Volvo is a car company that wants to compete with the Germans on equal footing. However, limited financial resources means they have to pick their battles wisely and chose a perfect arsenal. The all-new XC90 is definitely the aircraft carrier or battlecruiser. Fitted with all the latest safety tech and with the best hybrid system ever made by the Swedes, it goes up against the likes of BMW's X5.
But while Volvo has designed an awesome SUV, by sticking to a 4-cylinder engine lineup, they're fighting the Germans with one hand tied behind their back.
Take this next video, for example, which was shot at a presentation of the XC90 in Spain. It shows onboard footage taken while a D5 model accelerates from 0 to 100 km/h (62 km/h). For those not in the know, D5 models come with a new 2-liter diesel from the Drive-E family which delivers 225 hp at 4,250 rpm and 470 Nm (347 lb-ft) of torque starting at 1,750 rpm. The SUV weighs 2,030 kilograms (4,475 lbs) and is equipped with an 8-speed automatic.
Official numbers suggest it will do 0 to 100 km/h in 7.8 seconds, but in the video, it appears even slower than that. Officially, the BMW X5 xDrive25d is a bit slower at 8.2 seconds to 100 km/h. But that's like being smarter than one of the dumbest kids in the class because very few people even buy that version of the X5 and it's not even available in America.
So at first glance, Volvo has picked at least one battle wrongly, building an SUV the way its fans want it and not the way all the other companies do it, with a larger 6-cylinder engine. But who knows, maybe they're on to something.
Editor's note: 25 l/100km? For an acceleration test, that's not bad at all, but the guy is clearly breaking the speed limit by 80 km/h.
Mihnea's favorite cars have already been built, the so-called modern classics from the '80s and '90s. He also loves local car culture from all over the world, so don't be surprised to see him getting excited about weird Japanese imports, low-rider VWs out of Germany, replicas from Russia or LS swaps down in Florida. Full profile
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