I’m with you on this. I LOVE wagons, but after driving my XC90 for about 2 years, I have yet to scrape a front or rear valance pulling into or out of steep driveways, ect. Some of the places I go to for work, makes sense to have a vehicle with decent ground clearance. I’ll probably end up with a new xc60 w/air suspension, even though I do love the looks of the new v60...

 

Hi folks,
Looking closely at the specs for the new v60, I've found the ground clearance to be quite low: 128MM.

Spec from:
V60 Specs
V90 Specs

For comparison:
v60 : 128MM
v90: 153MM
V90CC: 210MM
C-Class: 157MM
E-Class: 123MM
3 & 5 Series: 158MM

After hearing reports of an E-Class (123MM) bottoming out on Canadian roads during the winter... how concerned should I be about the v60 t8 being a solid all round daily driving in Canada? I am in Vancouver so it's not likely to happen very often, nor get so cold where the electric range would suffer.

- Have high hopes for the V60 as I love wagons. V90 is out of price range and my fingers are crossed V60 would hit the sweet spot.
- CC version would have the ground clearance but not the hybrid drivetrain. My daily commute is less than 20km and would greatly benefit from the electronic range.
- XC60 T8 would have both but, its more expensive and an SUV. I prefer the driving position / dynamics of a wagon; feel connected to the road.

What are your thoughts? Am I making something out of nothing or is there a difficult decision ahead?

Wow - I was about to post the same thing. I was thinking of either the XC40 or the V60 for OSD next summer, and the specs for ground clearance on the V60 are worrying. Are these cars more durable than most, so they can handle this? Any news if V60 CC will be available next summer?

XC40 drives and handles great, but doesn't have the B & W audio..

 

Hi folks,
Looking closely at the specs for the new v60, I've found the ground clearance to be quite low: 128MM.

Spec from:
V60 Specs
V90 Specs

For comparison:
v60 : 128MM
v90: 153MM
V90CC: 210MM
C-Class: 157MM
E-Class: 123MM
3 & 5 Series: 158MM

After hearing reports of an E-Class (123MM) bottoming out on Canadian roads during the winter... how concerned should I be about the v60 t8 being a solid all round daily driving in Canada? I am in Vancouver so it's not likely to happen very often, nor get so cold where the electric range would suffer.

- Have high hopes for the V60 as I love wagons. V90 is out of price range and my fingers are crossed V60 would hit the sweet spot.
- CC version would have the ground clearance but not the hybrid drivetrain. My daily commute is less than 20km and would greatly benefit from the electronic range.
- XC60 T8 would have both but, its more expensive and an SUV. I prefer the driving position / dynamics of a wagon; feel connected to the road.

What are your thoughts? Am I making something out of nothing or is there a difficult decision ahead?

I suspect some shoppers are torn btw the v/60/90 dilemma. Most of which i think are turned off by the high price of the v90
, body roll and length.

However, when the new v60 and the CC variant becomes available stateside, the price will be in the v90/s90 range especially once you start ticking the boxes (I'm looking at you Inscription, RD and Polemanstar .

I suspect it'll also overlap the xc60 spa price wise. That really put things into perspective as you start to dig for your dollar value. That's all because the base price of the v60 will be high to begin with.

Then the dealer will not budge on price because you know the new v60s are in 'hot' demand until they are not. It's a game of chasing one's tails indefinitely.

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I suspect some shoppers are torn btw the v/60/90 dilemma. Most of which i think are turned off by the high price of the v90
, body roll and length.

Pretty much. I also like the fact that the V60 seems to be more efficient in terms of its space.

However, when the new v60 and the CC variant becomes available stateside, the price will be in the v90/s90 range especially once you start ticking the boxes (I'm looking at you Inscription, RD and Polemanstar .

An XC60 T6 with all packages plus B & W audio costs about $8,000 less than a similarly equipped XC90.

If the same holds for V60 vs. V90 there would be overlap, with the fully equipped V60 Inscription costing a bit more than an optionless FWD T5 V90.

For people willing to spend around 50K for a wagon, but not willing to go above 60k, the V60 is an alternative.

 

You guys still think V60 will be hot, in US market? I only see people will go for XC60 instead.

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My local Volvo dealer stated that Volvos are designed to withstand fender-benders up to 10 mph without damage (the standard for cars is 5 mph). Is this accurate?

If so, might Volvos be more durable than are other cars underneath, making the low ground clearance less problematic than it seems?

 

All cars are designed so that the bumper will absorb 100% of the impact without damage up to a certain speed. There is a regulated minimum and Volvo definitely isn't the only brand exceeding it considerably.

That won't prevent the paint or other things from being damaged if the bottom scrapes, even at lower speeds. You can still scratch the bumper pretty easily, we're only talking about structural stuff when we say the car can absorb an impact without any damage.

 

After hearing reports of an E-Class (123MM) bottoming out on Canadian roads during the winter... how concerned should I be about the v60 t8 being a solid all round daily driving in Canada?

Cars with a longer wheelbase (E-Class, 90-series Volvo, etc) will bottom out more easily, so it's not just the E-class's lower height that cause it more issues than the S/V90. The E-class's wheelbase is only a 3 mm shorter than the V90's, but it's 3 cm lower. That hurts. The V60 will do a little better than the E-class over the crown of the road, but it is low slung.

I wouldn't be so sure that the Cross Country version won't be available with a hybrid drivetrain.

 

Cars with a longer wheelbase (E-Class, 90-series Volvo, etc) will bottom out more easily, so it's not just the E-class's lower height that cause it more issues than the S/V90. The E-class's wheelbase is only a 3 mm shorter than the V90's, but it's 3 cm lower. That hurts. The V60 will do a little better than the E-class over the crown of the road, but it is low slung.

Great point that the wheel base also plays an important role. Tis very true. While the E-class is 3mm shorter than the v90, the v60 is 69mm. Not a big difference but suppose every little bit will help.

I wouldn't be so sure that the Cross Country version won't be available with a hybrid drivetrain.

My relatively certainty that the v60(& v90) CC won't have a hybrid drivetrain is base on how the drivetrain works and the role of the CC as a more off-road/rugged version of the standard model.

The current Volvo hybrid drivetrain has the electric motor powering the rear axle with the gas engine powering the front. This means under full charge, the rear wheels would get sufficient power to be considered AWD. However once that depletes the vehicle essentially acts as a FWD. If they were to make adjustments to the system where the front and rear axle were powered by the petrol engine with the electric engine being used to supplement in low rpm / low speed driving situations... I could see a hybrid CC version. But, that's not likely the case.

 

Ground Clearance Concerns validated:

This past weekend a bunch of lucky car journalists got to test drive the 2019 V60 in Spain. At 7m:53s of this video, you can see the vehicle exiting an uneven driveway then scraping the underside every so slightly. Was just a small amount but enough to confirm, going to have to wait for the CC version.