2024 Volvo XC60 Recharge: Mundane in the fast lane
2024 Volvo XC60 Recharge AWD Ultimate: Nice, but is it niiiice?
Price: $74,690. Four-corner air suspension added for $1,800; Climate Package added headlamp cleaners, heated rear seats and steering wheel for $750; fancy paint, $695; and power tailgate, $200.
Conventional wisdom: Edmunds likes the “elegant interior design, spacious second-row seating, many standard safety tech features,” but not that it’s “not as fun to drive as most competitors,” or that the “ride quality is firmer than you might expect from a luxury crossover.”
Marketer’s pitch: “Like your smartphone, but bigger.”
Reality: Quick 0-60, so it’s awesome, right? Not so fast.
What’s new: Last redesigned in 2018, the midsize SUV Volvo XC60 feels like it’s been around forever, and been in the Sturgis family driveway dozens of times. But here’s a version that packs some punch, and some efficiency as well.
Volvo press materials only tout a Black Edition for the 2024 model year, and no other changes are mentioned.
Competition: Audi Q5, BMW X5 Plug-In, Lincoln Aviator, Lexus NX450h+, Porsche Cayenne.
Up to speed: The XC60 gets to 60 mph in 4.3 seconds, according to a very impressed Motor Trend. The 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine and the hybrid motor create 455 horses, so there’s a lot of power available.
What surprises me most here — my notes from before I read Motor Trend don’t rave about the XC60 being exceedingly quick. Perhaps the smooth power of EVs has jaded me at this point, but over the hundreds of miles I drove you’d think I’d have noted the zip.
The XC60 comes with five different drive modes. Constant AWD ended up being my favorite for acceleration. Pure and Hybrid were not bad, but slightly slower.
Hybrid mode was not the smoothest choice; in every other mode, switching from electric to gas was completely seamless.
Shifty: The 8-speed transmission operated nicely for the most part.
The crystal shifter definitely ranks among the most attractive gear selectors out there. Pulling it toggles between Drive and Brake mode, and in Brake mode the driver can toggle side to side to change gears.
On the road: We put a lot of miles on the XC60, with a trip to Western Pennsylvania to visit family, a stop at the Central Pa. Festival of the Arts, and then another trip up north to coal country.
Country road handling will neither excite nor frighten; Volvo plays the middle of the road with its handling in the XC60. But we drove hundreds of miles and I had few real complaints, or notes of great praise.
Maintaining speed: The adaptive cruise control found interference on limited-access highway curves now and again. The emergency braking system activated once on a curve close to home, after several passes without any warnings.
Driver’s Seat: The XC60 seating was a delightful companion throughout, with only a quirky knee adjustment that annoyed Mrs. Passenger Seat.
I whine about Volvo moving too many controls into the screen each time I drive, and nothing’s changed, at least not in the 2023 version I tested, so whine I will. Drive modes, driver assists, audio adjustments — they all require a push of the home button, and click of the too-small tool button, then a list of choices followed by a nested list of more choices. Smash.
Friends and stuff: Sturgis Kid 4.0 calls the back seat nice, with plenty of room all around and lots of comfort for long naps. It has a nice, soft seat and not an awkward shape.
Cargo space is 22.4 cubic feet behind the rear seat and 63.3 with the seat folded.
Play some tunes: The Bowers and Wilkins premium stereo runs another $3,200. It provides nice playback, thanks to Volvo’s variety of concert hall and studio settings, about an A-.
The stereo is, of course, mostly operated through the screen, with a volume dial, plus play, fast forward and rewind buttons, and dial below.
Keeping warm and cool: The very tall vents don’t offer a whole lot of directional control, but the center ones do shut off clearly.
Operation starts with a very small set of icons at the button of the touchscreen and then open a larger set from there.
Fuel economy: I averaged just above 31 mpg in the XC60, charging it as much as I could but limited in my ability to do so by 100- and 200mile trips. So, pretty good, all things considered.
The XC60 has 35 miles of electric range, so that’s a healthy EV commute.
Where it’s built: Gothenburg, Sweden.
How it’s built: Consumer Reports predicts the hybrid reliability to be a dismal 21 out of 100. It’s been 2 out of 5 for all versions of the XC60 in previous years.
In the end: The astounding 0-60 time just didn’t translate into a fun experience. Often this happens — the straight-line acceleration is great but the vehicle is otherwise fairly mundane. That’s where the XC60 Recharge landed.
Also, the reliability score makes me say let’s look at the Audi or BMW, or even the Lexus.
Next week: It’s not a plug-in, but how does the 2024 Lexus NX 350h Luxury SUV compare?