New Volvo XC90 review, test drive

Velvet Ride

The XC90 is to Volvo what the City is to Honda or the Innova is to Toyota. It’s the backbone of the Volvo range and the bread-and-butter model for the company. The XC90 has been on sale since 2002 and Volvo has sold more than 6,00,000 of them. Hence, the all-new XC90, which has now arrived 13 years after the original, is a very significant car for Volvo and the first of a generation under new owner Geely of China. In India, too, the XC90 aims to give the German SUVs (and Land Rover too) a serious challenge when it goes on sale later in the year. In fact, Volvo in India is banking on the XC90 to move the Swedish brand squarely into the crosshairs of luxury SUV buyers.

But to do that, Volvo, instead of taking the likes of Audi, BMW and Mercedes head on, is ironically carving a distinct furrow of its own with the XC90 that’s left, off-centre from the German troika. That means the XC90 doesn’t put form over function or a 0-100kph time over fuel efficiency. This car is all about roominess, comfort, safety and efficiency – the kind of stuff that may not be particularly exciting. But the sheer honesty with which Volvo goes about achieving its ideals has an appeal of its own. Then again, how many Indians care about the humane side of motoring? Not many SUV owners, for sure. Thankfully, the new XC90 has enough of the usual stuff too that would yank at the heartstrings of regular SUV buyers.