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Swedish automobile major Volvo, which leads the world in safety standards, introduced the second generation of its much adored sports utility vehicle (SUV) XC90 at the end of last year. It was launched in India this May, and the company has placed enormous bets on its success in this very important growth market for cars.
DH got the opportunity to test-drive the car last month. The venue provided by the company was Shillim, a village 30 km off Lonavala in Maharashtra, where the Hilton Shillim Estate Retreat & Spa provides a sylvan setting near the quiet flowing reservoir waters of the Pavana river with the majestic Western Ghats towering in the horizon.
Majestic aura
The Volvo XC90 is at once imposing and elegant at first blush. With dimensions of 4,950 mm (length) x 2,140 mm (width) x 1,776 mm (height), it stands tall. The Swedish designers who worked on the redesign placed emphasis on minimalism. We are told that the upright grille and strong shoulders are intended to project power, and its large headlamps with LED lights take their inspiration from the ‘Hammer of Thor’ legend for their shape. These work as daytime running lights and flash a tangerine colour while indicating. Coming to the rear, the XC90’s designers have claimed that unlike other manufacturers who use horizontal lines to make the car look powerful, they shaped the SUV with vertical lines, giving it a tall status. The double integrated tailpipes, and the large chiselled LED lamps wrapped around the edges, provide the finishing touches. The XC90 comes in four colours — Magic Blue metallic, Luminous Sand Metallic, Crystal White Pearl metallic, and Onyx Black metallic — and in two versions, Momentum and Inscription. DH got to drive the Onyx Black metallic-coloured Inscription version.
The car has ample boot space, especially if you fold the third row seats of the seven-seater. The Volvo XC90 comes with the ability to lower its rear by 50 mm to bring the boot down, which the company proudly claims as another instance of its efforts to design cars around the needs of its customers.
Out-of-the-world interiors
The XC90’s interiors are airy and spacious with its large windows and even larger sunroof. The interiors are a blend of fine Nappa leather, textured wood, metal, and plastic, marrying the traditional with the modern. Volvo claims its seats, which come in three rows, are ergonomic because they were designed after consulting orthopaedics. The beautifully-framed, nine-inch, tablet-sized, touch-screen centre console adds to the allure of the car’s interiors. Its display is nicely complemented by flying wings controls, which also means Volvo has boldly killed a lot of buttons, leaving only eight of them. Of course, the console requires some getting used to for a novice user, but one found the the Sensus Operating System intuitive.
A wow factor in the XC90 Inscription is its 19-speaker, 1,400 watt Bowers and Wilkins sound system. The sound quality is simply out of this world. Volvo claims to reproduce the acoustics of Gothenburg’s Konserthuset concert hall in its Concert mode. There are two other audio modes: Studio and Stage. You can stream your favourite tunes from your device via Bluetooth or Wi-Fi tethering. The theatre seating followed means the rear seats are placed higher up than the front seats, with each row having having access to power outlets. Also, Sensus has a fairly useful voice-control system. The car’s engineers say they collected a huge bank of phrases which people use in most situations, and trained voice-control to recognise them.
The company claims its ClearZone climate control technology ensures that no odours or harmful gases remain inside the car, and all materials are free of allergens. Also, its cabin filter claims to reduce the levels of dust, pollen, and particles entering the cabin.
The central role of safety
Volvo prides itself on its safety credentials. The XC90 claims to live that tradition in full, right from its Boron steel, which trimmed its weight by 180 kg from the earlier classic version, to its seven airbags, to features like speed limiter, whiplash and spinal cord protection, run-off road protection, electronic stability control, and anti-lock braking system, the SUV packs a punch on safety.
On road, one found that the car had a firm grip on broken surfaces, and the run-down, winding road from Lonavala to Shillim where the XC90 had to jostle for space with shepherds leading their flock and two-wheeler riders claiming right of way, really tested its mettle. We took the SUV down the steep incline, right till the waters of the Pavana reservoir, and long after other cars in the vicinity chickened out, the XC90 kept on going until rubber splashed water.
The XC90 comes in four driving modes: Dynamic or Power mode, which lowers suspension by 20 mm; Eco mode for fuel efficiency; Comfort for, well, comfort; and Off-Road which raises the car by 40 mm from its ground clearance of 238 mm to 278 mm and activates Hill Descent Control.
A quiet achiever
Volvo India currently sells only the two diesel engine versions here, although the second-generation XC90 lineup has two petrol-engine cars too. The Volvo XC90 Inscription features a two-litre, turbocharged diesel engine. Its 225 PS of power and 450 Nm of torque is tethered to an eight-speed automatic gearbox. These stats may not wow someone used to seeing more power in an SUV of its class, but the XC90 made up for it with its drive quality, road handling, and elegant bearing on even rough terrain. We tested the car both on the winding country roads leading to Shillim from Lonavala, and on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway. Although we didn’t have the opportunity to test the car at very high speeds, we were impressed by what we saw. Simply put, the XC90 is very well put together, and makes driving a pleasure. The attention to detail which the engineers have provided comes through again and again. The air-ventilated subwoofers, the nimble steering wheel, and the translucent edges of the controls are all just a few among the many deft touches which makes the XC90 a winner. At Rs 79,68,490 (ex-showroom Bengaluru) for the Inscription and Rs 66,55,378 for the Momentum, the car doesn’t come cheap. But Volvo India claims it has received 300-plus orders so far and counting.
Looks like automobile aficionados with deep pockets are voting with their feet for this new champion from Gothenburg.