Price as tested: €47,757
+ Looks, beautiful cabin, decent economy, ride comfort
– Awkward driving position, roly-poly handling
= Looks better down the yacht club than most
Galway resident that I am, I guess the Volvo Ocean Race means a bit more to me than just the badge on the side of a few posh Swedish motors. It’s a bi-annual pageant that’s coming to the West again this year, bringing with racing yachts, a truly global competition, a party atmosphere and the inevitable face paint stalls. It’s fun.
To mark the occasion, Volvo has of course produced a series of cars that tie in with the firm’s sponsorship of this famous round-the-world race for big sailing yachts. Tick the VOR box on your order form, and you get nice chrome kick plates, soft leather upholstery with ‘sail-inspired stitching’ and (this is my favourite bit) a loop of sail rope to pull the luggage cover back and forth with.
Underneath our Ocean Race spec XC60 was something rather more unusual. All wheel drive. Now, when the XC60 was originally launched back in 2008, it debuted as a four wheel drive car, but when the front-drive DRIVEe version was launched in 2010, we all figured that the all-paw XC60 was dead and dusted. After all, what would be the point in spending more money, more tax and more fuel on a car that’s never going to go off-road anyway?
Well, the winter snows of 2011 put paid to that assertion, and so Volvo was keen to point out that yes, you can still get an XC60 that lives up to the billing of its chunky, handsome bodywork and high ride height. We didn’t get the snow, but it could come back at any moment...
While the all-wheel-drive traction is certainly a welcome returner and it has its uses even if winter has become spring and is heading once again for summer, let’s be totally shallow and admit the real reason we like the XC60 so much; the way it looks. Yes, yes, skin deep beholders and all, this is a seriously handsome car and the VOR-spec Electric Silver Metallic paint really shows off the lines to great effect.
That beauty continues inside, where the gorgeous biscuit leather upholstery, faultless ergonomics and pretty main dials all work their usual Volvo magic. Ah, but there’s a flaw and quite a serious one. This is the first time we’d ever driven an XC60 with a manual gearbox and it has shown up a quite awful deficiency in the driving position. Quite simple, the seat points one way and the wheels and pedals point another. In fact, so bad is the offset that the only way to drive the XC60 comfortably was to steer with the right hand while resting the left on the gearshift. It honestly felt like steering from the wrong side of the car and brought on swift and merciless backache. Considering Volvo’s hitherto unimpeachable reputation for comfort, this needs sorting, and fast.
Mechanically, all is well though. The 2.4-litre five-cylinder diesel engine is not long for this world, being as Volvo is committed to replacing all its current engines with a new family of four-cylinder petrol and diesel turbos, no bigger than 2.0-litres. That’s a shame as it’s one of the very few truly characterful diesels around. With five pots beating, it sounds great when revved hard and is very refined at all other times. Decently economical too. Volvo claims 5.7-litres per 100km for the car, which you’ll never manage, but our average of 6.9l/100km seems about right for a 4wd car of this size. It’s also surprisingly sprightly, with a big slug of 420Nm of torque punching hard from low down the rev range, making it feel just a touch of a GTI SUV...
Handling wise, it’s a bit of a mixed bag. Thanks to long springs and high profile tyres, the ride is very comfy and well sorted, but the handling does suffer from too much body roll, all of which seems to happen early and at low speeds. This means that the XC is actually better on a country road than it is in town, where roundabouts can make it feel a touch lumbering and lurchy. The feel-free steering, which weights up a bit oddly depending on what you’re doing, doesn’t help either. Best to stay on the motorway, where the XC60 is in it’s element, swishing quietly along and a loping, friendly efficiency.
For the rest of the practical stuff, the rear seats are decently spacious and the boot, although a little shallower than is ideal, is fine.
So, if we get snow in July, just in time for the Volvo Ocean Race to return to Galway, XC60 AWD owners could well be quids in. As will anyone who decides to buy on; it’s a very likeable, pretty and practical car. Fix the awful driving position and there’s no doubt that this would be our favourite compact SUV.
Facts & Figures
Volvo XC60 VOR AWD D3
Price: €47,757
Range price: €43,707 to €58,445
Capacity: 2,400cc
Power: 163bhp
Torque: 420Nm
Top speed: 195
0-100kmh: 10.5sec
Economy: 5.7l-100km (49.6mpg)
CO2 emissions: 149g/km
Tax Band: C. €330 road tax
Euro NCAP rating: 5-star: 94% adult, 79% child, 48% pedestrian, 86% safety assist
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