawled across the island was a breeze. Cruising about with the compact SUV’s striking grille design, populated by a high-gloss black mesh and flanked by the signature T-shaped Thor’s Hammer headlights, it was hard not to feel anything less than cool.
RIGHT ON TRACK
First up, The Habitat on Penang Hill. Rain was forecasted, and when it started pouring, we scrambled to pack up the abundance of production gear. All it took was a swift motion of the foot under the rear bumper, and voila, easy boot access. The handsfree, poweroperated opening led to a boot floor that did a genius origami upfold, and made for a deep trough for our belongings.
As we drove along the winding hill roads in search of shelter, the low visibility did not help. But the run-off road mitigation feature did. The steering wheel would jerk slightly to keep the car within the lane and even sensed when we were too close to another vehicle, braking in the nick of time. Safety, at the core of the XC40.
STREET SMARTS
The car exudes youth and pep while the technology has a human feel to it. All vehicle functions are consolidated in one tablet-like touchscreen interface with high-resolution driver display—talk about intuitive tech. It took some time to get used to the system, but overall, it made my 48 hours in Penang a very smooth ride, especially with the accurate navigation system.
Don’t let the fact that the XC40 is Volvo’s smallest SUV fool you. It inherits all of the premium engineering benefits and safety technologies of its larger siblings, the XC60 and XC90, making it easily the best equipped car in the premium compact SUV segment. Small, but with a whole lot of punch. Priced at RM255,888 on-the-road, without insurance. www.volvocars.com/my