YOU BOOTEE

OUR REIGNING COTY DELIVERS ROOM WITH A VIEW ON A TRIP TO THE FARM SIDE OF THE MOO

WHEN Dep Ed Andy flung the XC40’S neat rectangular key fob toward me, I thought there’s surely no worse an introduction to Wheels’ long-term car pool. I had settled into my new seat in the office, but this was the ultimate litmus test: “Here’s the 2019 Wheels Car of the Year winner, tell us what you think about it.” If I was anything less than impressed, I’m sure Editor Inwood would be scratching his head.

Thankfully, it’s not hard to understand why it took out the top gong, with its slick and spacious interior, good handling and punchy

engine apparent from the outset. But I had something more in mind for my first long-term report, rounding up the wife and child to head north along the east coast toward Bega – you know, where the cheese comes from.

I was a bit sceptical as to how a techladen journo, his wife and two-year-old son with a litany of possessions from pram to portacot plus the pantry of food he can eat in any 12-hour period would cram into the Swedish car maker’s smallest SUV. But an SUV it is, the popular replacement for sedans and wagons that were equally called upon for such a trip when I was a tot. If we did it in a VC Commodore back in the day, surely this family bus can do it now.

The baby seat snapped in neatly against the rear pew with Isofix clips and anchored over the seat. The rear seat sits high, so the little man had a good view.

The boot’s rated capacity is 460 litres, which is smaller than a VW Tiguan but bigger than a Mazda CX-5. A flat floor with no obstructions was long enough that the pram was placed north to south – important to free up space on one side – and then the bags and sundry stuff piled together like Tetris. With arms grappling bags, the foot-operated, autoopening tailgate was particularly useful, and despite a brimmed boot, the parcel shelf fell flat when the lid closed for unobstructed vision out the rear. Beaut.

With bottles of water sitting neatly out of the way in the centre console we hit the road. We’ve already attested to the spirited nature of the T5’s engine tune, and despite a saggy bum from all that gear, the 2.0-litre four-pot was no less punchy. Slow traffic that required expedited overtaking wasn’t a hassle (signed speed limits along the Princes Highway reach 110km/h) and over the 1000km trip, fuel consumption was steady at 8.9L/100km.

The all-wheel-drive system provided confidence on a wet twisting mountain road north of Cann River. No question front-drivers would have struggled for traction with similar throttle inputs. Same for all-paw versatility off the sealed stuff, where the XC40 scrambled around cows on the farm at our destination in ‘off-road’ driving mode. The only quibble is that the system doesn’t instantly catch the spinning wheel, needing a second to direct power to where it’s best deployed.

Two kids and we mightn’t have felt so comfortable. We were packed to capacity, so a reassessment of ‘essential’ luggage or a bigger cargo capacity would be needed, but for this modern family, it was a Goldilocks outcome.

VOLVO XC40 T5 Price as tested: $62,710 This month: 1653km @ 8.7L/100km