A spanking new Volvo XC60 joins our long term fleet as Wayne trades in his Mito for something a little bigger
A FEW YEARS back, I was fortunate enough to go on a whistlestop, fact-finding mission to Gothenburg, Sweden – the home of Volvo. Apart from sampling the various culinary delights, the trip granted me a fascinating insight into the Swedish mindset, albeit a very generalised one. I really identified with their relaxed, friendly demeanour, family oriented bias and minimalist, considered design approach. When it comes to cars, that same mindset dovetails perfectly with the practicality of an estate. In a nutshell, that’s why boxy station wagons and lifestyle crossovers dominate their car parks.
Back then the big news at Volvo revolved around the sexy
XC60 Concept car. It was still all-Volvo in basic ethos, but bolder, more expressive and blessed with an extra dollop of Scandinavian cool. All I know is I wanted one.
Before long, the concept morphed, with pleasing subtlety, into the production
XC60, an example of which was recently dropped off at our offices for long-term evaluation. Yay! And not just any old
XC60 – it’s a
D5 R-Design. Which means it’s got a freshly cast
151kW/
420Nm 2.4-litre five-cylinder slugger of a diesel engine, mated to Volvo’s
6-speed Geartronic auto box. As for the
R-
Design part of the badge, ahh, that means they’ve applied a lot of make-up to the already handsome Swede. Just look at it. There are bits of silky silver plastic everywhere: the front grille surround, lower intake, side airdams, mirrors, front and rear ‘skid plates’, and side scuff plates. Of course there are chunky bits of real metal too, like the
18in Cratus rims, roof rails and 90mm twin exhaust end caps. The
R-Design badges on the front grille and steering wheel also denote that our
D5 has a sportier (read stiffer) suspension set-up,
R-Design-specific leather upholstery and patterned aluminium centre stack. Oh, and it’s got blue instrument dials. Not blue lighting, blue paint. Not very Swedish, but I’ll get used to it.
The
R-Design bit costs an additional
R37 000 over the base
D5’s R490700. I’m not yet sure it’s worth the extra outlay. The visual upgrades are all subjective, but we’ll get a chance over the next six months to assess whether the sportier suspension swings the vote. I have a feeling I’d probably opt for a regular D5 and just fit bigger rims and maybe a satnav, as I reckon the standard car’s ride, handling and aesthetics are spot on for a wannabe Swede like me.