Volvo’s mantra has always been about safety. It was a Volvo safety engineer, Nils Bohlin, who designed and engineered the three-point safety belt. The new belt design was introduced in 1959 and saved lives almost immediately. Whereby, Volvo made the three-point lap and shoulder belt freely available to all car manufacturers. While mostly on the conservative side, Volvo has long been associated with keeping the family safe and living life in the middle lane. The mere mention of the world Volvo conjures up the image of a beige 240 DL wagon with dad at the wheel and mom refereeing the kids on their way to grandma’s house. Well, Volvo is loudly proclaiming that their new performance, luxury crossover is the safest vehicle on the road today, and they put it in stylish package that will have you rethinking the buttoned-down image of Volvo.
Driving Impressions
Not only does the new XC60 look good, it has the moves to back it up. Powered by Volvo’s T6 engine – a 3.0 liter turbocharged 6-cylinder engine that produces 281 hp and 295 lb-ft of torque – this midsize crossover picks up speed without missing a step. Power is transferred to the ground by a 6-speed “Geartronic” automatic transmission and Volvo’s All-Wheel-Drive with Instant Traction™ (aka Haldex 4 AWD). Shift points for the transmission were programmed perfectly. Under a large variety of driving conditions, never once did we feel the transmission “hunt” for the right gear or bog down when we stomped on the “go” pedal.
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