Test Drive: VOLVO XC60 D5 Summum - 2008 - "New Cars Collection"

The fact that Volvo's main reputation was built on safety is now common knowledge to pretty much everyone, and it's also a bit of an understatement. Almost each person who hasn't been living under a rock for the last 50 years can most categorically say that “car safety” equals “Volvo”. Because of this, when the Swedish launch their newest model with the tagline “The safest Volvo in history”, you're kind of bound to expect that car to be as safe as a Kryptonite suit during a Superman-gone-bad attack.

Sir May B. Bach's Opinion

I can't believe this comes from the same stable as my... ahem... supercharged Range Rover. Tell you guys what, the moment these Volvo guys start putting REAL... ahem... engines in their cars then I might consider at least looking at them. I mean, what's with that dreadful oil burner under the hood?
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The beige-brick-on-wheels look of the 1970s and 1980s Volvo station wagons has been taken outside and shot if we take just the XC60 as a point of reference for more modern Volvos. Sure, the “bricka-bracka firecracka” look still has some shadows left on the car but the new lines are very much trying to make you forget it.

Since the Peter Horbury-designed “shoulders” in the late 1990s, everything has changed at Volvo, and the XC60 is here to prove it. While still preserving the Volvo design legacy, it manages to adopt more aggressive “bio” lines without interfering in its familiar nature too much.

The lateral swooping line manages to give the car a lot of character, especially considering the huge height difference between the front and the rear. Although it's quite a bit shorter than its XC70 and XC90 stablemates, the XC60 looks much more planted and somewhat angrier.

The “angry” look is in part possible thanks to the new daylight driving LED lights which follow the V-line of the hood and sit right between the normal headlights. The L-shaped LED rear lights also give a menacing attitude to whomever watches the car from behind.

Taking into account the XC60 has just about the same off-road capability as the XC70 or XC90, it looks much less utilitarian and much more user-friendly. Keep in mind that by “user” we mean new generation yuppies and by “friendly” we mean a very platonic, heterosexual relationship.

The whole package looks like it was especially designed to appeal to metrosexual young urban professionals who are single, enjoy soy-milk lattes and have an inexplicable good taste in designer shoes. The way it achieves this and still not escape that “soccer mom look of older Volvos it's beyond us, also considering this is actually one of the most good-looking SUV/crossovers out there.

Comparing this to the dreadful Tonka-toy design of a Mercedes-Benz GLK or the downright ugliness of the BMW X3 is like comparing a Thanksgiving turkey dinner to a raw dish made out of live frogs.

Inside the XC60 we found the now-familiar and Volvo-trademarked floating center console, but in a more S60-like driver oriented fashion. The Swedish premium feel from almost any other modern Volvo is also still there, but the whole ambiance is somewhat sportier and less IKEA furniture-like.

The yellow/black leather contributed to a very funky atmosphere, albeit a bit non-premium looking, but the overall interior lines were to blame for the elevated Grand Touring feel of the car.

We haven't actually measured it, but the interior room looks to be just as much as in its longer brother, the XC70, with a small minus for the rear headroom, which appears to be slightly smaller.

The number of interior storage spaces are exactly what we would find in a station wagon, while the trunk space is a bit smaller than in the XC70, with “only” 17.5 cubic feet (495 liters). This can of course be enhanced via the 40/20/40 foldable rear seats, which can create a flat surface from the front seats to the rear hatch.

Speaking of the rear hatch and considering this is trying to pass as a premium crossover/SUV, there is no “magic button” like in the XC90 or XC70 to close it electrically, you have to go through the horror of actually pull it down with your bare hand!

Other than that, the center navigation display is no longer a pull-up/pull-down one like in the XC70 and sits a little bit lower than the driver's line of sight for some reason. The odious navigation system controls are still specifically made for persons who can read Braille and can only be operated if you reach on the other part of the steering wheel.

We couldn't get a hold of any weight figures for our test car but we kind of suspect they're a bit lower than the other Volvo XC-stamped brothers. Why do we say this, you ask? Well, first of all, the XC60 D5 is a bit faster than the Volvo station wagon on stilts we tested the last time, while the fuel consumption in the city was quite a bit lower.

