2016 Volvo XC90 T6 AWD Inscription

[Volvo XC90 News]

Once upon a time, it seemed as if Sweden and Volvo were destined to rule the world. In 1975, Bj?rn Borg was emerging as the world?s dominant tennis player, ABBA had already won the Eurovision Song Contest and was climbing the charts, IKEA?s relentless expansion was underway, and Volvo?s new 240-series was the industry?s most sensible shoebox. The 240 was square and austere, but it glowed with that aura of Swedish democratic socialism that made it irresistible to anyone holding a poli-sci doctorate. The ?70s was the decade of Peak Sweden, but that was 40 years ago, and hey, nothing lasts forever.

So here is the new, sweetly handsome, slightly eccentric, even subtly glamorous XC90 intended to return Volvo to the forefront of the progressive automotive consciousness. Ejected by Ford in 2010 in exchange for quick Chinese cash, Volvo is no longer just one more brand leveraging a global behemoth?s engineering assets. Propelled by a wad of still more Chinese cash, it?s back to being its own Scandinavian thing. And the XC90 three-row crossover is the first expression of this recaptured independence. Volvo is Swedish again. Mostly.

The new XC90 is the first Volvo built using the company?s wistfully named Scalable Product Architecture (SPA) that will, eventually, be chopped, channeled, sliced, and massaged to underpin future Volvos of a variety of sizes. There?s nothing radical in the SPA?s modular engineering or steel unibody structure, but at least there?s novelty in the suspension. Forget front struts; the XC90 uses control arms there, and in back there?s an independent system that uses a transverse composite leaf spring similar to the Chevy Corvette?s. Unless, that is, the vehicle, like our tester, is ordered with $1800 worth of cushy air springs.

There?s also only one engine in Volvo?s future: a 2.0-liter, direct-injected, variable-valve-timing twin-cam four-cylinder that Volvo calls Drive-E for some hard-to-explain reason. It comes in various forced-induction flavors, burning either gasoline or diesel. In the T6 AWD Inscription trim we tested, it pairs the turbo with a two-stage supercharging system that employs a belt-driven Roots-style blower at low speed. As revs climb, boost duties get handed off to the turbo. Volvo rates this twin-charger engine at 316 horsepower and 295 pound-feet of torque at 2200 rpm. It?s hooked to an Aisin eight-speed automatic transmission, and from there power is distributed to a Haldex four-wheel-drive system.

Extremely compact despite its various blowers, the Drive-E powerplant is lost in the XC90?s cavernous engine bay under a black plastic cover. Take off that cover and Volvo could probably stack another couple of Drive-Es in there and still get the hood closed.

A 400-hp hybrid ?T8 Twin Engine? model, using the same turbo-supercharged engine with the addition of an electric motor and a battery, will be released later. A turbo-diesel version of the Drive-E engine will be offered in other markets, but not here. At least not yet.

When Detroit luxury meant padded vinyl roofs and tufted velour, Volvo could get away with square-edged styling and simple interior surfaces while still selling itself as a premium product. The new XC90, on the other hand, is the most richly detailed Volvo yet. But it hasn?t totally abandoned the conservative, upright stodginess that defines the brand. There?s a gentle slope across the hood that tumbles down into the fenders, while the rear fenders flare out to produce ample hips. But that?s about it for curvaceousness. The XC90?s grille is flat and flanked by headlights that feature, as part of the Inscription package, LED daytime running lamps in a pattern dubbed ?Thor?s Hammer.? So at least the headlights might exist in the Marvel Universe.

Filling the fenders are optional 275/40 Pirelli Scorpion Verde All Season tires wrapped around 21-inch wheels with eight tapered spokes. Despite their diameter, the wheels? restrained design keeps them from visually overwhelming the vehicle. Sticking with the standard 20-inch wheels will save $750. If, on the other hand, you want to be overwhelmed, 22-inch wheels and tires are part of the ?R-Design? trim that is the sportier alternative to the Inscription.

At 194.8 inches long overall, the new XC90 is 5.5 inches longer than the previous version, and its 117.5-inch wheelbase is 4.9 inches greater. That growth moves the XC90 up so that it?s now a bit longer (1.6 inches) than a BMW X5 and a lot longer (5.7 inches) than the Mercedes-Benz M-class (rebadged GLE for 2016). A broad-beamed bruiser, it?s a few inches wider than its German competitors, too. And this example weighed in at a thick 4733 pounds.

Twist a knob on the center console one way to start the XC90 and the other way to shut it off. While the engine starts when that knob turns, the driver is more likely to be dazzled by the large, lush LCD display that contains the virtual tachometer and speedometer. It should be reconfigurable with different themes, but it isn?t. At least the lone layout is beautiful. Mounted in the center console is a nine-inch screen that?s slightly larger than an Apple iPad Mini. With different functions grouped in pages that can be swiped from side to side, Volvo?s Sensus interface is *relatively easy to understand and use. Because an infrared grid detects finger movements across the center screen, it can be operated while wearing gloves. How?s that for Swedish?

