Volvo XC60 – long-term test: the ultimate middle-class car?

On the left is the XC40 – European Car of the Year. The vehicle on the right is the XC60 – World Car of the Year. What’s the difference between them? A mighty leap of just over 10 inches.

And that’s about all really. You might notice the XC40’s shorter dimensions require a more upright, bullish front end but these two cars are otherwise peas in a pod. 

The driving experience, comfort and all-round ability of both models are exceptional. No wonder Volvo is a car manufacturer of the moment, worrying the opposition with a stable of great SUVs.

Our XC60 R-Design D5 is roughly £10,000 more expensive than the XC40 T5 petrol but I would be hard-pushed to choose one over the other. Both sport the same interior, both are equipped with a smothering of safety features.

It’s almost irrelevant at this level of car but sometimes it’s the little things that make a difference.

One small feature missing in the XC60 is the bungie strap the XC40 features in the boot. It keeps shopping bags and other items upright on the drive home. Simple, Scandinavian attention to detail.

The smaller car also has a cool, rubberised bonnet tag showing the Swedish flag. It serves no practical purpose but I’ve never seen anything like that on any vehicle.

If our XC60 has met its SUV match then I’m sure Volvo won’t mind too much if you order the other one. Just expect a waiting list of at least eight weeks.

May 9th, 2018

Fuel economy this week: 38.1mpg

Did the Sex Pistols ever perform inside Gothenburg concert hall? Probably not, but then age mellows even the most rebellious punk.  

This week I’ve been exploring the booming delights of the Premium Sound music system in our award-winning Volvo. Designed by upmarket maestros Bowers and Wilkins, it ramps up the price of the XC60 by £2,500.  

That’s five times the price of my first car – an ancient Morris Minor with air vents rusted through the floor. It may have been on a one-way trip to the scrapyard but I did fit an outrageously loud Pioneer sound system that (literally) blew a door off.  

The XC60 takes music to a new level, like most modern cars. My iPhone will connect via Apple CarPlay, I can even stream music from Spotify. Sometimes the lovely Jo Whiley on Radio 2 sounds like she is riding right alongside me.

The B&W system features all kinds of technologies I probably won’t be able to live without when the XC60 departs. Life won’t sound the same without ‘tweeter on top’ speakers, or Kevlar mid-range drive units, whatever they are.  

Best of all though, the XC60 system has three selectable audio modes, including a unique Gothenburg concert hall option. It recreates the acoustics inside the venue and was developed with the aid of 800 acoustic measurements.

I think Johnny Rotten, Joe Strummer and the rest of my vinyl heroes would have appreciated that…

May 1st, 2018

Fuel economy this week: 40.1mpg

Warmly wrapped up in the safety blanket of the XC60, I’ve ignored the fact that it is an exceptional all-rounder. It may not set your pulse racing as a driver’s car but it does everything you could ask of an SUV.

Our blinged up R-Design specification includes a few funky extras, such as 19-inch alloy wheels and mesh aluminium panels across the cabin that add a little raciness to the package.

It feels every bit as well screwed together as a pricier Porsche Macan or the Maserati Levante, yet costs no more than the ubiquitous Audi Q5 or the Mercedes GLC. It’s certainly prettier than the last two.

And one of the key reasons for this is the simple interior design. Apart from the keyless start switch and the electronic handbrake, I can only count seven buttons - and one of those operates the hazard warning lights.

The Scandinavian décor is a revelation. It’s as minimalist as a £100,000 Tesla Model X - a very relaxing place to sit. I recently drove a Porsche Cayenne which has more buttons than the space shuttle. Truth is, it feels dated and busy by comparison.

The contoured sport seats are a little firm in the Volvo and I rather wish it was a T8 hybrid and not an out-of-favour diesel. That said, I’ve recorded more than 40mpg for the first time this week, mainly due to a long-haul motorway hack to Luton Airport.

Finding your way around the eight-inch upright touchscreen will frustrate some owners at first but it’s worth persevering. I wish you could operate the digitalised user manual on the move; for safety the car has to be stationary first, but it is annoying when a passenger could be doing the research.

The more I unravel the touchscreen the more I like it. This week’s page of the week is called Sensus Connect, which allows me to access a range of apps and browse the web. Apparently there’s even a page that allows the car to pre-book itself for a service appointment at a Volvo dealer.

April 24th, 2018

Fuel economy this week: 36.5mpg

Dog lovers everywhere, lend me your (floppy) ears – where do you stash your hound safely when travelling in the car?

Like all owners I started 10 years ago putting Malin in the boot. Then I realised a general dislike for the luggage spot could be eased if he was allowed to sit further forward. Bad move.

Hungarian Vizslas are not lap dogs - so began years of spreading out rugs and seat protectors in every car I drove. It’s no different in the XC60, even though the boot is plenty big enough for him and a pal to sit fully upright.

