Escape From The Regional Security: A Detailed Test Of The Volvo V60 Cross Country

Video: Escape From The Regional Security: A Detailed Test Of The Volvo V60 Cross Country

2023 Author: Natalie MacDonald | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-11-26 13:59

Volvo cars - especially station wagons - have long and persistently been known as the most boring cars on the planet. But boredom is boring, but the all-terrain "cars" XC70 really went to the people: now they can be found in every yard. Where they sit next to the equally beloved XC90 of the previous generation.

The new model family of the brand is striving with all its might to move away from the retirement image, relying on style and technology. And in this family there was a place for two expensive cross-station wagons at once - V90 Cross Country and V60 Cross Country.

Escape from the regional security office: a detailed test of the Volvo V60 Cross Country

And if the flagship V90 Cross Country seems somewhat excessive (both in size and - most importantly - in price), the younger V60 Cross Country looks much more promising: it is more compact, proportional and cheaper. We took him to the test - to find out whether the "sixty" will be as desirable as the V70 CC. Especially considering the price tag: after all, for the V60 Cross Country they ask for a minimum 3,069,000 rubles!

Interior

The interior of the Swede is almost the best in the class: inserts on the deflectors and doors are made of aluminum, leather with stitching - wherever possible: even the thick lower spoke of the steering wheel is completely taken into it. Wooden veneer is also real, with a pleasant "warm" texture. Even the small roller shutters on the central tunnel, covering the large convenient box for small items, are not made of plastic, but of thin wooden slats! The fit of the parts is excellent, this salon is very pleasant to be in, and the interaction with its elements is a real pleasure. In a word, small Swedish flags are sewn into the backs of the chairs for a reason: this Scandinavian interior can really be proud of.

The Volvo breed is recognizable by the steering wheel. The ideal circle of the rim does not try to awaken the athlete in the driver: all these tides under the grip, truncated sectors and marks on the zero zone in the interior of a comfortable station wagon will look pretentious. Here, the emphasis is primarily on a comfortable grip, echoed by a relaxed fit and good visibility. Behind the wheel of a Volvo V60, you are not speed, but the father of a family

In the front seats, you don't just sit - you soar, as in weightlessness. However, it should be remembered that most of the adjustments are available for a surcharge. For example, for adjusting the lumbar support, you will have to pay 19,600 rubles, for adjusting the lateral support - another 16,200 rubles. Too lazy to poke around in the configurator? Then you can choose an optional package, which has everything in general, up to massage. Price - 279,400 rubles

As with other modern Volvo, instead of a button or a key, the engine is started by a neat faceted brick on the central tunnel. Looks cool and stylish - from the same opera as the outgoing transmission selector on "Jaguars"

Together with the engine, the onboard electronics wake up, to which the V60 Cross Country has the most questions. There is a digital tidy, but its graphics and resolution are worse than those of German models, and the welcome animation of the devices themselves, asleep, slows down: the arrows move along the scales in jerks

The logic of multimedia work is a topic for a separate conversation. The interface and menu organization have remained the same since the XC90 crossover. More precisely, not an interface, but its absence. All menu items are just white letters on a black background, as if "developer mode" is on, or the system simply did not have time to finish. Particularly indicative in this regard is the driving mode selection menu, which can be invoked by turning the stylish roller on the center console: the setting options shown on the display are similar to the credits after a movie. Director - Sport, cameraman - Normal …

But the most interesting thing can be found by flipping the main screen to the right: all the electronic chips that the machine has been trained with are collected here. They are not sorted in any way, so out of habit it seems that a real mess is going on in the menu: the button for folding the headrests may well be adjacent to the button for disabling the hold system in the lane

All heating, along with climate control adjustments, are also removed from the multimedia menu. And you have to climb into these jungles every time you want to turn on the heating of the steering wheel or chair

The situation is a little saved by the fact that virtual controls for various functions can be interchanged and arranged at your discretion, and the system itself, with all the absurd simplicity of the interface, works quickly and without glitches. And then there are some cool features like switching the front passenger seat adjustments to the driver's keys. That is, while sitting behind the wheel, you can change the position of the adjacent seat. To return everything to the usual mode, you just need to press nothing for a few seconds

Parking camera system - an option for 65,500 rubles. The image from the front and back is acceptable, but the view from the top is worse: the picture is "noisy" and is highly distorted, making it impossible to estimate the distance to obstacles. In addition, if you select one of the side cameras, the image will be displayed in a truncated form

There is no separate button for folding the mirrors: you need to simultaneously press the buttons that activate the adjustment of the left and right

Practicality

In terms of wheelbase, the V60 Cross Country is only 67 millimeters shorter than the flagship V90 Cross Country station wagon, so there is no problem with a seat in the back row. The opening is wide, there is a headroom both at the knees and overhead (even though the V60 has a squat silhouette and a panoramic roof).

In general, I am glad how the Swedes approach the issue of practicality. Take, for example, multimedia: yes, it is inconvenient to constantly get to the in-demand menu items through the touch screen, but Volvo provided that the display would be used often, and carefully hid a special cloth in the glove compartment to remove prints from the screen.

Separate love - wipers with built-in heated washer nozzles: fluid is consumed to a minimum, and the glass is cleaned quickly and without streaks. From the driver's side, the janitor cleans almost to the counter, leaving no blind spots.

