Volvo XC60

The 2022 Volvo XC60 Recharge is a plug-in hybrid medium luxury SUV that offers the best of electric cars and petrol cars together.

If you're in the market for a mid-size SUV but want more than the best that Toyota, Mazda and their rivals can offer, then these two fully-loaded luxury machines, the Lexus NX350 F Sport and Volvo XC60 B6 R-Design, might do the trick.

The Volvo XC60 brings new technology, an updated powertrain and a new take on infotainment and it still a very well executed vehicle overall.

In a segment where players stand out for technology, dynamics or technical ability, the Drive Car of the Year judges went back to basics and looked for a car that best answered the brief of simply offering practical luxury. The Volvo XC60 does just that.

Trent and James deal with a plug-in Volvo, a Hilux hybrid that isn't really a hybrid, and the Mini that's not really a Mini

Prices across all but two new Volvo models in Australia have increased by up to $4000 for the new year.

All members of the Volvo XC60 range have been renamed for the new model year, with some extra features – but higher prices to match.

The fault could cause air to be trapped in the car's cooling system, potentially leading to engine damage

Volvo has renamed the XC60 range, so we thought this would be a good opportunity for a refresher of the line-up of this medium luxury SUV.

We review the 2021 Volvo XC60 a Mid-sized Luxury SUV. Our test vehicle is a T6 R-Design which is priced at $78,990 plus on-road costs.

For many Australians, this segment is all about daily-driven luxury, matched with daily-duty practicality. So what made the middle-size Swede stand out from the pack?

There is no getting away from the fact a Volvo XC60 Polestar is not a cheap car. However, having made the decision to spend the money it is hard to think of many other vehicles on the Australian market that offer the same level and balance of performance, comfort and economy in the real world. This is an relatively early review but after a few thousand km of mixed city and highway driving we are averaging under 5l per 100km and yet have the just over 5 sec to 100kph performance available whenever you wish to use it. The most impressive thing of all in the Hybrid drivetrain is the totally seamless nature of the way it all functions. People don't believe it until they drive it. The interior is simply a comfortable classy place to be with outstanding seats, incredible quietness and top shelf finishes. Some reviews have complained about the firm ride however we find it comfortable and very well damped with the adjustable Ohlins set up in "standard setting". The handling is not Porsche level however is more than capable of dealing with anything we (or I would suggest virtually all owners) are likely to actually use. The steering weighting is adjustable however we find the medium setting to be a good balance for ease around town and highway accuracy. The various safety systems are what you would expect in a Volvo while the Pilot Assist Autonomous Driving is nothing short of amazing on long drives. The Sensus system has been easy to get used to with the only issue being the sheer breadth and depth of systems available. The Bowers and Wilkins sound system is the best I have ever heard in a car bar none. If I had a gripe it would be the fiddly key set up with only one 'master key" which is a bit clunky and harder than it should be. We think the SUV looks great and we get lots of positive comments from others about the appearance. We also kind of like that they are not common. The 5 year warranty (& we got 3 years free servicing) sweeten the price a little bit too. So my summary would be that if you can take a breath and pay close to 100 for a Volvo you might think it is actually not bad value particularly if you are looking for a longer ownership proposition. All in all we are very happy with the car so far.

