Test drive Volvo XC90 2002 - 2006 SUV

Arizona Dreams

Volvo XC90 V8 as the embodiment of an American dream
 
And in vain we are teasing over the Americans for their love for large SUVs. And behind the ocean there are many places where it is preferable to move precisely on all -wheel drive cars. In Arizona, for example, in a few hours you can drive almost all known climatic zones. Having made a 700-kilometer voyage per day, rising about 3,000 meters above sea level and getting on the way back to the blizzard, it is easy to come to the conclusion about the need to get a powerful and comfortable Volvo XC90 with an 8-cylinder engine.
 
Cacti in the snow
 
The image is purely speculative - where cacti grow, snow, as a rule, does not happen. But he conveys the picture that he has postponed in mind exactly. And she turned out to be so bright that I would consider for a sin not to share it with the reader.
 
So, Russian journalists were very lucky: we closed the Test drives of the XC90 test drives, and after a whole day of the obligatory routes we received another day at our disposal, on which they could go anywhere. True, not one SUV, but two Volvo S80 sedans, kindly provided us on five. And in the early December morning, we moved from Phoenix, which is a hundred kilometers from the Mexican border, towards the Grand of the Canyon, which spread about 370 kilometers to the north. Overboard, please note - plus 17 Celsius. The city is green, flowers are fragrant and birds sing. Outside the city - prairies with giant cacti, cut through the threads of first -class highweacs (the roads here, by the way, are better than in neighboring California).
 
As they move to the north and up, cacti around began to laugh somehow, and after a couple of hours, closer to the city called Sedon, in the center of the canyon of the same name, and completely disappeared. We found ourselves, as if in another world: cool (the temperature here is 10 degrees lower), windy and, as it seemed to me, anxiously unequivocal. Imagine everything around the blood -red color: and huge mountains with flat peaks, the walls of the houses, and, it seems, even the rays of the sun, breaking through heavy clouds. Nevertheless, the surrounding landscapes fascinate with their extraordinary beauty.
 
Without hesitation, we moved further, and after a few minutes we drove into the hollow, which vividly reminded either the Caucasus or the Alps: around the wooded mountains, below - a swift river, the air is amazingly clean and transparent. Very soon, deciduous trees were replaced by spruce and pine trees, and on both sides of the road there was no longer grass, but snow. The track, however, is perfectly cleaned, but a hundred kilometers later, on a picturesque plateau, I began to notice that in some places asphalt suspiciously shines under the sun. Here I first regretted that I was driving a front -wheel drive machine, and not XC90, endowed with all -wheel drive with an automatic setup system for the Instant Traction.
 
The sun was already declining when we reached the Grand Canyon National Park. They gave way to a couple of deer, who, by right of the owners of the asphalt crossing the tape, and went to a vast parking near the observation sites. A stunning, fantastic sight opened before us, which I do not take to describe. An hour, as fascinated, admired the unearthly panorama, took pictures, moving from one site to another. However, it was dark, the wind at minus temperature clearly did not have a long stay on a high -mountain plateau, it was time to return to a warm Phoenix.
 
And on the way back, barely going to Highve, we fell into a real snow storm. The melting is thorough, and very soon under the wheels was no longer asphalt, but a skating rink. And we got up
 
Advantages V8
 
No, everything was with the car, thank God, in order, but a huge traffic jam formed ahead. There was nothing to think about going around the sap on the sidelines: firstly, the S80 is not XC90, and, secondly, the roadside was here and there was busy encountering cars (when only they managed?). The cars that fell into an accident (not too serious, however) immediately evacuated to the same tracks. Among them, by the way, I did not notice a single SUV or pickupa. What is not an argument in favor of a large Volvo?

 
XC90, meanwhile, this is a truly American car, good that it is going in Sweden. It is large, and besides Volvo to the States, not a single European manufacturer supplies seven -seater SUVs. It is comfortable, and it is best felt precisely on smooth hawei. Although I did not experience much discomfort when moving along gravel paths, and with a slow, as required by the conditions, the passage of a small off-road route specially arranged by the organizers of the test drive. Yes, the rolls of the body in steep turns at good speed are very noticeable, and the steering to the taste of the European is too light, uninformative. In a word, it is sharpened for the American taste and is designed for a comfortable and safe trip with the whole family, not for racing. However, how to say - a new motor and a new 6 -speed automatic transmission are able to please a fan of fast driving.
 
This first in the entire 77-year history of the Swedish company V8, developed in collaboration with Yamaha, is unique. It is surprisingly compact - 74 cm in length and 62.5 cm in width, with an angle of the collapse of cylinders of 60 degrees. Which made it possible to install the engine across, preserving the damping zones under the hood and, thereby, providing a high level of passive safety. But the main thing is that it gives xc90 excellent potential, and sounds much more pleasant than all other motors that are installed on this car.
 
Active driving is also helped by the GEARTRONIC machine with the possibility of manual transition from one step to another. The reaction time to the work of the gas pedal clearly decreased compared to the previous 5-speed automatic transmission. The sixth - economical - the transmission is designed to move at flat speed, as soon as the driver spurks the car, the box immediately goes to the lower step. Two more advantages are that the automatic transmission is truly adaptive, that is, it quickly adapts to the individual driving style, and allows you to unscrew the engine to maximum revolutions in manual mode. In general, this XC90 is no longer the one that is equipped with less powerful motors.
 
First of all - the USA
 
The main market for the Swedish SUV remains American, and the XC90 V8 will begin to be delivered there first at the very beginning of 2005. Over the ocean, Volvo intends to sell up to 75% of 15 thousand such cars that are planned to be assembled in a year. Another thing is that the volume of output can be increased, as it has already been with XC90: instead of the initially planned 50,000, 90,000 cars are now produced.
 
To Russia, the most powerful Swedish SUV will reach spring. Prices have not yet been determined, but it is quite obvious that they will hardly be below $ 90,000, rather the opposite - closer to one hundred thousand. The Americans, which this model costs half as much, can only envy.
 
And finally, it is worth mentioning the external differences of the XC90 V8 from other modifications. The air intake is trimmed with chrome, doors and moldings on the sides are painted in the color of the body, the radiator grill became gray, new 18 -inch wheels appeared, and double exhaust pipes appeared.
 
And my home interior adorned a small cactus.
 
Brief technical characteristics of the Volvo XC90 V8
Engine volume, cubic meter. See: 4414
The number of valves for the cylinder: 4
Power, l. With. at about./min.: 315/5850
Max. Torque, Nm/at about. min.: 440/3900
Acceleration to 100 km/h, p.: 7.3
Maximum speed, km/h: 210*
Average fuel consumption l./100 km.: 13.5
Fuel tank volume, l.: 80
Dimensions, mm.: 4800x1900x1740
* Speed \u200b\u200bis limited by electronics
 
Oleg Osipov
 

Source: Newspaper "Automobile Izvestia" [No. 24 (69), 2004-2005]