KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 18 — Volvo is one of the pioneers in vehicular safety, and has the distinction of introducing seat belts into cars. For many years after that, even up to the turn of the century, Volvo always led the field in terms of vehicle safety, with innovations in pedestrian safety, rollover safety, and pioneered City Safety. It was a matter of time before the other European and Japanese car makers caught up, and after a while, it seemed that Volvo ad no distinct advantage over the other major manufacturers, because it seemed that passive and active safety was quite seamless across the industry, and more and more cars seemed to have the majority of features. More so when the ownership of Volvo changed hands from the Ford group over to Geely – Ford poured the knowledge of Volvo technology into their own models, and one example of this is the safety features in the Ford Focus of a few years ago, which shared the same platform as the V40.
Today, with the launch of the 2018 new Volvo XC60, Volvo gets back to the top of the heap, not only in terms of safety features, but in specification and performance levels. With the XC60, Volvo has maintained what is good, and built upon it to make a totally new vehicle that carries the same DNA that made the outgoing model a success, but with great improvements.
For starters, the Volvo XC60 comes with a 2.0 litre twin-charged engine that is fitted with both a super-charger and a turbo-charger, the supercharger to take care of low end performance while the turbo-charger takes care of high end performance.
Three variants are available – one FWD (Front-Wheel Drive) only variant named the XC60 T5, and two hybrid variants, the XC60 T8 Twin Engine Inscription and XC60 T8 Twin Engine Inscription Plus.
The T5 develops 254 horsepower @ 5,500 rpm, and power is transmitted to the front wheels through an 8-speed automatic transmission. Top speed is limited to 210 km/h.
In the case of the XC60 T8 Inscription and Inscription Plus, there is a hybrid system that powers only the rear wheels, thus providing the XC60 T8 will ‘all-wheel drive’. Combined power of the engine and hybrid motor is mooted at 407 horsepower and combined torque is claimed at 640 Nm.
As in the T5 variant, an 8-speed automatic transmission transmits drive to the front, while the hybrid drive supports by powering the rear wheels. We understand that most of the time, there is a 50:50 split between front and rear. Maximum speed is electronically checked at 230 km/h, ostensibly for safety purposes, whilst there is a choice of 18-inch or 19-inch wheels, depending on variant type.
Overall dimensions are very close to the previous model, but the wheelbase has been extended, although a major part of the exercise was to move the front wheels further forward from the A-pillar. For the record, the overall length is 4,688mm, with a wheelbase of 2,865mm. Overall width is 2,117mm, while overall height is 1,658 mm.
At the front, a double-wishbone suspension is fitted whilst at the rear, Volvo uses their own Composite Leaf Spring suspension. Brakes are discs all round, with 345mm diameter in front and 320mm at the rear. The entire vehicle weighs in at 2,148 kg.
In the area of active safety, the XC60 has improved in leaps and bounds – the entire list of safety features as presented to us by Volvo, covers at least two pages of A4 paper (features were listed as one feature per line) – that is a lot, so we shall just highlight a few.
In the area of Electronic Stability Control, the XC60 system includes Active Yaw Control (Detects rolling movement from side to side, and cuts power to prevent a roll-over), Understeer Control (detects understeer and cuts power and brakes on certain wheels), Spin Control (to counter oversteer and prevent a spin), Engine Drag and Dynamic Torque Vectoring (Brakes on the inside wheels during a corner to transfer drive to the outer wheel). This is certainly the most comprehensive Electronic Stability Control System I have ever seen.
City Safety has taken on a new element – IntelliSafe. The IntelliSafe version is more interactive, and has more features – City Safety can now detect pedestrians, cyclists and large animals. Rear Collision Warning and Mitigation is included in the new system, and Driver Alert Control works with Lane Keeping Aid. The system also prevents one from running off the edge of the road with Road Edge Detection, and with Oncoming Lane Mitigation, the car will try to steer you away from a potential collision. Blind Spot Information System (BLIS) now includes Steer Assist that turns your steering away from colliding with an obstacle approaching you in your blind spot.
The XC60 Inscription Plus is currently available in CBU form at RM373,888.00, (net selling price without registration and insurance). CKD prices are as follows:-
Volvo XC 60 T5 - RM298,888.00
Volvo XC 60 Twin Engine Inscription - RM333,888.00
Volvo XC 60 Twin Engine Inscription Plus - RM343,888.00
Above prices are net selling price without registration and insurance.
