Volvo XC60 Review

Volvo XC60 Review Hi! Mike Hanley with cars.com and we’re here at the Chicago Auto Show and this is the Volvo XC60. It is an all new compact luxury crossover from Volvo that competes against models like the Mercedes GLK350 and Audi Q5. It's going to be a crowded segment in the luxury market but the Volvo distinguishes itself by having unique safety features. The XC60 has a pretty sleek shape overall. It looks a little bit like a large hatchback and Volvo uses unique lighting elements to help distinguish the vehicle on the street. You can see here, it has these LED lights running from the top of the roof all the way down to the side of the car, coming around to the side. XC60 comes a standard 18-inch alloy wheels and Volvo also uses lighting in the front of the vehicle to help distinguish it with this slanted running lights on the inner portion of the headlights. I recently had a chance to drive the XC60 before this show and overall, it’s a pretty sporty vehicle for a crossover. It comes standard with the 3L turbocharged 6-cylinder engine and that makes 281-horsepower and 295 lb-ft of torque. Now, all that torque comes on at low RPM which translates into strong performance in the real world even on mountainous roads. This is mentioned tuning in the XC60s on the firm side but that also yields sporty performance on twisty roads. In this segment, you have to have a high quality cabin to be competitive and the XC60 does. You can see here that some of the things are separated from some of its competition include these two-tone seating treatments which are a no charge option over the standard leather seats. This is the espresso and beige pattern. It also is available with this lightwood trim in the center console; it’s called Nordic Light Oak and it goes in place of the standard aluminum trim. The XC60 debuts a new Volvo safety feature called City Safety and is designed to reduce the severity or eliminate rear-end collisions. Now, it’s a laser-based system that is constantly monitoring traffic in front of the vehicle and if it senses a collision may occur, it can aggressively break the vehicle. The XC60 starts at $37,200.00 and that makes it not the cheapest crossover out there but it comes well equipped and it goes on sale this March. For more car related news, go to cars.com or our blog KickingTires.net.