I had only driven about 300 yards when I said to myself, “I like this car !” The leather covered steering wheel had a luxurious high quality feel to it, you sit up high with an excellent view of the road, in comfortable, leather covered seats and the Geartronic transmission is silky smooth and silent. It is a sequential manual/automatic, so if you prefer to make the gearshifting decisions yourself, you can do so. I tried both, but why bother with manual shifting, when the automatic does it so effortlessly ? On further reflection it is also the perfect family car for North County Dublin, as its higher ground clearance and large wheels, make it better suited to coping with the area’s atrocious road surfaces, while its high build, passenger comfort and ease of driving also make it ideal for coping with the region’s congested traffic conditions.
My test car was the D5 version, fitted with a 2.4 litre, five cylinder, direct injection, turbocharged diesel engine. Generally speaking it is smooth and powerful, but when idling at traffic lights, or other interruptions to the traffic flow, its has a heavy diesel throb, but this disappears as engine speed rises. It cruised effortlessly and seemed to be remarkably frugal in its thirst for fuel, considering its size and weight. The official fuel consumption figures are a very commendable 24 mpg (11.7 lt/100 km) on the urban cycle, rising to a remarkable 41 mpg (6.8 lt/100 km) on the extra urban cycle, which gives an overall average of 34 mpg (8.3 lt/100 km) on the combined cycle. I know that it is a diesel, but for a car of this size, with all wheel drive, that is excellent. All this comes with carbon dioxide exhaust emissions of 219 gm/km, which means that you will be faced with a 2009 road tax of Euro 1,050. That will make Biffo and his pals very happy indeed, considering that they provide the worst roads in western Europe, with massive congestion, in return for that massive injection of your hard earned capital.

Sitting behind the fully adjustable steering wheel, you are faced by two large analogue instruments under a gently curving hood. The speedometer is on your left and within its centre it has digital readouts for the trip and total distance recorders, as well as a digital style visual fuel gauge. On the right there is a matching tachometer, with digital information within its centre. This indicates the gear selected, in both manual and automatic modes, outside air temperature, door open and other similar information.
There is a further, rectangular digital panel in the top centre of the facia, giving information relating to the air conditioning and audio systems. Above the two air ventilation outlets at the top of the centre console, there is a small shelf with a blank rectangular wall behind it. This is the location for the satellite navigation screen when fitted.
Below the two air vents, there is a slot for the CD player with a very comprehensive control panel below, for the audio and air conditioning systems, plus things like the heated front seats, hill descent control, heated windscreen and rear window etc. No doubt if you were driving this car every day, the operations of these controls would become second nature to you, as you would become familiar with their location, touch and feel.
However, I found them to be extremely dangerous, as they are located very low, so you have to take your eyes off the road for far too long, to locate the precise control you may need. Also they are very small so it is not easy to focus from the road ahead to a low set panel close by, whenever needed. This is even more difficult in winter driving conditions when oncoming traffic may well be blinding you with their lights. While it may be argued that the buttons on the right hand side of the steering wheel, which control the bluetooth telephone connection, where fitted, plus some audio functions, negates the need to take your eyes off the road, there are far too many other functions, that require you to take your eyes off the road. The problem is even more dangerous in winter, with unlit cyclists in dark clothing and similarly clothed pedestrians swarming the roads, with little or no consideration for other road users. I am in fact appalled at the situation, considering that Volvo make such a huge play on their SAFETY credentials !

The test car had very substantial headrests, which Volvo have developed as part of their safety policy. While I had no difficulty with the one fitted to the driver’s seat, my two rear seat passengers found theirs to be uncomfortable and were not the least bit impressed with them. The two outer rear seats incorporated an interesting design of cushion. At first I thought that it was just the design of the seat upholstery, but on further examination I found the forward part of the cushion to be designed in such a way that it could be swung upwards and backwards, to rest on the section behind it and thus provide a booster cushion for younger children. This is a simple, but clever idea, so congratulations Volvo !

Above left : Rear seating space - note design of forward seat cushions
Above right : Front seating area - matching seat cushion design

Above : Rear seat booster cushion

This is a large car, on a substantial wheelbase, yet it is still a nominal five seater. The normal luggage space is covered by a roller blind type tonneau cover. Under the tonneau and above the luggage floor it offers 0.490 cubic metres of luggage space. If you retract the tonneau cover and load to the roof, the same location provides 0.655 cubic meters of luggage space. The rear seat backrest is divided 60/40, so additional space is provided, by folding the backrests onto the seat cushions. When both are folded you get 1.455 cubic metres of cargo space. If this is not enough you could consider a roofbox. This Volvo will tolerate up to 100 kg on the roof. If towing is your preferred option, then it will take an unbraked trailer of up to 750 kg, or a braked trailer/caravan of up to 2,000 kg. The XC60 is thus a versatile and adaptable family car.
Another clever idea is a section of the luggage floor that raises as a barrier to prevent parcels from sliding around when only a few items are being carried.

Above left : Normal covered luggage space
Above right : Parcels barrier in place

Above : 60/40 split rear seat backrests

Above : Maximum luggage space

Below the luggage floor, there is a shallow storage tray. It holds the emergency reflective triangle, the first aid kit and other items, with space for a lot more small things. This tray which is light and flexible, has to be removed to gain access to the spare wheel and wheel changing tools. The spare wheel is of the Spacesaver variety, which is certainly better than a can of latex, but I do not consider it to be suitable for the sort of vehicle, which may conceivably be taken off-road onto a soft surface like a beach.
A standard FordMoCo scissors type jack is supplied. It is possibly very inexpensive to make, but it is also very difficult to use. This is no reflection on Volvo, as a premium brand like Jaguar, was inflicted with the same bargain design, when it was under Ford’s ownership. I have come across many inexpensive Japanese and Korean cars, which come as standard, with jacks that are far easier to operate. Perhaps Volvo drivers are not expected to change a punctured wheel themselves. Perhaps the philosophy is, “Make it cheap and provide work for somebody else !”

Above left : Underfloor storage tray
Above right : Spacesaver spare wheel and tools

The car comes as standard with ventilated disc brakes front and rear. The system incorporates anti-lock, with electronic force distribution and emergency brake assist, which Volvo call hydraulic brake assist. Ready alert brakes is another system that anticipates severe braking and automatically moves the pads closer to the discs, so as to achieve the quickest stopping possible. In addition it has a system called city safe, which will stop the car in slow moving traffic if the car ahead stops and the driver fails to brake. I witnessed it being demonstrated at the launch of the XC60 here in Ireland, but did not test it for myself. Other systems incorporated include, trailer stability assist and roll stability control. This latter is designed to help prevent the car from rolling over, while trailer stability assist helps to restore stability if the trailer starts to snake under heavy braking. They are all elements in the dynamic stability and traction control programme. An electric handbrake was fitted and it worked in exactly the opposite way to most handbrakes of this type. You pulled the lever up to release the brakes and pushed it down to apply them !
The steering has speed sensitive power assistance and is geared to give three turns from lock to lock. The test car had four electric windows, central locking and electrically adjustable exterior rear view mirrors.
I have a difficulty with the price, as I was told the car was to SE/Lux specification and included hill descent control, powered mirrors, electrically adjustable driver’s seat, heated front seats, active headlamps, powered tailgate and rear park assist. The test car, however, most definitely did not have the rear park assist, powered tailgate or powered driver’s seat. I was also told it had Mantus wheels, which cost 816 euro and are 7.5 x 18 in size. The test car, however, had Segin 7.5 x 17 wheels. I have tried to match up the equipment on the car, with that listed in the catalogue, but unfortunately without success.

Technical data