Decisions, decisions, what to buy? I have my little Italian sports car and it goes great. I have owned many brands of cars over about 40 years, but I keep coming back to Alfa's. There is something magic about them. It's like they are a part of the family, not just a form of transport. But, I digress. This is about a Volvo. When my better half's ancient Hyundai said it was time to move on to the next life we had to buy a replacement vehicle. Because I could get to work by bus (eeeesh!) it was only right she used the Alfa while a new car was being found. Criteria was .... comfortable, safe, enjoyable to drive, and good quality audio system (a personal must for me). Without really thinking about it, I found myself looking for a car for me ... not for her. That then raised the question "what is my little Italian red sports car not good at?". Utility: I wanted to find something with a bit of carrying capacity. First things I looked at were dual cab utes. My God, are these things expensive? If you want something 'affordable' you will get a rusty and worn out piece of sh!t that will leak oil wherever it goes. Quickly struck off the list. Next on the list were SUV's. These are expensive as well for what they are, but not to the same ridiculous degree. A low Km version of something that is bigger than a child's toy is still expensive. Then I spotted a Volvo. It was not low km, but looked quite good in the online pictures so I thought I'd have a look. Not sure if the pictures I am uploading do this car justice, but for a car that had done 175K it was immaculate and still is 6 months later. It you read Volvo reviews most of them comment on how comfortable the seating is, and I can attest to that, it's true. You sink into the seats and feel like you belong there, and wonder why you can't get that comfortable in other cars. It's a strange feeling: every time I drive the Alfa and I get out of the car, I look back and admire it, however I find myself wanting to drive the Volvo, and more often than not I find myself in this mid size SUV. I sit in it and I feel at home. The seating position is great, the visibility is great, the steering wheel looks and feels good, the controls and switchgear look and feel upmarket. Overall, a lovely place to be. Oh ... and the feeling of space in the car is wonderful, complimented by the large glasshouse and the panoramic sunroof with the shade open. The driving: This car can't be considered quick by any stretch of the imagination, but it effortlessly keeps up with traffic. And I mean effortlessly. The diesel has mountains of torque and forward motion just happens. The stopping power is excellent as well. The steering however, it works but doesn't inspire the confidence to tackle twisty mountain curves at great pace. The wheels have high sidewalled tyres and the suspension has a reasonable amount of travel. That combined with a fair amount of mass and an SUV like centre of gravity means handling is OK at best. No, this wasn't designed to win the Gorge Road downhill time trial, but it was designed to take that same route downhill or uphill effortlessly while keeping the occupants safe and and confortable allowing them to take in the Adelaide Hills beauty. Same story for highway driving. The car is not overly fast, but has enough power to make overtaking straightforward. The car is smooth and quiet and wind noise doesn't intrude so you can talk to your passengers or listen to music. I have lost count of how many cars I have owned, but I think this is easily the quietest at highway speeds. Unfortunately, that doesn't equate to good fuel economy. In fact, on the highway I think this is the thirstiest car I have ever owned. It is hardly better on the highway than it is in the city. It must be due to that large frontal area trying to shove it's way through the air. On long trips it gets somewhere between 8 and 9 l/100km's, but I can live with that for the 3 or 4 times a year I plan on spending many continuous hours behind the wheel. To be fair, a Mazda RX4 I previously owned would have been much much thirstier, but I never took that on a highway. The car has city-smart (Volvo speak for AEB), rear camera, parking sensors, radar cruise, panoramic sunroof, push button start, electric tailgate, huge cargo area, navigation, heated electric seats, bluetooth, etc. For a 2010 car it is packed with plenty of goodies. There are a few 2020 goodies it doesn't have, but then most of the affordable cars in 2020 don't have them either. For rear passengers it has air vents in the B pillars and in the centre console, as well as having a fold down armrest with cup holders, and a system to raise the seats for small children. It also has a nice feature of reseting the seats and mirrors to your personal preference when you unlock the car with the remote. It has 2 remotes and remembers the settings the last time a particular remote was used. Perfect when you have 2 drivers of completely different physical statures as is the case with me and my partner. The bad points: It's an SUV with a reasonably large cargo area which means it can carry stuff, so it does. Without this car, largish items would usually not be considered. But now it's "will it fit in the Volvo? Yes, so I will get it". The bluetooth does not do music streaming. The Navigation is programmed using a remote control and is painful to use. And, there is no escaping the fact the car is a diesel, which means the diesel rattle is always present. The good points: The wonderful airyness, that panoramic sunroof (sunroof is a mis-nomer. It can rarely be used in the Australian sun, but it is wonderful in the evening and is great in the cooler months just as a glass roof), the growl of the engine on acceleration, the quality of the sound system, the feeling of safety (which is backed up by real world statistics) and the unmistakable feeling of quality in how it is put together. Overall it presents as just a nice place to be. Am I a convert from Alfa Romeo? Not yet. But this car gets nothing but praise from me and that's something I can't say about any of the 7 Alfa's I have owned. One final comment about this Volvo. A friend of mine got himself a Porsche Cayenne. It cost mega bucks compared to what I paid. I have been in it, but, honestly, the Volvo is streets ahead in terms of comfort and fit and finish. If you get a chance, sit in one and take it for a spin. You will be won over. Thank you to anyone who read all that.