Considering we're talking about the same engine and identical engine and transmission specifications, we can safely assume that the 10.5-11 liters per 100 km (around 22 US mpg) we got from strictly a busy city driving is more than OK.

Although the Swedish have shaved quite a bit from the length of the XC70 platform to create the XC60, the city parking has been very much influenced by the designers. The car is shorter and higher, has huge lateral rear view mirrors AND a rear view parking camera with visual guidance lines to make parking as easy as taking candy from a baby.

Well, it became obvious to us that Volvo designers have never tried taking candy from a baby (it's really hard, really) and have designer the rear windows just according to beauty, not function.

The nice-looking lateral shoulder line goes so much higher towards the rear that it has literally transformed the rear lateral windows in no more than submarine portholes. The ginormous rear pillars don't do any good for visibility either.

In other words, if it wasn't for the really high ground clearance (23 centimeters or 9.1 inches), huge rear view mirrors and the non-snob-like rear view camera, parking would have been a nightmare for us.

Although it's a bit – and by a bit we mean a tiny one – faster than the XC70 and XC90 equipped with the same engine and transmission, the XC60 D5 still isn't quite at home on the highway. Sure, it's a bit more aerodynamic than the aforementioned stable mates and carries a few less pounds, but it's still about as underpowered as someone entering a knife fight while carrying a nail clipper.

Apart from being a little noisier than other more modern engines, the 2.4 liter D5 oil burner has a great quality, very good fuel consumption no matter on what car it's put on. Also, the noise it makes isn't very tractor-like, but closer to a carbureted gas inline six. As odd as it may sound, the XC60 D5 almost sounds like a 1980s 630i from the inside.

Its pulling power is greatly overestimated to be put on such a big car though, and it can really give you a scare or two while trying to pass someone on the highway. Also, although it sounds too nice to be a diesel, at low revs it vibrates so much that it makes the steering wheel jiggle in your hands just like in a John Deer tractor from circa 1985.

Off the road though you can find the true qualities of the XC60. With a best-in-class ground clearance of 2300 millimeters (9.1 inches) and the Instant Traction all wheel drive based on a Haldex system, the car actually excels in low level off-road-ing operations. In normal, driving conditions the system directs about 95% of the engine power to the front wheels, while on slippery or certain low-grip conditions it can re-direct up to 50% to the rear wheels.

Yes, this doesn't exactly means it can pass G-Klasses or Defenders on the off-road trail but it sure beats the credentials of the bigger XC90 and XC70, which benefit from a similar traction system but lower ground clearance and attack and/or departure angles. The Hill Descent Control system is the same as the one found in its siblings, with both front and reverse capabilities.

The Four-C continuous suspension control system is clearly a low-budget substitute for a pneumatic suspension system but it really does its job. Its sensors monitor each wheel movement 500 times per second and act accordingly, giving you a compromise between Roll Royce like wafting in “Comfort” mode and somewhat sporty (for an SUV) stance in “Advanced” mode, with the “Sport” setting in the middle.

The steering system force feedback also has three settings, that can be changed from the car's on-board menu, but the system can also change itself depending on the speed being achieved by the car. Probably following a weird Swedish legacy, the steering is still over-maneuverable even on its hardest force setting, which is very helpful in the city but not so cool on the open road or if you expect more feedback from the road in general.

The seats are adequately comfortable, the driver's being eight-way electrically adjustable with three different memory settings. Just like in its station wagon-based sibling, the front passenger seat is manually controlled for some bizarre reason, transforming the electrical adjustment in just a tick on the options list.

The overall quality of the interior of our test car was top notch, with comfy leather seats that had some interesting colors and funky stitching. The audio system wasn't Volvo's best, the premium Dynaudio, but the “High Performance” system, which was more than accurate in reproducing anything from Cypress Hill to Audioslave.

It was also equipped with a six CD-changer, steering wheel controls, both USB and iPod auxiliary sockets and a control console for the rear seats. By being a not very expensive feature, the option of having different left/right volume and playing controls in the rear can take a lot from your mind, a pair of easily bored brats in the back seat coming to mind.

