The Volvo XC60 SE Special Edition AWD has two things going for it – it kept everyone safe on a family road trip and it made me giggle every time I used it.
This compact SUV is the next price point down from the leathered luxury of Volvo's grand XC90 SUV, and it's marketed to families, so, naturally, you'll find a clutch of safety features to keep mom and dad's eyes on the road instead of handing snacks to the back seat. Heading out on a long drive for a weekend getaway – with distractions from inside the car (kids) and outside (the rugged, rolling Appalachian mountain scenery, tempting roadside fruit stands) – meant we'd rather drive something else than our no-backseat-legroom sports car or the aging family sedan.
Volvo's compact SUV to the rescue. Along a thin two-lane highway in rural United States, the lane-departure warning went off repeatedly. Gobsmacked by the scenery, or back-seat bickering, I'd stop watching the road and start hearing a sound effect from The Six Million Dollar Man, specifically the electronic staccato that played whenever Steve Austin started running or jumping. The 1970s alert plays over whatever music you're listening to, and it's incredibly effective – not to mention funny. It went off a lot – my husband begged me to hit the easy-to-reach off button – but I was having too much fun picturing Lee Majors running alongside me.
By the end of my week with the Volvo XC60 I was grateful for many of the safety functions: the subtle/not-so-subtle amber blindspot indicator flashed when I even thought about moving into a space occupied by another vehicle; on the highway, a red light reflected off the bottom of the windshield when I got too close to the car in front – and I was grateful the car sensed not to bother with that feature when we got stuck in heavy traffic. As we spent a lot of time on blissfully empty rural highways in the United States, the adaptive cruise control, which automatically slows down if someone cuts into your safety bubble, wasn't noticeable – until we re-entered Ontario, where it came in handy.
Commuting to work later that week, and passing a crazily parked delivery van, I nearly jumped out of my driver's seat at the sharp alert that rang out and flashed quickly on the windshield when another car veered into view – it was too close for comfort for the Volvo.
Since I'm trying to stay off my phone while driving, I wasn't keen on connecting it to the car. Unfortunately, without a phone, navigation and Internet access are not available on the XC60. I also had a love/hate relationship with the sunroof and sunshade. Both are easily opened once you remember the right direction the multifunction roof button moves in – exasperation ensued until then.
I tossed my maps and the usual car clutter that accumulates on a road trip into the deep storage pockets in the doors and admired the adaptable-size cup holders that can be covered with a sliding door. I had thought this cover was just for aesthetics (because Volvo's interior is nothing if not sleek – evocative of a waterfall, I'd been told) but after a run to the Tim Hortons drive-thru, I leaned back in with a mitt full of change – and discovered I had nowhere to drop it. Now that my cup holders were doing the job nature intended, I couldn't use the covered storage space for change.
Gas mileage is decent, and you don't have to pump pricey high-octane fuel into this car. The quick pickup on the 2.5-litre, five-cylinder engine was incredibly satisfying when I surged past yet another 18-wheeler. On our 600-kilometre road trip, we averaged 9.6 litres/100 km over empty highways and bumper-to-bumper holiday weekend traffic.
There was lots of cargo space for a family weekend away, but if we were to take the XC60 on a camping trip, I'm not sure we'd get everything in. However, on a grocery run, I discovered the usefulness of its cargo divider that folds up from the floor. It might seem superfluous, until you're hauling home a load of groceries and need to protect your chips, eggs and bread from your cases of pop, oversized ketchup and heavy jars of peanut butter. Then you are eternally grateful for such a small feature.
The word from the back seat is good, too. My older kids were happy with the wide middle-seat divider (more cup holders!); anything that slows down the inevitable cries of "He's touching me!" is a godsend. (For families still using car seats, the XC60 offers a Transformers-like integrated booster-seat option that will impress the kids.)
My sybaritic offspring also warmed to the heated seats: The direct-access buttons kept them busy ("How hot can you keep yours?"), which let me focus on the joy of the open road.
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