I’ve never been a big fan of SUV’s so they were never on my shopping list but my wife’s constant lobbying to replace her Golf GTI with something bigger and more family-friendly forced me to take a closer look. I (and my wife) prefer our cars to have a bit of go so any slow and wheezy naturally aspirated petrol or turbo diesel four cylinder SUV just wasn’t going to cut it. Aiming to spend about $40K on the used car market we considered a BMW X5 30d, Merc ML350CDI and an Audi Q5. I was quite underwhelmed by the interior quality of the X5. The interior felt old and plain, the leather was fake and the centre armrest and console creaked and groaned if you lent on it. I didn’t like the idea of run flat tyres either. The Merc was a strong contender but even though we liked the exterior styling, we found the interior was also dated especially the infotainment screen and HVAC controls. Unfortunately, we couldn’t find a Q5 in the right colour with the right options at the right price. We’ve really liked the styling of Volvo’s over the last 5-6 years especially the R-Design models so the XC60 was always going to have a good chance. We probably would have been happy with the D5 or the T6 but we drove the T6 first and it was the colour we wanted, had the optional sunroof and we negotiated a good price for it. I think as far as SUV styling goes, the XC60 R-Design is hard to beat. They’re not too big or small and have a classy look about them. I love sitting inside this car. Everything you touch – steering wheel, armrests, dash, stalks and buttons just oozes quality. The seats are a real highlight, soft comfortable leather and nicely bolstered to hold you in place. Probably the best car seats I’ve ever had. The sat-nav is easy enough to use (other than trying to cancel route guidance) with nice clear graphics and turn guidance also displayed in the instrument binnacle. The premium surround sound system has plenty of punch and clarity using either radio, CD, USB or Bluetooth streaming. All controls are fairly intuitive and logically placed. One annoyance is the lack of keyless entry and start. The two step start process (insert key then push a button) is reminiscent of the FPV F6 I owned a few years ago and is just a bit daft. The additional cabin height (compared to a passenger car) allows for a higher seating position for rear passengers and this translates into a little more leg room. There is plenty of storage space for phones, wallets and drink bottles for adults up front and enough space for the kid’s crap in the back. The cargo area is nice and wide though it does lacks a little in length. There is a small amount of storage space under the cargo floor that can be useful to stash some items. The electric tailgate is quite handy too. I needed to recalibrate my expectations driving the XC60 particularly as my other car was an Audi S4. If you push the XC60 with any sort of enthusiasm, it’s not really happy. Cornering body roll is predictably evident despite the stiffer suspension setup of the R-Design. Low speed ride quality on bumpy suburban roads is poor and exacerbated by the four year old original Pirelli tyres on large (but nice looking) 20 inch wheels. This has improved recently by fitting new Continental tyres but the ride/handling balance remains a weak point. The steering feel is quite artificial and lacks the real feel of connection to the front wheels. The Haldex based AWD system is predominantly front drive and can be slow to transfer power to the rear when needed. Accelerating hard out of corners results in the front tyres scrabbling for traction until the rear end kicks in. The six speed torque converter gearbox is probably the worst aspect of the XC60. Left in D it hunts around more than it should and kicks down when you wouldn’t expect it to. It seems to forget that it has ample torque (480Nm) to hold higher gears on most occasions. Initial take-off is quite abrupt due to an over sensitive throttle pedal and when it changes into second gear the revs will flare to about 2500rpm and it does a perfect CVT impersonation. From third onwards it generally sorts itself out. There are steering wheel paddles to use for manual shifting but the gearbox response is slow particularly when downshifting. I hope Volvo’s new eight speed gearbox is better than this. This car’s strength is its cruising ability on the highway. The ride improves markedly at speed even on substandard roads and road noise is well contained. The active directional xenon headlights work very well for night driving and by having a separate (halogen) lens for high beam, they are better than the typical bi-xenon headlights found in many cars. The engine is strong and refined and has plenty of power for both initial getaways and highway overtaking but the exhaust sounds a bit plain and underwhelming. An R-Design with Polestar tuning should have a nice sporty exhaust burble to match. We’ve owned the XC60 just over a year now and fuel consumption (98 octane) is averaging around 11.3 which is about what we expected. The XC60 is not perfect and few cars are but despite a few annoyances (mostly gearbox related) I really like this car. It looks good, has most of the features I want in a car, ample performance and a real quality feel about it. Most importantly though, my wife loves it and the lobbying has ceased.

This is a follow up to my first review. This model is actually a 15.5 MY. If anything like the car even better. Almost 33000 Kim's, nothing gone wrong, change oil every 7500 Kim's, a bit pricey, burn Shell hi test, urban driving 8.9 -9.2 l/100 km, hiway, 7.8-8.3 l/100 km. Still hate auto stop/start. Ride is a bit harsh on our rough frost heaved roads, but it is well I controlled. Engine transmission combo as satisfying as on the first day. One of your readers was confused about cross shopping Honda. Well, why not. They have some fine cross overs. But Volvo won out. Better equipment level, and liked the fuel economy. I love the uniqueness of the design, didn't want one of the German cars, every other car is one of those. Safety rating also attracted me to this car. Have been drooling over the 2018 xc60, and looking for ways to justify making a switch, but at 78 yrs old, tough to find employment that pays well for little work. What impresses me most, is that in inclement weather, door sills do not get dirty, and under hood stays remarkably clean. I was a wee bit Leary at first going for a turbo four, but having owned a 123GT while stationed overseas with RCAF, that four cyl was a fine engine, and my experience e to date bears it out. It hasn't used a drop of oil between changes. I change oil more frequently because I do a fair bit of urban driving, not ideal for any engine. The front electric heated windshield is a real bonus and very welcome on frosty days . The heating system is quite awesome, and the electric water pump allows heating up very quickly. The standard sound system is pleasure to listen to. Eight speakers. The fact that the Volvo is made with a good amount of boron steel must surely help for passenger safety in a crash. The cars' handling is safe and secure, but not crisp, but makes you feel comfortable safe and secure. I would highly recommend this car, but would hesitate on buying a 2018 model, as usually there are a fair number of hiccups with a brand new model.