Great Company, Sharp and Sporty the Volvo XC60 R-Design

I was fortunate to have some long drives ahead when I tested this car. Its bold chunky looks with the trademark rear end curvy shoulders, distinctive and clearly recognisable – Volvo.

The R-Design model brings a more tuned sports chassis with stiffer dampers, larger 20″ Cratus Alloy wheels and a sharp looking body kit. The car has a modern hot hatch personality, an overall good looking vehicle. In Ice white it had road presence in abundance. The XC60 is on the larger side of the current crop of midrange SUVs with the welcome high up driving position and very comfortable seats.

Inside the car brilliant details abound. This is a well designed practical family SUV with a top of the hill feeling. It was a good place to spend some time smooth and relaxed.

The XC60 range is Volvo’s biggest seller in the UK and it appears a very popular vehicle on the rural back roads of Berkshire where I live. The XC60 is the more compact SUV in Volvo’s range following the larger XC90 although it still is a very spacious vehicle throughout with exceptional build quality always a given from Volvo.

The five cylinder 2.4 litre diesel engine sounded good with a distinctive, pleasing burbley sound with 215 bhp, the engine always offered plenty of grunt with 0-60 in 7.8 seconds and a top speed of 127mph. If you need to pick up the pace it always felt nimble and responsive, the softer ride made longer runs a pleasure. The AWD 4×4 system brings the added assurance of all wheel drive with adequate 230mm ground clearance most mud and snow will be taken in its stride.

The comfortable cabin, was a refined and well equipped place to be. The seats were very comfortable excellent seats, with a very soft leather, upmarket feeling. The interior was appealing with the trademark floating centre console and R-Design Blue dials. All switches are intuitive and easy to operate along with the very good sound system and handsfree. Although take note buyers beware It is easy to max the car when selecting extras so choose wisely. The added options on this car which included driver support pack, geartronic, 20″ Alloys, premium sound system, security pack, power passenger seat, rear tinted glass, digital radio, heated front seats and a tempa spare wheel brought the car up to nearly £7500 over its on the road price.

Safety, of all importance in family cars. The Volvo XC60 has a Five Star Euro NCAP rating with all the expected safety of a Volvo. Always at the forefront of safety innovation. City Safety is standard on all models – scanning the road 6 metres ahead it will bring the car to a safe stop if the system believes a collision is imminent at speeds up to 18mph. This will work effectively, reducing a lot of low speed collisions of which account for 75% of motoring accidents.

After some long drives in the XC60 and having driven quite a few of its competitors, no doubt it is a good choice in this fast moving sector. It fits very well into the top end of this market, there is a large selection in the XC60 range which starts at just below £28000 all models are very well equipped as standard and all bring – admiring looks.

The car tested was the Volvo XC60 D5 R-Design Lux Nav

Drive Verdict – Popular XC60 range can now only get even better with face lifted 2014 model

Tech spec:

Price £38.645 on the road.

With extras as tested £46,090

Max Power: 215 bhp @ 4000rpm

Max Torque: 440 Lb ft@ 1500-3000rpm

Max Speed 127 mph Acceleration: 0-62 mph in 7.8 seconds

Claimed MPG: Urban 31.7,  Extra Urban 50.4,  Combined 41.5

CO2 Emissions 179g/km

VED Band I VED –  £125 per annum

Insurance Group – 23E Service intervals – 1 year or 18000 miles

NCAP Safety Rating – 5 star

Kerb Weight – 1864kg

Max Towing Weight, braked/unbraked – 2000kg / 750kg

Read More Volvo news and reviews at Drive.co.uk/VOLVO

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