The Swedes did not make it easy for themselves with the new edition of their large SUV. The second generation of the XC90 has nothing in common with the first except the name. For the first time, not only the car, but also engines, transmissions and the entire electronic infrastructure were newly created. The design is pleasantly factual and should also please many Audi fans. In general, the great Swede seems to be targeting the Ingolstadt Q7 more than the BMW X5 or Mercedes GLE. At 4,95 meters in length, it surpasses everyone except the Audi. With a base price of 53.400 euros in the medium configuration, it is at a competitive level or slightly below.
Who buys so much car, wants one thing above all: space. And offers the largest so far Volvo plentiful. Adults sit well in all five seats (two more in the trunk can be booked as an option), with the usual restrictions for the middle seat in the back. As in all cars, you don't want to sit there for long journeys. However, this seat is also suitable for domestic use and smaller tours. In the front you can sit excellently on chairs that are electrically adjustable in many ways. For us, the cheeks on the seat could be a bit flatter.
Space is also the big issue in the trunk. Between 721 and 1.886 liter holds the luggage compartment. He easily surpasses most competitors. If you travel as a couple for a few days, the necessary suitcases behind should be latently lonely.
Traveling is the issue with the SUV. Especially on highways the XC90 shines when it does not have to go through construction sites. It is not intended for the city or small country roads. Urban parking garages, even newer ones, do not suit a car that is over two meters wide. Forward visibility is still ok, the rear loses, however, in the widths of the trunk. When maneuvering, not only in tight parking garages, the optional all-round camera package (1.100 Euro), which we would definitely recommend.
It is already well known that Volvo will only offer relatively small four- or less-cylinder engines in the future. In the almost five-meter car XC90 work in any case exclusively supercharged four-cylinder with two liters of displacement. In the case of our test car with combustion in the diesel principle, 165 kW / 225 PS and 470 Newton meters torque.
Although we have been confronted with higher values in the area of travel SUVs, the Swedish four-player is doing well. Since Volvo has managed to keep the weight of the XC90 by two tons and at the same time to tune the eight stages of the automatic transmission so that they are translated enough for sufficient liveliness short and for low speeds while traveling, the optical heavyweight turned out to be amazingly light-footed on the road.
If necessary, the XC90 sprints in 7,8 seconds from a standstill at highway speed and runs on the highway 220 km / h, after Tacho even more. The four-cylinder sounds restrained pithy, but never disturbing. Which is not least because at 180 km / h speeds are still no 3.000 revolutions concern. Which brings us back to the subject of travel. With this engine-gearbox combination you can travel long distances quickly, relaxed and relatively economically. On average, 8,6 liters of diesel flowed through the injectors, which is absolutely fine, as we took advantage of the possible performance again and again. If one puts it on to be particularly economical on the way, one creates the Bordcomputer to consequence also a low six before the comma, which is not far away from the standard consumption 5,8 liters.
Not quite as convincing on the subject of travel was the navigation system. Almost twice on a tour, it lost sight of us in a way and thought the XC90 clearly off the road. A bug that will be fixed with the next (online) update. In this regard, you have to get used to modern cars anyway, that they now and in the future more and more to rolling computers and need corresponding start-up and update times.
Volvo sets before in menu navigation before and has all the essential controls of the vehicle - apart from everything that has to do with direct driving - in a kind of iPad bundled. Its menu structure with back and forth or up and down swipes is not as intuitive to use as the Swedes would like, but you can at least without long read it and cope with the well-hidden adjustment options for the highly recommended Head-Up Display. There, the traffic signs are reliably displayed as well. One or the other assistance system reminded us again and again.
If you are too fast, the display flashes, if you want to be in a long construction site, not to be an obstacle for the truck, instead of the allowed 80 km / h 85 enter the automatic distance controller, like one of the caring Swede repeatedly like this faux pas of course, and omits the command acceptance. Every now and then, the collision detectors were a bit too anxious, warning of dangers in the form of vehicles in front of us, which were just turning the corner. Autonomous cars will certainly be much more defensive on the way. That's good for traffic safety. As a driver you feel a little patronizing, but you get used to it.
On the XC90 you get used to fast overall. For people who like a lot of space around them, love Swedish design and can afford a certain care, he is definitely an alternative to the German top dogs.
Author: Günter Weigel / SP-X
