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From Swedespeed.com Reviews and Road Tests I’m blasting down a fire access road just outside of Glacier National Park, somewhere near White Fish Montana in Volvo’s new XC70. Thinking about how best to describe the car, I keep wanting to use the Lamborghini model… “a Gallardo on rally car tires,” …but I’m projecting. It’s not an off-road Lambo. Not by a longshot. It is the best-looking version of the three-generation lineage to date, with more safety features and a much improved interior. However, it doesn’t stir the soul like an off-road Lambo pulling a trailer.
Remember Volvo’s advertising in the mid-eighties. The brand’s latest 740 offering was super sexy compared to the 240 it was intended to replace, while the available turbocharged motors and manual transmissions spoke the enthusiast language fluently. Pushing that fact, Volvo’s ad guys came up with dynamic print ads that compared the 740 Turbo wagon to a Lamborghini Countach hitched to a U-haul trailer. That simple message was received, and Volvo began its performance car history in earnest… a history that today seems a bit lost in our XC70 tester, even if it did have the optional satellite navigation. One thing is for sure, the 2008 Volvo XC70 is all-new and much improved. Volvo has begun the replacement of its aging P2 platform with the new S80 and now the XC70 as well. The brand’s latest EUCD chassis is a global architecture for parent Ford Motor Company, with plenty of added safety engineering from Volvo.
At the heart of the changes is the metal itself. Just as the Eskimos have a bazillion words for types of ice, so too does Volvo have several differentiators for strengthened chassis steel: steel, high-strength steel, very high strength steel and ultra high strength steel. Only about 30% of the new XC70’s chassis is the common steel variety, the remaining 70% having been strengthened by various degree in order to make the car more rigid and even engineer in control of the way the car deforms in an accident. Knowing this is Volvo, it’s easy to guess that the XC70’s safety repertoire doesn’t end there. The EUCD XC70 gets 3-stage airbags with adaptive trigger, adaptive seat belts, optional two-stage booster seats, fading brake support and the same collision warning system found in the new S80. Later this year, that collision warning system will also be paired with automatic braking in the case of imminent collision, driver lane departure. That hardware will also eventually be used by Volvo’s Driver Alert Control – a system that uses an algorithm that watches for drifting then correction by the driver in order to tell you if you’re falling asleep via a clever steaming coffee cup icon on the instrument cluster. Yes, Volvo owns safety. There’s no mistaking that.
Visually, we’ve said before that this new XC70 is the best of the breed thus far. Its proportions are near perfect, and the off-road kit characteristic to the XC is the best implementation we’ve seen yet. Rather than the stuck-on look of the first-gen, or the big and plastic feel of the second-gen, this third-gen is all grown up and integrated. The look is still two-tone, but in a much more cohesive way, integrating details like the satin silver trim rings or “boxing gloves” of the lower front foglights or the split V-nose look pioneered on the first XC90. Inside is much of the same. While the XC70 hasn’t gone up a class in price, the interior certainly has. The basic floating center stack console design first seen in the S40 is here as it is in all new Volvo designs, but the soft-touch plastic and materials like wood and leather put it well beyond what you’d see in its predecessor or the S40 and its chassis siblings.
The interior will be immediately recognizable to owners of the latest S80 sedan. Many components were shared between the two, and that’s just fine as the S80’s interior works well. Luxury buyers will be extremely satisfied with the expansive leather and wood-grain cockpit, though those looking for performance touches like bigger seat bolsters, a sport mode on the standard Geartronic automatic transmission or even steering-wheel mounted shift paddles may not yet be satisfied.
The trunk offers even more new functionality An automatic opening gate with pinch protection is a must-have in this segment, and the new XC70 gets it as an option. The gate ushers you into the more lavish cargo area with increased trunk space over the older model thanks to the EUCD’s rear suspension design that minimizes space taken by the rear strut towers. Aluminum cargo rails are an additional luxury that is all-new to the XC70.
Under the hood is Volvo’s new 3.2-liter in-line 6-cylinder offering improved power and identical torque to the old 2.5T forebear. The engine is also considerably more refined and efficient than the more gruff five-cylinder. No doubt, these qualities are augmented by the use of Volvo’s latest Aisin Warner-sourced 6-speed transmission. However, with a 400-lb.-heavier chassis to pull around, 0-60mph performance is about a second slower.
As a base engine, the 3.2 is a good start. We hear though that Volvo is readying their turbocharged T6 for XC70 duty and may even consider a diesel engine as the model cycle progresses. Higher power or higher fuel economy would do wonders for this already exceptional car, and would draw in an even wider consumer group. On-road dynamics are better than the old car. A tall wagon is a tall wagon, but elements like adjustable steering weight as seen on the S80 are welcome in the XC70 also. Off-road, the XC70 is even better, with improved approach, departure and crossover angles. Volvo has taken a card from the hand of its corporate sibling Land Rover and included a capable Hill Descent control system. Its doubtful most XC70s will ever need it, but those who do will be appreciative. Activate the system and the XC70 will use braking at all four corners to help you descend a steep decline and limit the car 6-miles per hour for maximum control. For those towing a boat, that the system works in reverse is also a plus.
In the end, the XC70 is certainly a worthy successor to the previous car and a big improvement for the breed – a world ahead of the car it replaces in looks and refinement. It’s bank vault safe and feature laden, but we still wish it tore more at our heartstrings. As Generation X begins to fill the shallow end of the XC70 demographic pool of 35-50 years, those of us who grew up playing rally games on our Sega system or pioneering dirt trails on the first real mountain bikes really identify with the car-like XC70 over a comparable SUV. However, we’d really like an XC70 that’d fit right into one of those Volvo ads with the token Lamborghini. We want something fast, something sporting, something sexy and capable, or we want the high mileage of a diesel or hybrid…. preferably both fast and frugal.
Performance niggling aside, the new XC70 should prove to be a hit for Volvo. Most customers will be more than happy with the 3.2 – entirely capable and reliable. Priced at a base of $36,775, that’s a smidge of a premium over some seriously lesser cars and much more easily in reach than most of the German competition. For that, you get a car that is one of the most solid going and could school the Secret Service on how to take a hit for someone. It may not start your heart racing… yet, but it does just about everything else with aplomb.
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