2020 Volvo V60 T5 Cross Country: 10 things worth knowing

Right here in Canada, Volvo sells sedans, SUVs and of course, wagons. And you can tell them aside devoid of even looking at them: the sedans get an S in the title (S60 and S90), the SUVs an XC (XC40, XC60 and XC90), and the wagons a V (V60 and V90). Nothing like putting an buy to things. Anyhow, I just lately drove a V60 Cross Region (CC) so I could appear up with 10 things you definitely needed to know about it – even if you did not know that.

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# 1 It’s an concept out of style

But initial off, why choose a wagon to poke and prod? Properly I can give you 5 great motives:

One particular. It can dwelling extra things and doodads than a sedan. But then, you could possibly request, if it’s a cavernous trunk you want, why not just go for an SUV? Which brings me to…

Two. I would choose a wagon if only to distinguish myself from the hordes of utility types grazing on our streets and highways, contrarian that I am.

Three. There are people who need to have to lug children all-around but swear on their grandmother’s grave they’ll in no way, at any time be caught at the wheel of a minivan.

Four. A lot of wagons have an entry threshold that, like Toddler Bear’s porridge, is just ideal – not much too significant and not much too minimal. So you really don’t have to contort you into the seat to stay clear of smacking your head on the leading of the doorway opening, nor do you need to have a ladder or mountain-climbing equipment to enable you clamber up into the cabin. Granted, many more compact SUVs hit the identical sweet spot, but then there’s…

5. Driving a wagon is in most each instance a a lot extra energetic expertise than piloting an SUV – and really don’t even provide up what a minivan does to the soul of the ordinary driver!

# two Its sights are established on the Germans

When it comes to figuring out the V60’s direct opponents, it’s essential to stick to evaluating apples and apples. And offered that the rate range of the Swedish wagon commences exactly where that of the Subaru Outback ends, that eradicates the Japanese entry – nevertheless I’ll appear again to that in a little bit.

Anyways, with a sticker rate ranging (extensively) among $44,000 and $eighty two,000, the V60 trains its beady eyes fairly a lot solely at the Germans, notably the Mercedes-Benz C-Class ($forty seven,seven-hundred) and E-Class ($seventy six,400) and the BMW 3 Series Touring ($forty eight,900), not to point out the Audi A4 allroad quattro ($fifty,200), A6 allroad ($seventy five,200) and the highly expected RS6 Avant (envisioned to operate about $a hundred and twenty,000).

#3 It does not get a lot like in the US of A

I would have been content to be capable to consist of the splendid Jaguar XF Sportbrake in that list, other than that its maker has preferred to take into consideration the North American industry to be the United states of america, and the United states of america only.

Which is odd offered how tiny enthusiasm American individuals have for wagons these days. In 2018, in point, purchasers there acquired only 212,000 wagons in all, which sounds alright but is not as it signifies but two% of that tremendous industry. The previous real blue-blood American wagons still left this entire world in 1996 they ended up the Buick Roadmaster and the Chevrolet Caprice Basic.

Head you there is the Buick Regal TourX provided south of the border… but it’s designed in Germany.

#four It is really free in the land of the Teutons…

The land of extraordinary beer, sausages and sauerkraut is, you might or might not know, exactly where you will locate the biggest selection of wagons on streets. German individuals lap up among 600,000 and seven-hundred,000 of them at any time yr, which signifies about a fifth of cars income in general. And there’s your answer to the query of why so many of the world’s wagons are Teutons.

#5 It’s on stilts

My take a look at drive of the Volvo V60 was in point a take a look at drive of the model’s Cross Region model, or the CC to its close friends and shut kin. What can make this variant unique? Three things, actually. Its floor clearance is 210 mm instead of the frequent V60’S 142 mm it’s embellished with attractive things that are to various levels supposed to “protect” it and it functions the requisite all-wheel-drive system, enriched by the existence of Hill Descent Management (by which the motor vehicle can negotiate a sharp descent devoid of your intervention, help you save for keeping the steering wheel).

