While my V60 was in the workshop for its annual wash (and oil change), the dealer invited me to take one of the new XC60s out for a spin.
What a car. Basically, they've taken all the bits that are annoying about the V60 and fixed them.
The D5 with PowerPulse (some supercharger / gas tank / turbocharger combination) goes like stink. It steers like it's on rails, which is remarkable for a 4x4. The turning circle gives a black cab a run for its money and the fiddly stack of buttons is replaced with a slightly less fiddly giant touchscreen.
Unusually, the seatbelts tighten up if it thinks you're about to crash (don't ask, involved a bit of speed and a hump-back bridge).
Tried out the Pilot Assist function on the motorway and it's another world. Rest a hand on the steering wheel and idly supervise the task at hand. It'll tolerate both hands off the wheel for about 10 seconds so you can open a bottle of water. This'll generate a "bong" of irritation from the car, and if you leave it much longer it throws a tantrum and insists you take over the job of steering.
Worked fine on the motorway, no issues on sweeping A-roads or in town either. It's the next Big Thing, and a somewhat surreal experience. I'm used to adaptive cruise and lane assist, and the job of monitoring troublesome automation anyway, and it blew my mind.
The negatives? The refresh-rate of the TFT instrument cluster is only about 15 FPS, noticeably choppy compared to the V60. The layout of the data (speed etc) also not quite as clear, but still pretty good.
Tried to use the auto-park feature in a gap slightly too small, which the car gave up on about half-way in. Wouldn't bother with it, but would recommend the rather magnificent bird's-eye camera.
Seriously tempted despite the price, have told the dealer that when they come to flog off their demonstrator in six months that if they can cover the difference between the outstanding finance on my V60 and the trade-in value (about £5k), I'll buy it.
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Sounds a good. Bet you're glad you hadn't just jumped for another V60.
I had lane assist on the demo Mazda6 in 2014. All it did was emit a sound like you'd run across the rumble strip if you started to leave the lane without indicating.... Saw little point in that and turned it off. But I will have active lane assist on the Skoda when I get it (part of the smart light package which I wanted blind spot monitoring really... reversing in the Tesco car park in a shorter car can be fraught at times).
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Would have been high on my A list for new cars, except the boot is too small, and the lip too high for doggy.
The XC90 would be ideal, the boot is large enough for a whole dog display team, but even higher lip, and the whole thing is absolutelyferkin MASSIVE.
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Button inside boot that makes back of car kneel down...
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But first you have to be able to reach the button. :-)
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I like Volvos - awful auto on the T5 I had apart. They really afe becoming special again. I could see myself in a XC60 in the future..
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The last Volvo I really liked was the old 121 Amazon.
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>> Button inside boot that makes back of car kneel down...
Does the button double the boot space?
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>> >> Button inside boot that makes back of car kneel down...
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>> Does the button double the boot space?
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........if you unbutton it........
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>> >> Button inside boot that makes back of car kneel down...
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>> Does the button double the boot space?
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Does the XC90 also kneel down perhaps?
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New XC60 test drive - rtj70
