Buckinghamshire Life Motoring
Volvo XC70
Above: Volvo XC70
Above: VolvoXC700907
Will it suit me?
If there was more of a place for logic in automotive buying decisions, cars like Volvo’s XC70 would sell in their tens of thousands. Here’s a practical family or executive estate that has all the important attributes of one of those clunky off roaders without all the unnecessary weight. It’s perfect if all you want to do is to get to an awkwardly positioned camp site – or tow a heavy trailer.
The practicalities
Like the V70 estate, the XC70 estate is nothing if not practical. Five passengers will travel in complete comfort and the boot space will swallow up a fair bit of kit, too. I had initially thought that this was little more than a facelift of the old XC70 but no: this is a completely new car. The windscreen and tailgate are raked a little more than before but the emphasis remains on serious carrying capacity. You’ll also find luggage nets and hooks to help secure any items with wayward tendencies.
The car’s designers cleverly decreased the amount the side glass curves from front to rear, for maximum style at the driving end and maximum carrying ability at the business end. XC-embossed roof rails are a standard fit and the contrasting colour of the front foglight surrounds give the XC70 a mean squint. Front and rear crash plates leave onlookers in no doubt as to this car’s dual purpose role. The interior has been given the once over too, with most of the clunkier design themes replaced by a slicker look and feel. Otherwise there are enduring Volvo qualities such as supreme practicality and a whole slew of safety features.
Behind the wheel
I was surprised by how composed the XC70 was around the twisty roads where I live. There are two engines offered to UK customers. Petrol buyers get a Welsh-built 3.2-litre straight-six that punches a healthy 235bhp with a maximum torque of 320Nm. Diesel customers get the
183bhp 2.4-litre D5 turbo diesel that I tried with 400Nm of torque. The D5 drives through either a six-speed manual gearbox or a six-speed Geartronic auto with a sequential ‘manual’ mode, while the 3.2-litre car is offered solely with Geartronic. Both engines are strong powerplants that complement the driveline well without overpowering it for the sake of headline stats.
Value for money
Prices for the XC70 estate models start from £31,035. As usual with Volvo, you can order the car in any one of a variety of different trim packages. Indeed, Volvo offers a truly vast array of options and accessories on the XC70. It would be all to easy to succumb to the temptations of the options list and end up paying far in excess of the list price for a fully-loaded model.
Could I live with one?
I really can’t see why you’d buy a large off-roader when you could have something like this. But then that’s logical and, as we all know, if all automotive buying decisions were based on logic…
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