Volvo XC90 review
by Alan Douglas (9 June 2006)
I like honesty. People being straight with you. Telling it like it is. Unfortunately that's not usually the order of the day when you engage in conversation with people in the car business, whether it's a PR person or a salesman.
But I found a refreshing air of openness at the launch of the updated XC90, the hugely successful SUV from Volvo. Mind you, everyone from the company had the benefit of speaking from an enviably strong position - in its three years of existence it has been a great seller and justified many times over Volvo's bold decision to enter a crowded market at what many thought was too late a stage in its evolution.
After its original launch demand was enormous and the original production of 50,000 was steadily built up, last year hitting 90,000. The clever seven seats have been a big draw, and the car has gone down well with buyers who want a flexible, safe and comfortable base for all the family.
It presented a clean and refined image in an area of the market inhabited by many brash, butch or banal examples in what once had been Land Rover's sole domain. But not everything has been perfect and that's where the honesty came in.
"We've listened to owners," said Volvo's UK product manager Dean Shaw who, with disarmingly youthful and casual looks, gives the impression of being on a work placement project rather than heading up one of the company's most important vehicles.
Don't be fooled, though. Dean knows his job inside out and is passionate about the cars in his stable. As a result of what the owners have said, "fine tuning" is what he says has been done to the XC90, and personally I think it's a very fine job.
Discreet changes to the exterior such as redesigned tail lamps to fit the current family profile, a new front grille, more use of colour coding in the side trim mouldings, doorhandles and door mirrors which now have built-in indicator repeaters, are the only obvious changes to the new car.
There are also two new body colours - an Electric Silver metallic and a Shadow Blue which is exclusive to the XC90 along with the option of 18" aluminium wheels.
Inside, there's little to distinguish the new car from what's gone before, except that I suspect the quality has been improved. I recently drove a low-mileage XC90 and felt it wasn't quite as robust as earlier models. That was emphasised when the front-seat passenger was left holding the interior doorhandle surround after getting in and closing the door.
"We did have some issues with that," Dean admitted to me later, adding that the construction of that particular component has been modified. Presumably they listened to the buyers saying they didn't like bits coming off in their hands.
Fine Scottish leather from Bridge of Weir still adorns the seats, and there's a range of options according to the level of softness you like on your more sensitive parts.
There are some new options introduced for the first time in the XC90. Active bi-xenon headlights with beams which track the curves of the road at night are a useful addition, and thankfully, given Volvo's obsession with daytime headlights, only operate in the dark. A useful option is left- or right-hand drive dipping which will appeal to regular Channel hoppers and do away with the need for stick-on lenses or blinds on the headlights when driving in Europe.
Also for the first time - catching up with some of the Japanese competition - is a park assist camera giving a rear view when reversing.
The option I'm less sure of is the Volvo-developed BLIS (Blind Spot Information System) which at somewhere around £600 helps counter a problem Volvo itself created in the XC90. The B pillar at the driver's shoulder is so thick that it can increase the area of the blind spot, so BLIS has cameras built into the door mirrors which register a small yellow light on the inside of the near or offside mirror when another vehicle has entered the car's blind spot.
I understand that too has been modified after it was discovered road grime and even rainwater obscured the camera's vision and rendered the system inoperative. I'm also worried that, along with the indicator repeaters, there's some expensive technology built into the mirrors which are often vulnerable to damage by passing traffic. No one could estimate the cost of workshop replacement short of a sharp intake of breath.
The recently-upgraded 185bhp five-cylinder D5 turbo diesel engine and the compact but thirsty 315bhp V8, which appeals mainly to the Americans, have been joined by a new 3.2-litre six-cylinder engine which was first introduced in the new S80. Made mostly of aluminium, with a power output of 238bhp, it's a highly advanced engine with the same consumption as a five-cylinder unit.
Prices will range from £32,820 for the D5 S version to £53,965 for the V8 Executive. The first cars should be in the showrooms by the end of June.
Add new comment