There is a reason that the Volvo XC40 is the European Car of the Year this year and that becomes apparent as soon as you start driving it. It is quite simply a gem of a car....
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As a winning compact SUV, the car is smooth, refined and immediately responsive pushing silently and efficiently along the road answering your every whim without a murmur.
Maggie Barry drives the Volvo XC40 compact SUV, a fine family car.
As a winning compact SUV, the car is smooth, refined and immediately responsive pushing silently and efficiently along the road answering your every whim without a murmur.
Now with Volvo’s T3 three-cylinder petrol engine onboard it slips like a dancer along highways and byways bending here, turning there, stopping gracefully and then powering away at roundabouts. It is not too big for narrow country roads yet has plenty of heart for the open road and the agility to take the city in its stride.
There was a time when Volvo cars were perhaps not the most stylish on the road, but the XC40 has put paid to that too with its two-tone paintwork and matching alloys.
This is Volvo’s first compact SUV sitting below the XC60 and the innovative and award-winning XC90 and it is not surprisingly one of the company’s best selling models. It is undeniably a Volvo but with far more panache and flair than its bigger siblings.
It sports the signature Thor’s hammer headlights, a concave grille with Volvo’s badge striking through it, a front skid plate and sculpted lower door sections.
The contrasting roof sweeps back to a power-operated tailgate with an integrated spoiler and a roof antenna. Wheels to match the roof colour give it a seamlessly fashionable appearance and in the new Amazon Blue with the Ice White Pack onboard it looks stunning – this gives it a white roof, white door mirrors and white 19 inch alloys.
Inside it benefits from the iPad-style screen that we first saw on the XC90 that allows you to access the controls quickly and easily swiping one way for the entertainment system and apps and the other way for vehicle controls.
Fitted as standard to the XC40 Momentum Pro which I was driving is the Volvo On Call app which can be linked with your smartphone or device and allows you to access various functions remotely, full European sat nav, access to the internet and voice-activated control.
It comes with a raft of safety systems like pedestrian, cyclist and large animal detection, front collision warning and full emergency braking. There’s also oncoming lane mitigation which provides steering assistance if you drift into another lane and the path of an oncoming car and run-off road protection which tightens the seatbelts and prepares for the worst should the vehicle leave the road.
It is all very Volvo yet not. In the XC40 there is the expected – the Volvo safety and technical systems – plus the style which is somewhat sassy for the big Scandinavian.
It comes in manual with front wheel drive in the T3, a 1.5-litre petrol engine offering 156hp which is more than enough for most of the motoring you will want to do. It will also give you a rather good 45.6mpg.
Cars just don't win awards for nothing, and this is particularly true of the XC40.
Car reviewed: Volvo XC40 Momentum Pro T3 FWD Manual - On the road £29,160 0-62mph 7.8 secs Top speed 124mph Fuel Economy combined 45.6mpg CO2 emissions 144g/km Engine 1477cc 3-cylinder unleaded EU 6.2D Max Power Engine 156PS@5000rpm Engine Torque 265Nm@1850rpm Transmission 6-speed manual 2wd
A gem of a car
Smooth and refined
A Volvo with panache and flair
None to think of
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