More entertaining has been the battle to try and fit him in a dog harness, one of those clever items that attaches to the seat belt on one of the back seats. “Quick and easily secured” read the Volvo instructions. Not a chance.

Volvo makes a range of different-sized harnesses for our XC60 that will protect your pooch if the worst happens. This week I’ve again tried to coax Malin into one, but without success.

So instead I’ve borrowed a stunt dog. Meet Spot, a Vizsla-sized mutt who doesn’t see a safety harness as a prelude to three rounds of wrestling on the driveway.

Spot doesn’t say much and has the added benefit of clean paws. The harness can be left on for walks in the park, too, and has a sensible, Volvo-like reflective strip across the chest strap.

This mid-size fit does cost £60 but when you look online at what else is available, the straps on the Volvo item are much wider and the harness is really well spliced together.

Spot and I have been driving around all week getting some funny looks. Time for walkies…

April 17th, 2018

Fuel economy this week: 38.5mpg

October 4 is always Kanelbullens Dag in Sweden – sticky Cinnamon Bun Day. Every shop, restaurant and filling station is laden with sugary treats, probably to the annoyance of the country’s chief dentist because Swedes are otherwise hugely obsessed with health and safety.

Volvo has, of course, played on this obsession for decades. It started with the front, three-point safety belt in 1959 and has continued unabated ever since. Last week, the BBC ran a story saying nobody has died in a Volvo XC90 in the UK since it was launched 16 years ago. Remarkable.

Even so, the latest models are so alive with safety alarms, whistles and bells that my first action inside our XC60 is turn off some of them. Do I really need to be warned when somebody is overtaking me – surely that’s one reason I have eyes and sat a driving test.

This is an SUV loaded with a smorgasbord of features to keep occupants safe. Most applaudable, although I wonder if that sometimes makes us lazier drivers as a result? It’s also one reason why Volvo boldly claims that no one will be killed or seriously injured in any of its cars by 2020. 

Apart from all the usual stuff, like a lane departure warning, heated windscreen wipers for bitter winter mornings, and a system that automatically tightens the seat belts if the car leaves the road, the XC60 has alerts for cyclists, pedestrians – and probably cinnamon buns, too.

One of my favourites is Large Animal Detection. This is a crucial bit of kit in Scandinavia, where roaming elk cause a number of fatal accidents every year. It identifies body shape information from eagle-eyed sensors, then brings the Volvo neatly to a halt in the nick of time.

Horse and deer are included but if parts of the animal are not visible, the function won’t work. So does that include three-legged deer, or the smaller Muntjac deer that roam the roads near me? Is a Shetland pony on the watch list, and what about a St Bernard Dog?

Obviously, I’m now frantically Googling for an inflatable, large animal toy to put this to the test. Watch this space.

April 13th, 2018

Fuel economy this week: 36.4mpg

As the present Mrs T was at pains to point out: “We’re in our fifties, driving a Volvo to Waitrose and listening to Radio 4. It doesn’t get any more middle class than that.”

She has a point. In recent years Volvo has left its antique dealer/two Labrador image behind and become the epitome of Scandinavian chic. No, it doesn’t sell a sports car but as a multi-tool of motors, the Swedes now put together SUVs better than an Ikea flat pack.

The transformation started with the XC90 in 2002, a full-fat luxury crossover that left many conventional MPV owners with a sour taste in their mouth. The latest XC90 is already regarded as a legendary all-rounder, super-safe and very desirable.

The pint-sized XC40 has just launched Volvo into the compact SUV market. It has snatched the European Car of the Year Award and is going to give the BMW X1 and Audi Q3 a bloody nose, make no mistake.

Now I’ve been given three months to discover my inner Sven driving the XC60. The semi-skimmed, mid-range model is smaller than the XC90 and minus a third row of seats but otherwise a doppelganger. Last month it was named World Car of the Year. Yep, and it’s a Volvo.

The XC60 is lathered in lagom – that’s trendy Scandi-speak for “just right”. I’ve already discovered it boasts the world’s most relaxing and well-organised cabin, feng shui’d to the hilt and all the more brilliant for it.

So if you currently drive a sports utility vehicle with a busy dashboard, marvel at what Volvo’s interior designers have done to theirs. My dog could count the number of buttons in our XC60 on two paws. 

They’ve been swept away and replaced with a mini iPad screen. It’s not as big as the one in a Tesla but intuitive and simple. That also leaves a larger space in the air-conditioned glovebox where the manual used to be - everything needed to learn about this car is accessed via the touchscreen manual.

I wouldn't say I’m your typical Volvo driver – one hound, no kids – but almost begrudgingly, after just seven days, I have to admit the XC60 is something I never expected it to be: cool.

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