Anticipating adoption of Apple?s CarPlay phone-mirroring technology, Volvo has limited connections to a single USB port for jacking port*able devices into the system.

While the seats look thin, they?re perfectly designed, with bolstering that can be tweaked to fit even the most bizarre automotive-journalist physique. Heating and cooling through the perforated-leather surfaces offers climatic relief. Snick the short gear selector back into drive and the XC90, despite its prodigious boosted torque, moves forward with a gentle swiftness, as if on ballerina slippers. Even at part-throttle there?s a slight supercharger whine as the engine builds steam. The eight-speed transmission shifts often to keep those revs low, but the shifts themselves are unobtrusive and gentle. Like every current turbo car, the XC90?s electronic brains are obsessed with limiting engine speeds, and that can lead to some hunting and pecking for just the right ratio in traffic. In the XC90, that?s only slightly distracting.

Under full throttle, the engine uses its force-fed talent well. Despite the bulk and tiny engine displacement, the XC90 makes the run to 60 mph in a reasonable 6.4 seconds. The last 300-hp, turbocharged six-cylinder BMW X5 xDrive35i we tested did the same feat in 6.0 seconds. What acceleration deficit the Volvo has is likely tied to a lack of low-end torque. While all of the XC90?s 295 pound-feet report for duty at 2200 rpm, the X5?s 300 pound-feet are all aboard by 1300 rpm. There are advantages to an extra liter of displacement and two more cylinders.

But the pleasantness of the XC90?s composed ride, soft reflexes, quiet operation, and beautifully detailed and comfortable cabin are all compensating virtues. On the sheer beauty of the wood and piano-black interior trim alone, nothing else quite matches the XC90?s elegance in the crossover world. Beyond that, it?s not British, Japanese, German, Korean, or American; the interi*or *positively asserts its calm, restrained Swedishness. It practically makes one crave pickled herring.

People, however, usually resent being crammed into a jar. The XC90?s third row provides its occupants with 31.9 inches of legroom. That?s 2.7 inches more than what Audi claims for the 2015 Q7?s third row. It?s even 7.1 inches more than what third-rowers get in a Chevy Tahoe. The Audi and Chevy beat the Volvo in backmost-row shoulder room, but the young fries sentenced to ride there are usually narrow, and their pliable bones can withstand some packing. Plus they?re not paying rent, so tell them to shut up and play with their phones.

Put both rows of rear seats down and Volvo says there is 86 cubic feet of storage space aboard. That?s 13 cubic feet better than the ?15 Q7. Go back to 1982 and the best a 240 wagon offered was 76 cubic feet.

But on the road, looking through the head-up display out past the contours of the hood, it?s obvious that the one thing the XC90 can?t offer is excitement. No matter what drive mode is selected, no matter how the driver-adjustable steering effort is tweaked, or at what ride height this Volvo sits, it can?t be spurred on to do anything that will quicken your pulse (not counting plowing into a snowbank).

The steering is communicative enough, but it simply doesn?t have much to say that?s interesting. The brakes haul the vessel down from 70 mph in 184 feet with minimal fade and no drama, but they don?t inspire confidence when you?re pounding along a favorite back road, trying to aim a little deeper into the apexes. And while we suppose this is true of most non-M-, AMG-, and Porsche-badged SUVs, there simply isn?t enough power to think of the accelerator pedal as a source of amusement. There ought to be more sled-pulling grunt. At least with an EPA-rated 20 mpg in the city and 25 mpg on the highway, fuel mileage is pretty good.

At a base price of $49,895, with the Inscription package adding $5600 and the 19-speaker Bowers & Wilkins stereo upping the chit another $2650, our tested XC90 came in at $65,955. That?s not cheap, but it?s a significant discount from what the German brands charge for similarly equipped vehicles with only two rows of seating.

Volvo can?t go back to the 1970s to recreate what once was. The market has left austerity well behind. But in going back to simplified vehicle platforms with a single family of four-cylinder engines, Volvo has embraced the same smart, uncomplicated efficiency that was a vital part of its past. The XC90 is an attractive package, even if it?s not aimed at people enraptured with high performance. And some of that performance may come roaring to us when the T8 Twin Engine appears.

Volvo is what?s left of the Swedish automobile industry. The well-executed XC90 indicates that Volvo knows it can?t be a pretend-German, an almost-American, or a maybe-Japanese brand. Not if it?s going to thrive. Peak Sweden isn?t back, but Easygoing Sweden may be in for a long run.

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