Buttons and controls all over the place, like a child emptying a bucket of Lego. Live traffic on the built-in satnav was dreadful - showing red lines on the road I was on, but the road was completely clear.
Still, it got me to the Volvo dealership, so I parked up the Macan and ventured inside.
So I was here mainly to witness a new XC60 http://www.volvocars.com/uk/cars/new-models/new-xc60
I wanted to drive the T8 dual engine hybrid.
This has a 4-cylinder, turbocharged and supercharged petrol engine, putting out 320HP and 400Nm, and driving the front axel.
It also has a 87HP/240Nm electric motor for the rear axel.
Total output 407HP.
Unfortunately, they didn’t have a XC60 T8, so I drove the XC60 D4 (190HP/400Nm) diesel and a bigger XC90 T8 - this has the same drivetrain as the XC60 I was interested in.
The car in the pictures below is an XC60 AWD D5 Inscription with Xenium/Winter/Dynamic packs and a few other bits and bobs. £49k
Pre-drive
Subjective, I know, but I think the new XC60 looks pretty good. It’s not trying to be too showy like the French and Japanese offerings and doesn’t struggle to project its company’s brand styling like the Germans.
Inside, it’s not dissimilar to a Macan that’s gone mad on the options list.
Unlike the Macan, most of these things are standard on the trim level, which is handy for residuals, apparently.
Seat very comfortable. I’m not sure “how many ways” they adjust, but height, angle, back angle, bolsters, seat length, 2-way lumbar, and I think it had massage too. Heated, not sure about ventilated.
There’s a proper foot rest. Pedals slightly offset to the right like in the Macan, but not quite as far.
Wheel has a good size. All the controls you need are on there, but no thumbwheel, and not the buttons have edges, so it took me a few mins to get used to where they are, but actually are pretty good.
Instrument cluster is all digital, adapting to whatever mode you’re in and there’s visual feedback of whatever controls you’re playing with.
Things like road sign and speed limit display, cruise control distance, etc are all more more prominent than they would be in the 3rd binnacle on the Macan, and also appear in the head-up display.
Centre console has a sliding panel exposing a large pocket/drink holder section that is away from the drive-oriented bits. There’s a start button (you twist it actually), electronic park brake button and a button for auto-brake. The ‘gear’ selector is a PDK-like affair, but on the T8, it’s a digital-only joystick with a separate P button.
Unlike the Macan, you will never spend any time searching for useful controls here whilst driving. Everything is where it should be - in front of you. You don't have to move your elbow when your passenger needs to get stuff from storage either.
Centre display. I like this. It’s slightly portrait oriented and larger than most. It’s a very responsive touch screen, with a single physical button at the bottom, that behaves a bit like a home button on an iPhone. It’s controllable from the steering wheel too.
I like it. It’s not a comedy, dominating screen from the Tesla S, or cause near-focus issues like the widescreen one in the Panamera (it takes me a moment to switch focus from one side to the other).
There are a lot of options and controls and displays in there, but you won't need to fiddle with them much whilst driving. It was super intuitive though. I didn't need to ask any questions about how it worked.
Materials. The car in the showroom was basic Inscription as far as trim level went, but full leather seats, leather door arm rests, a fairly tasteful use of light wood (you don’t have to have wood), and all the other surfaces were a soft-touch plastic of some kind. Not bad actually, and I don’t think I’d spec anything higher. Certainly not jarring like default leather in the Macan Turbo, and no fake stitching in the plastic.
There are no great swathes of shiny black plastic like you get in a modern Jag or Mercedes - I would put this car higher that both in terms of build/appearance/comfort.
Rear seats. Much better than the Macan. In the picture below, the driver seat is back enough to accommodate me (6’1) and there’s still enough room in the back for another me. Not much in the way of toys but the leg and headroom, and comfort are spot on.
Luggage. The XC60 has a funny suspension system that doesn’t have large intrusions in the boot area. The floor is maybe a little higher, but much wider. Better for stuff, I think. 505L capacity (468 in hybrid). There is storage under the floor.
Driving the XC60 D4
So, a diesel, yea, and not a particular powerful one. I braced myself for the horror, and kept reminding myself that I would be getting the petrol hybrid ...
But… well, yes, it sounded like a diesel, but it was smooth and torquey as you’d expect for that split second before it gets to 3200rpm, but then it changes up and you get a bit more, and then you’re doing 60 and that’s fine.
I wasn’t expecting a high performance car, and this wasn’t one. 190HP/400Nm. Nippy at very low speeds, like a slug at motorway speeds.
The transmission is very very good. 8-speed auto. There are no paddles, and I don’t even know if you could change manually with the stick, but at no time did I care. This is an auto-transmission as it should be.
