Volvo XC60 Revealed
Published: February 16th, 2008
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The first production pictures of Volvo's new XC60 crossover have – you guessed it – leaked on the internet ahead of the car's official debut in Geneva. The midsize crossover ute enters into an already crowded and frankly boring category populated by such splendiforous vehicles as the Land Rover Freelander/LR2, Acura RDX, and BMW X3. So if you really, really refuse to give up having an SUV, even though these are all glorified station wagons and aside from the Land Rover, won't take you off road, now there's a Volvo option. At least in title. The platform is shared with the Land Rover LR2, which is somewhat worrisome since that car's biggest strength was Land Rover character and little else. The XC60's interior appears to give up Volvo's recent stint with simplicity in the name of a driver-focused center console. It's more Audi with light wood than Volvo. Even still, being a Volvo with AWD, it'll only be a few months before you see them with ski racks and "honor student" bumper stickers all over the snowbelt. Can't this crossover craze die already?[Slide show on Pixamo here.]
Immensely bored law student. I've also got 3 dogs.
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XC90 is not a crossover, it is full size SUV. And neither is X3 or RDX - they are small SUVs. Classic crossover is XC70 (i.e. AWD wagon with high clearance). One benefit of crossovers is that one does not have to worry about cracking low plastic bumper when parking. It is also convenient to own a AWD CAR with high clearance (as opposed to a huge unstable TRUCK) when one has to go skiing or fishing or hiking once in a while.
Driver, I am not sure there is an official definition of crossover, but I believe many people have started using it for any uni-body SUV. IOW, if it is not body on frame, then it is not an SUV. This usage actually has the advantage that it makes "crossover" a less nebulous term.
I refuse to use the word "Crossover" Bimbo box is far more appropriate.