The Volvo XC60 D4 R-Design has met all the needs and requirements of the mid-size SUV market and blown the competition away with Volvo’s innovative safety and comfort features. The best point about the XC60 is simply how practical the car is; the external footprint of the car is reasonably small in the SUV world, but the useable space inside is as good as it comes. If you are in the market for a mid-size SUV, you would be a fool not to buy an XC60.
Volvo XC60 R-Design – A Solid Performance
The Volvo XC60 D4 is powered by a 2.0 litre diesel engine that creates 181 bhp and 420 Nm of torque. All the power goes through an 8-speed automatic gearbox and through to the front wheels. This Volvo XC60 will do 0-60 mph in 10.2 seconds and will do a maximum of 121 mph. It is worth noting if you want an all-wheel drive version of this car it is also available in this configuration.
Dropping Into the Drivers Seat
Getting into the Volvo XC60 you don’t feel as if you’ve got into a full size off-road vehicle. You feel more as if you’ve got a slightly raised, spacious car. The height of the car is actually pretty good and makes it very easy to get in and out of the car.
Visibility All Round
The visibility from inside the car, even being this large, was good, you can easily see all round you and the large wing mirrors aid visibility too. The test model had the rear parking camera and twin left and right front cameras for use at T-junctions, a great feature to have.
The Volvo XC60 R-Design is on 18 inch alloy wheels but still feels incredibly soft on the UK roads, which we all know are commonly riddled with potholes.
Punchy Package
With 181 bhp under the bonnet there is plenty of performance to make this 1,816 kg car go as fast as you will need it to in everyday life and the brakes are also equally capable to cope with a vehicle of this size. Overall the car feels pretty powerful and it is a great fit for those of us looking for a car to meet our more practical requirements.
Lots of Features
Examples of these features are the adaptive cruise control, which uses radar to manage the distance between you and the vehicle in front and will slow you down or accelerate as required to take the effort away from the driver. The car will always be kept at a safe distance. If needed it is possible for the car to bring itself to a controlled and gentle stop. To move off you can literally tap the accelerator again and the car will continue keeping the set distance up to the preconfigured cruise speed.
Another great feature is Volvo’s City Safe functionality that can fully auto-brake the car if its intelligent systems believe you’re going to have a collision with a person or another car when travelling below 29 mph. Now I haven’t been brave enough to test this functionality, but it will certainly save lives over years to come.
The Smartest Choice for a Small SUV
The Volvo XC60 D4 R-Design isn’t just about the making of an educated decision and driving it because you know your passengers are well protected, the XC60 is also a very stylish car. The Swedish design looks pretty impressive from the front, and in my opinion the Ice White version we had on test really can’t be beaten.
