XC60 T6 R-Design-first impressions

[a311]

With all the WFH we've not really needed two cars. As COVID restrictions have started to ease the need for something bigger and more comfortable for longer trips was starting to become more of a requirement. Coming from a 2019 Volvo cross country I really became a big Volvo fanboy, good utility car and uber comfortable for driving on the motorway. I'd considered buying a second hand one, thing that put me off slightly was the economy vs performance. I don't want to rally round in family car but over 2 years returning 27 MPG was a bit poor IMO for the lack of performance.

My local Volvo had a deal on 14 stock XC60 T's in various trim levels. Colour choices were mostly in the entry level spec with the R Design in Bursting Blue or Silver and the Inscription in flame red or a kind of champagne type gold. There was nothing really in it price wise, I liked the interior of the Inscription better (full leather, memory seats, leather wrapped dash) But preferred the exterior styling of the R-Design although wasn't sure if the ride would be notably harsher following comments on the web.

Being stock cars I had to take the spec as it came, came with a climate pack which gets you heated seats front and rear, heated steering wheel and windscreen, also has a panoramic sunroof which is nice-not had a sunroof in a car for years! Annoyingly Volvo have made the adaptive cruise control which the V90 had part of a pack which is a 2.5K option so just bogo cruise. I really liked the adaptive cruise on the V90, came into it's own on longer trips particularly in heavy traffic but as most of it's use won't be of that nature decided it was something I could live with. Bit disappointed at that, plus I don't seem to be able to connect my phone to use Spotify or just play whatever media I have on my phone. It doesn't have android auto, but neither did the V90 so unless it's me being dumb I'm a bit miffed at that.

After much procrastination. I settled on the R-Design in bursting blue which I've had for coming up two weeks. 95% of our journey are <10 miles I'd say, school run, into town, beach park etc, so in theory most of the use could be in pure electric with some decent power when required and for longer journeys etc.

I've done 200 miles with 65% on electric and 35% on petrol. It doesn't give an MPG reading when you're on pure electric but currently showing 38.9 MPG. All the short journeys have been on pure electric bit strange at first with no engine noise. Pulls fine using the electric and I've not manged to fully drain it on a single journey yet but it tends to indicate a 25 mile range when it's fully charged.

On hybrid or sports mode it feels quick compared to the T5 I had, plenty of power for over taking. Drives really nice and smooth despite some worries over the ride of the R-Design over the Inscription. It will get it's first big trip out in a couple of weeks with a 600 mile round trip to visit family, I'm 6'4 so tend to need the seat right back without making it really cramped for the kids in the back in a child's seat and there seems to be equal room to the V90 which is plenty.

I think a plug in hybrid will work well for us. We can charge it at home realistically it will only need a charge every other day but will probably get into the habit of charging each night. It's taken about 4 hours to fully charge on the 3 pin plug 'granny' charger. If/when we do return to work there are charge bays at work but won't really be needed as a full charge would get me to work and back no problem if required. You can also ask the petrol engine to charge the battery, or hold a charge and just run on petrol the limited longer journeys when I've been in Hybrid mode the battery seems to get used up fairly quickly.

[Matt Dell]

Only just found this writeup but wanted to say I found it useful. Thanks for posting

Are you still enjoying it?

[DiamondLights]

Great read up, I've just joined the Volvo clan.

Sold my X3 M40i which drank petrol for fun, around 23MPG. However, buying Used, and wanted the 7seat optionality we went for a Used 2017 XC90, Diesel 2L. Still appreciate it's not super cost effective but i worked the numbers and it would cost me an extra £17K to buy a Hybrid, and i'm not sure i'd spent £17K in fuel over the next 5 years to warrant it.

Anyway, been driving the XC90 for two weeks now, very different to the M40i obviously but a very comfortable drive. The Adaptive Cruise Control, wow, game changer for long drives. Just done Leeds and back, barely pressed the peddle the entire journey. Pilot Assist is ok, not massively used.

What i still cant work out, is whether i have front sensors or not and it's driving me mad. the car either has them, and they dont work in which case the Dealer will fix, or they dont have them at all which pisses me off as it's 2017 XC90, how can it not have front parking sensors??

But yes, so far, happy with it. Came with the Polestar upgrade, side rails and 20inch alloys upgrade, might not be as comfy to drive but looks so much nicer.

[a311]

Matt Dell said:

Only just found this writeup but wanted to say I found it useful. Thanks for posting

Are you still enjoying it?

Forgot I'd written this! Might have got more traffic if I'd have posted in the general car buying section!

After >12 months I'm still enjoying the car. It's proven to be a very good family utility vehicle. After 12K miles it's currently return 65.2 MPG so for the sort of driving we do we're getting more than double the MPG we were out of the T5 we had. Whether that would tally to a overall saving given the difference in purchase price would have to wait and see.

I was surprised to hear that Volvo have or soon will be realising an improved PHEV. With all the EV's being produced I thought PHEV's may be a dead duck. The new version will have a larger battery and give something like 50 miles pure electric range-that would be something I'd be interested in. We're mostly on pure electric, accept when my wife doesn't put it in Pure mode. Default is hybrid and if you give a bit too much throttle the engine kicks in. Pure electric is fine until you get to a particularly steep hill. I think the electric motor is ~100 bhp on it's own, plenty of torque for town driving.

It had an intermittent issue when in reverse it would judder then need to switch to the engine, this was maybe 1:50 times it was used. The service included a software update which Volvo say should have sorted.

There's a bit of an art to getting the most out of the battery on longer journeys. It will tend to use all the charge in the battery even at reasonably high speeds of 40-60 mph. If I'm cruising on A roads I tend to let the engine top up the battery, along with having it in the regen mode you can get a decent charge, then at low speeds/in traffic switch back to pure electric.

I don't massively miss the adaptive cruise, as it was already built it's a moot point but having another car with keyless entry it's something I'd have as it can be a pain in the arse when you've your hands full with shopping/kids to root around for your keys to open the thing. Done plenty of holidays in the UK so plenty of motorway driving in COVID times and it's performed flawlessly. It shifts when you want it too which isn't too often.

If you're in the market for a family car and do most of your mileage within the the pure electric range but don't want to make the jump to a full EV for whatever reason I'd fully recommend.