Again, the 2.4 liter diesel engine isn't our favorite piece of technology from Volvo since it has so many downsides, the main one residing in the power it lacks and the turbocharger lag it develops up to around 2000 rpm.

Relying on only 185 hp and 400 Nm (295 lb ft) of torque to move the amount of Swedish steel it carries gives it a 9.9 second time from naught to 100 km/h (62 mph) and a top speed of 200 km/h (124 mph), which doesn't quite make it the fastest thing on four wheels.

The turbo lag wouldn't be so intruding if it wasn't for the sport-mode-less six speed automatic transmission, which sometimes amplifies the rubber band effect. Not there's anything truly wrong with the gearbox, but it isn't exactly a sporty example of an automatic. Hey, at least it has a plus/minus manual mode.

Like we've said before, the Four C shock absorbing control system is somewhat of a poor substitute for a true pneumatic suspension. Still, it does its job fairly well and has an automatic ride height control feature also.

Apart from the horrendous turbocharger and transmission lag we encountered or from the not-exactly-high-tech suspension, the three-way steering wheel hardness feedback could only be set from really soft to just a little harder. Which kind of makes the whole hardness setting process almost redundant.

On the good side, the adaptive cruise control has much more features than your regular speed regulator, but we'll talk more about what exactly these do in the safety chapter of our Volvo XC60 test drive.

Part of Volvo's new arsenal of idiot-proof safety gadgets, the collision alert system also made its way into the XC60. Unlike the version we found in the XC70, this one actually has a automatic braking feature, but we didn't dare test it since it supposed to work only in impending crashes and just to minimize the damages, not prevent them completely.

Also integrated in the Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC), the collision alert system uses the aforementioned system's radar sensor and a digital camera to monitor the road ahead up to 150 meters and inform the driver of any impending crash. After sensing that you're about to smash into the guy in front of you, depending on the severity of the situation it lights up a different number of red LEDs on the Head Up Display system, pre-activates the brakes and starts that annoying “Beeep!” sound.

Mary's Opinion

So at first blink I said to myself: just another SUV, another Volvo still not red to match with my nails, nothing to impress me much. I do admit it's extremely difficult to impress me at first date, so it's a tough job for a car to convince me it's worth stabbing my high heels into it. Now don't get me wrong! It's not that I don't like Volvos because I do and it's not the color that makes me reject a car after a first ride but its failure to convince me at certain base aspects, I would say.
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If we would take whatever Volvo marketing people are throwing at us, the XC60 should be the safest Volvo ever built. It should also brake by itself if traveling at up to 30 km/h (19 mph) and encountering a slower moving vehicle in front of it, according to the City Safety automatic braking system.

Well, since we're more of an oldschool type of gearheads, we didn't trust the City Safety system enough not to press the brake pedal at all in busy city traffic. We did try once to see how much does it think before activating the brakes by itself and the suspense almost killed us. So, no thanks for City Safety.

Lou Cheeka's Opinion

Ah, yes. A car you can actually trust to deliver your goods safe and sound. Especially if you're into illegally smuggling immigrants into a country. Not that I would ever do anything like that, of course. Just sayin'.
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The premium compact crossover/SUV market is currently sliced between the BMW X3, the Mercedes-Benz GLK, the Audi Q5, the Land Rover Freelander and our test model, the Volvo XC60. What does our Sven have to set it apart from the bunch? Well, some would say the best exterior design, other the Northern flair. We would put our money on safety as a whole. Even though we didn't manage to actually test the City Safety system because we were too chicken, it seems to be the car's best achievement, especially when put together with the other safety systems.

The worst part about the car is most likely the rear visibility. Sure, the high shoulder line which moves up and towards the rear gives the car a lot of character and the appearance of a well-built automobile, but the way it manages to obstruct visibility is a big no-no. Also, the D-pillars are about as wide as a fully grown baobab tree. If it weren't for the rear view camera, the parking sensors and the humongous lateral mirrors parking would have been a pain in the a**.

The most annoying thing about the XC60 D5 has to be the engine. We know, we know, you don't need hundreds of horsepower to just drive a car from point A to point B, but this is as slow as a 40 year-old Buick driven by a granny from Miami. Its only good point remains the more than decent fuel economy and that's about it.