I was lucky enough to test Volvo’s new XC90 when it was launched earlier in the year, so when I was offered the chance to run one for a week I thought I’d better do something slightly different from my normal routine.
To give the larger, more comfortable, more luxurious XC90 a real test I decided to fill it with three generations of family (four adults and one baby) and take it for a weekend to the Cairngorms National Park. This allows us to see whether the car really is a comfortable place to spend a few hours, whether it can handle all the kit and whether it’s actually any good on some country roads.
Now, on the question of handling all the kit for four adults and a baby, there was never going to be any problems. With the third row of seats folded down there’s 1,102 litres of space back there and even with all the paraphernalia you carry for a baby, this doesn’t even require the boot screen to be rolled back.
Once loaded we faced the same problem that anyone using an ISOFIX car seat and trying to transport 4 adults faces – someone had to sit in the middle (sorry mum). Although this seat doesn’t recline like the other two in the back and the padding isn’t quite so plush, it was reported that even after a few hours of sitting there it fine with no aches, pains or numb limbs.
For those of us not perched on a middle seat, the XC90 is as comfortable a place to ride as you can get this side of a Rolls Royce. The option air suspension (£2,150) is a wonderful thing to add if you can justify the cost. It helps to make town driving much more relaxing and makes sure that small babies never wake even when driving over those horrible rumble strips at the approach to some roundabouts on NSL roads.
On the few occasions where we got off the average speed camera festooned A9 and onto some more twisty roads the big car handled it well. At over 2 tonnes plus luggage and passengers it was never going to handle like a sports car but the XC90 felt very surefooted on roads that were not much above freezing and there was very little roll when going round faster bends.
Where I did have a slight problem with the car was when re-joining the A9 and when overtaking. When I first tested the XC90 there were only two of us in it and there were no real times where we had to go from zero to sixty in as short a time as possible. Now, for those of you familiar with the A9 you’ll know that you really want to be up to speed as soon as possible, even now that it’s slower with the speed cameras. 0-60 time is quoted at 7.4 seconds but it feels much slower than this when the car is full and it feels like you are really thrashing the 2.0l 4 cylinder diesel. There’s 470Nm of torque available but the BMW X5 xDrive30d has 560Nm and a Range Rover 3.0 Litre TDV6 Diesel has 600Nm. I feel that the XC90 could do with a bigger engine but I did appreciate the 40+MPG that it averaged over the weekend – always a difficult trade-off.
Whiling away the hours in the XC90 we had the chance to use the Sensus Connect system and a have a proper listen to the Premium Sound by Bowers and Wilkins (£3,000). The system is very slick, plays whichever source you want without fuss and allows you easy access to other systems like the sat nav, heated seats and the numerous settings that the car has. If you are paying £3k for the stereo upgrade then you’re going to want it to sound great. We had a listen to some rock, classical and dance music and although it was good for all of them, I’m not sure it was great. What was really missing was a CD player so that that we could get a high quality source to take advantage of the speakers. How many people that pay for this upgrade are going to have FLAK quality music on their phone or MP3 player to make best use of the system?
One of the bits of technology that impressed us most was the Parking Camera 360º Surround View, part of the Xenium Pack (£2,000). Although this will no doubt become common on most cars, it’s most useful when you have a bit SUV like this which is nearly 5m long. It enabled my wife to park first time between two cars in a small space in ASDA. Without this system and the numerous sensors we’d have been out the car checking each side – it really is brilliant.
Overall we loved the XC90 as a big family car. It gets lots of compliments on it’s looks, is very comfortable and has every modern gadget that you could need. I would still like it to have a bit more power, for there to be a CD player and to try it with Apple CarPlay but perhaps when we try it with the Polestar upgrades it will have these issues sorted.
CAR:Â Volvo XC90 D5 AWD Inscription
PRICE: £50,185 (£61,805 as tested)
POWER: 2.0l 4 cyl diesel, 225hp
TORQUE: 470 Nm
PERFORMANCE: Top speed 137 mph 0-60 mph 7.4 secs
MPG: 49.6 mpg combined
CO2 EMISSIONS: 149 g/km
TT Rating:
