A SCANDI SENSATION
New Volvo XC60 From £37,205 to £57,895 GOOD
SCANDI-LOVERS will adore this new mid-sized family SUV. It’s smart, stylish ( if relatively conservative) with a classy interior. And despite looking like a 4x4, it has the confident driving manners of a saloon car.
IF THE range-topping XC90 off-roader’s price tag is too hefty, this new, smaller secondgeneration mid-sized effort could be just the job. Much of its technology has been carried across, but scaled down.
AS YOU’D expect from Swedishbased Volvo, it’s ram-packed with safety kit and is the firm’s first car to feature semi-autonomous ‘steer assist’ which automatically applies the steering to help the driver avoid a potential collision.
SENSORS and cameras will watch out for pedestrians, cyclists and even large animals, and if you unwittingly drift out of your lane, it’ll nudge you back to safety.
A PRACTICAL five-seater with plenty of cubby holes, it’s easy to live with and drives beautifully. I drove nearly 500 miles in the 2-litre four-cylinder diesel D4 all-wheel drive Inscription and felt as refreshed when I arrived as I did when I set off. The D4 will go from rest to 60mph in 7.9 seconds.
IT HAS lots of kit as standard, including a 9 in centre touchscreen display with navigation, real-time traffic information, voice control, leather upholstery, heated front seats, and power- operated tailgate. But the base £41,205 price rose to £48,480 with extras, including a panoramic sunroof and 360-degree parking camera.
THE boot’s not the biggest, but is perfectly adequate and took all my extensive baggage with ease. It can be expanded if you fold the seats down.
MAKE the most of it. Volvo — now owned by Geely of China — will no longer sell pure petrol and diesel vehicles, only hybrids or electric from 2019. SO THE line-up includes a powerful T8 ‘plug-in’ hybrid with a 320 bhp petrol, plus 87 bhp electric motor to provide acceleration from rest to 60 mph in just 4.9 seconds, and a top speed of 140 mph.
BAD
IT’S a premium car — and you’ll pay a premium price. The range costs from £37,205 for the base level D4 AWD diesel to £57,895 for the powerful range-topping T8 Twin Engine hybrid.
THE extensive and tempting ‘extras’ list may well bust your bank balance.
VOLVO bills the new XC60 as ‘technology with a human touch’. But the smart Sensus dashboard touchscreen — imagine a built-in iPad in your car — is almost too clever for its own good. You have to fiddle around a fair bit to find stuff — not ideal when you’re trying to concentrate on the road.
THE graphics on the satnav can prove confusing, and are not as user-friendly as, say, those by Audi and some VW group systems.