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06/10/2008
By ALISTAIR KENNEDY in Valencia
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The days of Volvo being known for producing conservative and staid vehicles are now well and truly a thing of the past. Ever since the arrival of the stylish S60 sedan around ten years ago Volvo designers have produced a number of innovative and attractive cars.
 The latest arrival is the XC60, the Swedish company’s first foray into the luxury compact SUV market where it will take on market leader, BMW’s X3, and the upcoming Audi X5.
Although the XC60 is technically the third model in the Volvo XC range, it is effectively only the second SUV after the larger XC90, with the mid-sized XC70 being more of a bulked-up station wagon rather than a pure SUV.
Originally planned to be built on a similar platform to the new Land Rover Freelander (both Volvo and Land Rover were owned by Ford at the time) the two vehicles eventually went in different directions when Ford sold Land Rover.
The XC60 is the first major project by Volvo’s new design director, Steve Mattin. Formerly with Mercedes-Benz, Mattin was involved in the design of the ground-breaking A-Class as well as the SL coupe.
Keen to avoid the XC60 being seen as a mini-XC90, but still to be instantly recognised as a Volvo, Mattin has given it a wedge shape with strong, broad shoulders leading to a downward sloping rear roof. The front grille is big and bold with a large Volvo ‘iron mark’ symbol in the centre. Overall the look of the XC60 is stylish but functional with a surprising amount of rear headroom despite the downward slope of the roof.
 XC60 comes with a choice of two engines, the T6 straight-six 3.0-litre turbocharged petrol and the D5 five-cylinder 2.4-litre turbo-diesel. The T6 has maximum power of 210 kilowatts while the D5 reaches 136 kW. Interestingly the peak torque from both engines is identical, at 400 Newton metres, although the diesel has a narrower spread (2000-2750 rpm) than the petrol (an amazing 1500-4800).
A smaller turbo-diesel will be added later but there are currently no plans to bring that to Australia. Likewise with the six-speed manual option on the D5, only a six-speed automatic will be offered down under.
Volvo chose Valencia on the Mediterranean coast of Spain for the international launch of the XC60 shortly before revealing it to the public at the 2008 Paris Motor Show. We were able to road test both models in the region to the north of the city on a mixture of highway and rural roads.
The six-cylinder petrol engine was the more refined of the two and the T6 accelerated smoothly and cruised effortlessly on the open road. As with most modern diesel engines there’s very little of the old clatter that was a feature of older diesels. Only at start-up are you aware that the D5 isn’t a petrol unit.
While most diesel engines have noticeably more torque than their petrol rivals it’s less obvious with the two Volvos. Both have more than enough urge for the relatively benign conditions that they’re likely to encounter. As with most vehicles in the compact SUV class, they’re unlikely to ever venture into rugged conditions.
Having said that the XC60 does have above-average ground clearance for its class of 230 mm, making it higher than quite a few dedicated 4WDs. To cater for this added height it has a stiffer suspension set-up.
While the styling may be in a new direction for Volvo, the Swedish car maker’s other traditional feature, safety, is there in spades. Indeed Volvo claims that the XC60 is the safest car that it has ever produced.
Long a leader in the field of motor vehicle safety Volvo is continuously raising the bar as its competitors match many of its features. Standard features in the XC60 include front, side and curtain airbags, ABS brakes with emergency brake assist, stability and traction control, lane departure warning, collision warning with automatic braking, blind spot information system and driver alert control.
 During a break in the drive programme we were also given a demonstration of a all-new system called City Safety which will be standard in all XC60s, and should effectively eliminate all low-speed crashes. We’ll look at this fascinating new feature in a later story.
Front-wheel-drive models will also be available, but are unlikely to be offered to Australian buyers because 4WDs enjoy a price advantage in our importation regulations.
We’re looking forward to spending a week in this attractive and innovative new SUV when it arrives in Australia around March 2009. Prices will be released closer to that date but we expect to them to be around the $60,000 mark.
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