VOLVO XC60 test drive since 2008 SUV

The Volvo XC 60 crossover is trying to please absolutely everyone.

The Swedish tank with a 3.5 l engine is masked under the rocket and hammock. I have a clear opinion, what are the Audi Q5, Mercedes GLK, BMW X3 and Infiniti Ex, but if they force me to write a picture dedicated to the Volvo XC 60, I will first have to tear the canvas to pieces and then glue it again.
Although he has a wonderful front panel and generally home comfort in the interior, he is wild on the outside: it looms with a chopped back that lives separately from a solid front. He runs quite briskly, but stumbles out on each hole in the asphalt. He has a good motor and a good transmission, but a strange chassis. The suspension and steering seemed to be tucked up from different Japanese and American cars and inserted into the Swedish car, disguised as electronic adjustment of the rigidity of shock absorbers.
The motor and box are made in conscience and can please even separately from the suspension. Compare the V-shaped GLK six-liter GLK six and a in-line three-liter XC 60 unit. Mercedes engine produces 271 liters. With. At 6000 rpm and 350 nm in the range of 24005000 revolutions. The Volvo motor removes 285 liters from a smaller volume. With. At 5600 revolutions and 400 nm with a much more attractive mode of 15004800 revolutions. If it were not for the extra 160 kg of weight and longer transfer numbers in the transmission designed to save fuel, Volvo would never have lost Mercedes 0.8 seconds in acceleration to hundreds. But for now, 7.5 seconds against 6.7 Germans ahead.
First squats, then dives
I drove away from the dealer in Moscow Koltseva and the next few tens of kilometers was busy only overtaking. Yes, on this car I want to immediately in the left row of Volvo ambition.

The fact that the Volvo XC 60 is a premium car is felt not at all on the move, but in the cabin
 
The photographer said that in these seats it is very good to sleep. The driver, be careful!
The Volvo automatic box has one step less than that of Mercedes, but he worships up to 5,000 thousand revolutions, and in sports mode even more. This Volovskaya couple of a motorcaster is definitely with a fee. He puts to press the pedal deeper, just as the inholstadt provocateur Audi Q5 does. But the hot driver XC 60 can not always count on the suspension. I know a few cool turns within the city and I like to use them as a training ground when there are no other cars nearby. The road is empty, a well -known turn is ahead. The actions are worked out, and I am ready to just enjoy the speed maneuver. But what Volvo does! First, cries on the outer wheel, and then sharply divers in the turn almost to the chipper. I had to work with the steering wheel, looking for the right trajectory. Somehow I found it, but rather with the help of a vestibular apparatus. I taxi on the highway, and a test under the name of the track begins. With relaxed shock absorbers in the comfort mode, the car walks a little, but I look at the speedometer 140150 km/h. Not so bad. With a sport -clamped sport, a rut with a rut begins to throw away. At the end of the trip, another cool turn and on the rush of turning Volvo begins to twitch, as if he was going on a blocked full drive. But it is! Disks in the coupling with a rotation difference are clamped. It’s just that the algorithm turns out, let’s say, not designed for street races.

There are quite a lot more places from behind than competitors

The trunk is far from the worst in its class, and the possibilities of transformation are very decent
Real sport for housewives
Do not give a damn about turns. Only scumbags enter them at the same speed as journalists. The rest of the people are peaceful, calm, family, for them on the front panel there is a column button. Why, in this safe family crossover, a neighboring button called Sport? My will would not be included. She was clung here by chance.
Sport mode makes shock absorbers tougher? I understand, and here is the Advance button. What is she? I asked the techie, who gave me the car for a test. He thought, then disappeared somewhere, returned and said: this is a real sport! And smiled.
I withstood Sport and Advance not long and quickly returned to Comfort. Although in any modes the XC 60 rides pampered. He is also injured by lying policemen, and even the smallest cracks in the asphalt. Instead of suspension, there is a desire to attract as many buyers as possible, both reckless pilots and wise housewives.
Material: Volvo XC 60
 
 
Will pass wherever the consumer wants
But Volvo is cheaper than all competitors and it has an excellent front panel. In the center, an aluminum man, and on the sides of the circle of temperature and volume adjustment. Even if you want not to get confused. And you do not need to lower your eyes much. True, I did not find the ESP shutdown buttons here. Therefore, the question with off -road to the end remained open. But you do not expect special patency from the Crosover of this class, since it is not intended for off-road. As one of the engineers said: if the consumer would have to be done a long time ago. Therefore, any, even the most modest result is already pleasing.
I could not plant XC 60. He overcame the diagonal hanging without problems, snow drifts too. I even climbed onto a steep hill what else is needed? Certainty! All tastes do not satisfy. There is not enough healthy cynicism. You just need to spit on some part of the buyers. But Volvo does not have the courage to do this.
Author: Dmitry Leontyev, photo of Alexander Ortnova-Baranov
    

 

A source: Magazine 4x4 [May /2009]