There are eco/comfort/dynamic drive modes, but these are all different in the hybrid, so I won’t bother with them here.
Ride was pretty good. This one had 20” wheels and air suspension. Ride height is adjustable, but it does this automatically. Low when parked, higher when pootling around a lower speed, lower at higher speed and when in dynamic modes. Higher still when offroad.
The tyres were Latitudes, road noise so-so, ride over bumps comparable to my Macan (21” on air).
If you try to throw it about, it does wallow a little, but smooth inputs through the bends and over the bumps and this is very good. None of the ‘sea sickness’ feeling oft reported from the old model.
The instrumentation when driving is really very good. Speed limit recognition, warning signs, etc all very clear. It warns of speed cameras too, with distance to site. The map for navigation is large and in the display right in front of you, so you don’t need to put it on the centre display. Indeed, I hardly looked at the centre display at all.
Safety. It’s a Volvo, so things like lane-keep assist, lane-change assist, auto brake, pedestrian braking, head-on collision avoidance, etc etc etc is all standard. Cheap options give you a semi-auto pilot with cruise control, self parking (ish), cross traffic detection, off-road detection (if you fall asleep) and lots lots more. It even asks you if you need to take a rest based on your driving. It did this when I was forcing it to wander across lines, or go into a verge and doing acceleration brake tests.
In summary, this was a very good car. If it wasn’t for the performance and handling aspect of my requirements, I’d take this over a Macan any day - certainly over a diesel Macan.
Driving the XC90 T8
I kept this ’till last and focused on the hybrid drive train. However, I couldn’t help but notice that the XC90 is quieter (road noise, wind) than the 60 and generally rides better… hmm…
So, some basics.
It’s a plugin hybrid, so ideally you should plug it in. Full battery will give you realistically about 25-28 miles range.
If you don’t plug it in, regeneration will only charge it to about 40%.
It can be plugged in to just about anything and supports 3 levels of charge speed, but due to the nature of Li batteries, super fast charging is not recommended.
My car was almost dead when I took it out, so we did about 10 mins in “charge” mode. The modes:
- Charge mode uses the petrol motor all the time and charges the battery. This is ideal for when you want to silent and emissions free drive at your destination.
- Normal hybrid mode would be hybrid, which does stuff automatically.
- Pure mode would try to use battery only, but will bail out eventually.
- Power mode uses both motors together to give best performance - there's even a bit of torque vectoring going.
On top of this the drive train has an extra mode B. It also has PRND as normal, but D is more about coasting and similar to D+comfort mode in the Macan. B mode does a lot more regenerative braking with a stronger brake effect when off the throttle. Not quite one pedal driving, but effective.
The guy demonstrating said he would generally have the car in Hybrid+B most of the time, and switch to Hybrid+D on long motorway stretches, with Charge+D when approaching destination. He said it can do 60mph in pure EV mode.
Switching from pure EV to hybrid and back is seamless. You don’t even feel front/rear torque shift. It’s also incredibly quiet. Even with the petrol engine going, the loudest thing is the air-conditioning and road noise.
The brake pedal felt a bit like a heavy sponge at first. The Macan and the XC60 both have a grabbiness at the top of the pedal, but this doesn’t. You have to apply some pressure, but when you do, it brakes well and progressively.
Now this has 407HP all in, so is it quick?
Well, yes, actually. Floor it and you get an instant kick from the electric motor, then the you hear the supercharger whine, then a turbo whoosh and it’s all quite exciting, then you notice that you should probably back off a bit. No slouch. And then it’s all very quiet again.
For a 2.5 tonne car, zipping around slow or stationary traffic in city streets is a breeze. The XC60 is 200kg lighter, so should be even better.
Summary
I was impressed with the Inscription-spec XC60 D5 in the showroom and the similarly specced D4 out on the road. I could probably live the the D4, although I’d likely bail and get the D5 (235HP/480Nm) and suffer a mere 51mpg combined.
I was impressed with the T8 hybrid drive train. The petrol motor is extraordinary - 320HP from an I4 and not rattling or jittery. Sure the electric motor helps with smoothness, but it was a very refined and comfortable drive with a kick if you need it.
Volvo claim 134.5mpg, but I suspect that needs a good amount of home or destination charging. I saw 45mpg on my short drive, which is very good indeed.
The biggest difference comes from getting back into the Macan for the drive home.
- Feeling of being in a cramped cabin, 18-way seats snug.
- Feeling that the car is a lot smaller (although it isn’t really that different to the XC60)
- More composed in the corners, but duh, it’s a Porsche.
- Tech and driver controls are ancient and clunky
All of the showroom XC60 D5 Inscription
Interior
