I don’t like this review for the simple fact that it does not take competitors into consideration: the Volvo’s closest competitor, the BMW X3, is just awful in all aspects. Judge a product by its competition, and not be what could be if each one cost a million. If money were not a factor, the interior of the vehicle would be built like a Rolls-Royce.

At least they have the balls to tell you up front how much gas it uses unlike the Mazda CX-7 who gives you bullshit figures to the dismay of owners who can never get close to it.

XC60 great handling so is the Q5 depending which model you get. If it has the Audi drive select, even on comfort it is a stiff ride compared to one that hasn’t got that fitted.

Agree with the cheap arse start button on the XC60

You’ve got to be kidding. That is abysmal. I guess it’s a new category of cute-ute. The gas-sucking non lard-ass.

Spoiler: Audi wins

Car&Driver did the same comparison, plus the BMW.
(Not posted online yet)

Spoiler: Audi wins

Both of them had the XC60 “in the money”.

Huh? Adaptive Cruise Control is the coolest thing ever! And from the number of people I see reading the paper and shaving their legs in rush hour traffic – the auto-brake festure should reduce all of our chances of getting rear ended by idiots. (which has happened to me twice by the way)

I saw the XC60 at a local auto show together with several competitors. It fared well IMHO — sometimes you try on a car and it fits/feels right, other times it doesn’t. The XC60 does this very well — Volvo’s in general do fit and feel well. That’s why we own two of them — these are cars with excellent ergonomics and reasonable luxury. I don’t understand the argument that the Volvo isn’t up to par with its under $50k competitors from any brand. Especially with wood trim, the Volvo makes a compelling statement that eschews button excess for ergonomic simplicity. (And no, Audi interiors aren’t the standard they used to be…the ‘96 A4 I had was a standard setter in its time, but at best the Audi has been standing still with interiors — or getting more dour.)

I question whether anyone who thinks the exterior is plain has ever seen one in the flesh.

Overall very comparable numbers, however XC60 is immediately labelled a “gas hog”.

The difference between 15 and 18 is actually rather a lot. It means 1.1 gallons per 100 miles in the city. It’s much more significant than 3 MPG difference at a higher level. For example, that’s the same amount of extra gas consumption to travel 100 miles as the difference between 20 and 25 MPG, or 25 and 33 MPG, or between 33 and 50 MPG.

Would you call two cars with 25 and 33 MPG “very comparable?” I don’t think so.

Of course, in reality the XC60 and Q5 and RX aren’t going to be only city and no highway driving, in which case the combined comparison is more like between 18 and 20. But even the difference between 18 and 20 MPG (0.6 gallons per 100 miles) is like the difference between 25 and 29 MPG.

In any event, I actually like the look of it (and the LR2 which shares a fair bit of parts from what I understand) – seems better in the flesh then any picture I’ve seen – a very nice “crossover” look.

http://www.autospider.net/images/2008%20Geneva%20Motor%20Show/2009%20Volvo%20XC60%209.jpg

I think the seats are from the R-design, yet the steering wheel is different. The one I saw had 3 tones (wood outside, metal middle and black leather inside and it was really thick).

Ah…notice that ugly start button (yes, I’m really upset about it).

If Volvo really wanted me to purchase/lease another, they would drop that T6 in a V70 and I’ll buy. Please Volvo! Get with it.

The S60 is only reliable because it’s a thousand years old. The S60 in its first few years was crap, which unfortunately for new XC60 owners is pretty much still Volvo’s MO. The S40/V50/C30 et all had lousy reliability out of the gate, with Volvo correcting (most) of the major problems by around year 3.

Audis are good enough that I would put up with a few annoying unscheduled dealer visits. Volvos are not. This I think is part of the reason why all of the old buyers left for their trusty Subarus.

For the record, in JD power’s latest VDS, Volvo as a brand scored FAR below Audi, and even well below BMW and Mercedes.

Same dimensions, less weight.

Volvo has much better ground clearance but significantly worse mileage and uses premium gas. Other specs are pretty close.

I would imagine the 5 year operating cost of the xc60 would be much higher.

The base RAV4 is $15,000 less and Limited version of the RAV4 optioned similarly to the xc60 is $10,000 less. Lots of cash to play around with.

Is it worth $15,000 to have an appliance with “prestige” versus one that is common as dirt?

Thoese looking at a small CUV see that the RX is roomier than the X3, GLK, Q5, XC60 etc. (but not too big) and those looking at the ML, X5, MDX, XC90 see that the slightly smaller RX is just fine for their needs. It straddles both segments so it can get buyers looking at both small and midsize CUV’s.

I certainly have to disagree with RF’s opinion on the interior. I bought a V70 this past winter after cross-shopping Audi. One of the drivers of my decision was that Volvo’s current generation of interiors made the Audi feel cheap. In the Volvo, plastics are almost entirely soft touch, gaps are non-existent, and all the controls (except possibly the sunroof button) are intuitive and solid to the touch.

Adaptive cruise control is a wonderful thing. It truly is one of those features that is much more useful, particularly on long trips, than I realized when I got the car. On the other hand, Park assist, in my car at least, is too sensitive. I turn it off most of the time.

Volvo is struggling hard to come off as “green” (like everyone else) and the T6 ridiculous fuel economy completely spoils Volvo’s new image. Without a green image it becomes more difficult to receive government aid and/or bail-outs. If you can, on the other hand, the government is more than ready to throw tax money your way (Volvo’s new plug in).

I was really looking forward to see this car in person at the auto show (In Vancouver, BC)

They had an R-design model on display. Absolutely beautiful. I especially liked the steering wheel (oddly, I can’t find a single picture of it online).

Then I noticed that ugly start button…such a huge turn off.

Found it on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7eTiOC5ixnk

Didn’t look for any records, though.