New Volvo is an offroad star
‘Vehicle’s capability in challenging road, track and field conditions is the essence.’ WILL TAKE YOU WHERE OTHER CARS CAN’T GO
The new Volvo V90 Cross Country is now available in South Africa and continues the legacy of Cross Country models that span 20 years. A total of eight derivatives will be available, with diesel or petrol drivetrains and all-wheel drive as standard on all models.
Volvo are at pains to point out that the new vehicle is not just a styling exercise. Thomas Ingenlath, senior vice president design at Volvo Car Group, says: “With our new Cross Country you can go where a normal sedan or wagon cannot go. The vehicle’s capability in challenging road, track and field conditions is the essence.”
Therefore Volvo raised the newcomer’s ground clearance by six centimetres, while tyre diameters have grown by up to 42mm. To accommodate the bigger wheels, they designed wheel arch extensions which, together with a redesigned front bumper, protect the V90 Cross Country in rough terrain.
The new vehicle is built on Volvo’s new Scalable Product Architecture chassis, just like the XC90, S90 and V90 models. Suspension in the V90 Cross Country matches that of the S90, with a double wishbone and coil spring set-up at the front, plus a stabiliser bar. There is an integral axle with transverse composite leaf spring at the rear along with hydraulic dampers and a stabiliser bar.
The V90 Cross Country’s chassis delivers impressive off-road ability with 210mm of overall ground clearance. The vehicle also has a completely new tyre with a more rounded profile for better grip and a softer ride. Many vital parts of the V90 Cross Country’s chassis have been recrafted and refined. The biggest adjustments were made to deal with the challenging forces of off-road driving.
A major part of the development work involved reprogramming the electronic chassis systems – all-wheel drive, hill descent control, continuously controlled damping, electric power steering and electronic stability control, all to handle the challenges of offroad driving.
As with the XC90 and S90, the new Volvo V90 Cross Country models are all powered by Volvo’s modular two-litre Drive-E diesel and petrol engines. Four power plants are available: the D4 and D5 diesels, plus the T5 and T6 petrols. All engines are mated to the latest all-wheel drive system and Volvo’s proven eight-speed Geartronic automatic gearbox.
The diesel engines offer strong outputs and excellent efficiency. The twin-turbo D4 AWD model’s engine produces 140 kW of power at 4 250 rpm and 400 Nm of torque between 1 750 and 2 500 rpm. The D5 AWD models boast PowerPulse technology, offering 173 kW at 4 000 rpm and 480 Nm between 1 750 and 2 250 rpm.
PowerPulse uses a tank of compressed air to spool up the larger of the D5 engine’s two turbocharges at low rpm to combat turbo lag.
On the petrol front, the T5 AWD models benefit from 187 kW at 5 500 rpm and 350 Nm between 1 500 and 4 800 rpm. The twincharged engine in the T6 AWD derivatives combines turbo and supercharging. A total of 235 kW at 5 700 rpm and 400 Nm between 2 200 and 5 400 rpm are on tap.
Volvo’s single-clutch, planetary eight-speed Geartronic automatic gearbox is fitted to all V90 Cross Country models. All models also feature the highly-efficient BorgWarner all-wheel drive system. Under normal, dry conditions, practically all of the power is distributed to the front wheels.
The system constantly calculates the need for torque on the rear wheels and can instantly redistribute up to 50% of the engine’s torque rearwards.
When at a standstill, full allwheel drive is always engaged to prepare for maximum traction during acceleration off the line.
Four main Drive Modes are available in the new V90 Cross Country – Comfort, Eco, Dynamic and Off-road. Off-road mode includes the activation of hill descent control and different throttle and gearbox mapping, for extra control. Individual mode allows the driver to select preferred settings for, among others, throttle and gearbox responsiveness, engine mapping, ride characteristics and the level of steering feedback.
The V90 Cross Country features a minimalistic dashboard, where Volvo’s familiar nine-inch Sensus Connect touch screen interface takes pride of place.
The system is responsible for all in-car functions from entertainment and telephony to settings, climate control and navigation. The ‘home’ screen houses four main tiles, with the first three dedicated to navigation, entertainment and telephony. The fourth is a wildcard, dedicated to other functions which the driver may access at any given moment. These expandable main tiles are always visible and accessible, collapsing around that which the driver wants to focus on – which means there is no need to navigate back and forth between menus or screens to access previously-used functions while driving.
Two supplementary screens offer shortcuts to apps and other vehicle information systems, plus a full spread of vehicle functions like the parking sensors, traction control, camera