Other than that, the chassis isn’t definitely extra rugged, and neither is the engine. Volvo’s tactic is predicated on generating milder off-street escapades rather easier, but specifically, generating it look like it will be easier. The CC tells other individuals you’re a genuine all-terrain tamer, like you could gallivant off to the Amazon or the forests of Borneo if you felt like it. Just as shortly as you do your operate to the nearby Walmart…

#6 It’s the latest in a quick line

So which automaker initial dreamed up the concept of internet marketing a wagon as an all-terrain adventurer? Audi came out with its allroad model in 1999, and Volkswagen only adopted in 2015 with an Alltrack model of its Golf Sportwagen (absent from our Canadian showrooms due to the fact 2019).

But at Volvo, the wagon is like a religion. The 850 the company rolled out in 1993 was a replacement for the 240 Series (est. 1974), alone the successor to the a hundred and forty Series (born 1966). In 1996 the V70 took the place of the 850, and a person yr later was born the V70 XC. That design is the ancestor of the V60 Cross Region, out there at high-quality Volvo institutions due to the fact 2010.

And yet, the concept of an off-street-able wagon definitely initial germinated at Subaru. Some might bear in mind all those likeable Television set adverts again in 1995 that starred Crocodile Dundee himself, Australian actor Paul Hogan, as he vaunted the merits of the then-new Outback design.

#7 It’s a contradiction in phrases

Volvo, for most of us, equates with safety – and with cause, due to the fact the company is at the rear of any selection of safety innovations, not the very least of which the seatbelt again in 1959. Supplied that, I’m at a little bit of a reduction to make clear why a company that is constantly promoted safety initial, next and 3rd can make purchasers pay out excess to reward from things like a blind spot monitor or rear transversal targeted visitors warn.

Just to convert the knife in the wound a tiny extra, Volvo has just recalled ALL of its 2019 and 2020 types (amounting to approximately 12,000 cars in Canada, and 10 moments that in the U.S.). The trouble? The computerized emergency braking system could malfunction, and will have to have a computer software update at dealerships.

#8 It could possibly be Chinese-owned, but it’s nonetheless mighty Swedish

The 2020 V60 CC signifies the next technology of the design initial offered at the 2018 Geneva Motor Present. It’s distinguishable by the rear lights, pretty very similar to all those discovered on the XC60 SUV, and by the “Thor’s Hammer” LED headlights in the obscure form of the favourite toy of that Viking god, the a person in demand of thunder and lightning and tasked with preserving humanity through the use of explained toy, to which nothing can resist (other than it’s possible Captain America’s defend? See point #3 previously mentioned).

#9 It’s less complicated below than there

In Europe, the lucky consumer of the V60 has the alternative of 7 different engines, which include tow diesel units and a few hybrid configurations. Everyday living is less complicated for us Canadians: all Volvos make use of the identical two.0L turbocharged four.cylinder, the a person that comes with the T5 designation. Add a volumetric compressor to that and you get the T6. Take the turbo unit with volumetric compressor and increase to it two electric motors and you finish up with the T8 plug-in hybrid powertrain.

You can climb the ladder a person phase better by entrusting the T8 to the people at Polestar (acquired by Volvo in 2015). Then you will receive you a number of extra horses and extra-dynamic on-street conduct.

Now neglect everything I just advised you, simply because if you’re opting for the CC you really don’t have any of all those alternatives: it’s out there strictly in a T5 configuration, priced commencing at $forty eight,900.

#10 Its multimedia system involves some savvy decrypting

I could consider the V60 CC becoming the favourite method of transportation of Indiana Jones, simply because well even experience-seeking archeologists like their tiny comforts. This motor vehicle features ordinarily Scandinavian concentrations of plushness, luxury and purified traces.

It’s just a shame that purified esthetic does not utilize to the Sensus system on the central display screen. It’s not easy to decode, nevertheless of program decrypting elaborate hieroglyphics is particularly bookish Prof. Jones’ specialty, so there you go…

#eleven (bonus) Apprécions

Now that you know a tiny extra about the historical and industrial context of this Volvo wagon, and about the CC’s origins, here’s a tiny epilogue for you that sums up the expertise of actually driving the factor.

Its luggage keep can consider in 529 litres, or up to 1,441 litres with the seats down (compared to 1,432 litres in the XC60). The 250 hp less than the hood is enough for what you will use the motor vehicle for, and sufficient to pull up to 3,500 lb.

Did I consider it on a rock ‘n rolling ramble throughout the Canadian Protect all through my time with it? Not once. But I could have. As Volvo Canada proclaims proudly on its web site, this sport wagon was “created to consider you to the coronary heart of the adventure”. In truth.