Test Drive Review: Volvo XC60 T5

First of all, if you haven’t read the previous review of the Volvo XC60 T6, head over here right now.  Don’t be confused, this is the T5 version instead of the T6 version. What’s the difference you say? About 60hp and 50Nm of torque. Yes, 60hp is a heck of a difference, a standard guy can normally feel a 20hp or if I translate that, its basically a “butt feel“.

A Volvo makes sense, safety comes into everyone’s mind when the mention of the word Volvo. Why? I guess it was because back in the days, Volvos were known to be boxy, square and built like a tank. Heck, when an old friend of mine managed to get his dad’s old Volvo to turn turtle, yes, upside down, just in front of Centerpoint in Bandar Utama, I am utterly amazed. Firstly, its akin to try to turn a tank turtle. Secondly, he came out of that accident unhurt.

So here I am driving around in the Volvo XC60. In truth, the more I drive it, the more I love it. It doesn’t matter if there are a little irritating bits about it (which I will elaborate later) but seriously, the more I drive it, the more I believe that having an SUV in KL is necessary. Well, I guess necessary is something of a strong word, but having an SUV does have a lot of benefits, so much so that I am considering getting one as my next vehicle.

I drove the XC60 around town, in the suburbs, in traffic jams, brought it on a nice highway stretch towards Cyberjaya, drove in heavy rain and braved the flood filled roads in KL. The drive was smooth but the particular test drive model I had, came with 20-inch rims. That made the ride a little bit harsher and everytime I went over the yellow lines or uneven roads, which in our case here in KL, all of the roads, as comfortable as it should have been, I felt a fair bit of vibrations. If you buy this car, I recommend that you stick to your stock rim size especially if you prefer comfort.

The steering was light, easy to manoeuvre around tight spaces and thanks to it’s turbo charged engine and 350Nm of torque, I can get out of tight spaces quite easily. So in terms of it being nimble and quick, I give it a fair rating. Hey, its not Myvi but for a vehicle that size, it does it well.

When it comes to the interior of the car, I think Volvo definitely has room for improvement. Actually I was being nice, they need a lot of improvement. What sort you might ask? Well for starters, the entire centre console is so complicated to figure out and there are too many buttons. Believe me, I am an IT guy, I grew up playing video games and computer games, heck the car had more controls than a TIE FIGHTER (from the game of course).

And that is what bugs me. Who the hell has the time to look at the centre console to press some buttons whilst they are driving.

The other thing which annoys me is the location of where the cup holders are which is directly behind the shifter. The moment you actually put a cup there, especially if it is a coffee cup from Starbucks, accessing the shifter becomes a little tricky. Well in their defense, the only time you might want to reach for the shifter is when you put it in reverse. Which is all the time!

Now the Volvo XC60 comes with paddle shifters which is as useful as snow in the North Pole. Yes, it is fun to use them but in truth, in a SUV?

Space wise the XC60 is great, there is plenty of boot space and plenty of space behind for passengers such as leg room. Sitting behind feels very comfortable. My other pet peeve is that, the leather seats feels hard and the contour design of the seats are very flat. Making me slide around my seat quite a fair bit especially if I decide to take the corner a little faster and tighter.

Other interesting items which I love about the car is the blind spot information system (BLIS) and the active bending lights (ABL). The BLIS in particular was very useful as it tells me whenever there is a car in my blind spot. Between you and me, it saved me a couple of times because I almost hit a couple of cars.

So what are the differences between the T5 version and the T6 version which Eric recently tested? Quite a fair bit and that really does justify the extra price you might have to shell out for it.

In conclusion, I loved this car. It was great to drive it, it was large enough to lug around a lot of stuff. My passengers were extremely comfortable when I ferried them around and it survived the flood filled roads of Kuala Lumpur. All in all, if you are looking for an SUV in the sub RM300k price range, the XC60 is a tough car to beat.