The love for the little things is also reflected in the trunk. It does not surprise with its special spaciousness: the volume is 529 liters (1441 liters with the rear row seats folded) - the SkodOctavia liftback, for example, has almost 40 liters more for luggage. However, this is quite enough to take two very large suitcases without any problems

The opening is wide, the walls are of the correct shape, and the interior space is well thought out: there are niches for small things, luggage nets and a ski hatch in the back of the rear row. In addition, for 15,500 rubles, you can buy a textile mat that protects the threshold during loading, and for another 10,900 rubles - a nylon net separating the luggage compartment from the passenger compartment

And if you fork out for 50,700 rubles, then you can retrofit the station wagon with a special package of practicality - with a 12-volt outlet, a neat organizer in the floor with additional hooks for bags and an electric folding headrests. The same package also includes an electric boot lid

The main advantages of the rear seats are a comfortable backrest angle and a large headroom. A convenient transforming armrest is hidden in the center: in the end part there are folding cup holders, a niche for a smartphone and a small box-case for small things

The seat for the passenger in the center is limited not only by a high tunnel, but also by a dual-zone climate control unit for the second row. True, this is an option from the Premium Pack, it is offered together with a sunroof and extended leather trim for a serious 204,000 rubles

Technics

The Volvo V60 Cross Country is built on the modular SP architecture, which is the same as other latest generation Volvo models. The transmission is exclusively all-wheel drive, implemented through a fifth generation Haldex clutch. In Russia, there is only one engine for the cross-wagon: the two-liter T5 gasoline turbo four develops 249 horsepower and is paired with an eight-speed automatic Aisin. Why the diesel engine, which was offered for the previous generation car, did not reach us is not clear. But buyers do not have to suffer the agony of choice.

The all-terrain performance of the Cross Country station wagon is expressed not only in the plastic body kit: the ground clearance here is an impressive 210 millimeters, which is 68 mm more than the usual, not raised V60 and S60. 13 millimeters of this increase is a merit of higher-profile tires, and the remaining 55 are due to the "lifted" suspension. Moreover, the changed geometry even slightly influenced the wheelbase: in the Cross Country it is a couple of millimeters larger

The suspensions are familiar from other Volvo models: the front is an aluminum double wishbone on a steel subframe, and the back is Swedish engineering sophistication! - composite transverse spring. With it, the rear suspension turned out to be lighter than the spring. Plus, it's a tribute to tradition: a similar solution was used on Volvo models a quarter of a century ago

The penultimate rung of our editorial ladder, the one that marks 26 centimeters, did not succumb to the front overhang. Overly zealous off-road conquerors will be helped out by a steel engine crankcase (option for 23,700 rubles)

Behind, the clearance possibilities also end right up to 26 centimeters. And in which case the entire blow will be taken over not by the protection, but by the muffler

Riding

249 horsepower is enough power to take the massive station wagon from 0 to 100 km / h in 6.8 seconds. The indicator is very moderate for a premium sedan, and here I want to praise not so much the dynamics as the convenience of traction control. Acceleration is characterized by linearity uncharacteristic for a compact turbo engine, without dips during acceleration, and the eight-speed automatic delicately selects gears.

At the same time, the V60 Cross Country for some reason tries to seem aggressive: the roar of the engine during acceleration turns out to be unexpectedly loud, although in general the sound insulation is very solid. But you should not believe in this growl: in fact, the station wagon is quite peaceful, and it will not provoke you to annealing. It is enough to twist the clear, but too "long" and light steering wheel to deal with local priorities once and for all.

And only the stabilization system, with the Swedish obsession with safety, turned out to be surprisingly reckless - well, or at least loyal to the driver's actions. When busting with speed in a corner, the first thing you hear is not the cracking of the traction control, but the squeal of the tires. True, only the front ones, which means that you will not get any buzz. The massive station wagon reacts to provocations with boring demolition and is completely reluctant to screw inward under the gas discharge.

However, the lazy character of the car when riding on the ears is more than compensated for by excellent stability on the trajectory, if you do not overdo it with speed: Cross Country has excellent directional stability in long high-speed corners, and the quality of the coating does not affect the wagon's habits in any way.

And in general, talking about excitement and interesting driving in the context of a family station wagon is superfluous. The main thing is that the suspension is distinguished by an enviable energy intensity: you can only guess about small defects in the canvas from the echoing fractional tapping of massive wheels, and large irregularities are "rounded" and transferred to the salon as gently and gently as possible.

Equipment

Even a child won't get lost in the Volvo V60 Cross Country configurator: one engine, one transmission, one complete set. All this costs 3,069,000 rubles, but the list of options is quite impressive: additional equipment can be typed both in "thematic" packages, or separately, easily dropping the final price tag for 4 million rubles.

The basic version is equipped with eight airbags at once (this is Volvo), dual-zone climate control, heated front seats, an eight-inch digital tidy, an electric driver's seat, cruise control, rear parking sensors and a basic audio system.

The rest will have to be selected from among the options, and this list, among other things, includes items that would be nice to see in the basic configuration. For example, for electric heated windshield you will have to pay 14,200 rubles, and the electric boot lid is included in the aforementioned Versatility Pack for 50,700 rubles.

However, some options are intended only to pamper the owner's ego: the leather trim of the key will cost 9,200 or 13,600 rubles, depending on the type of leather, and for just 7,600 rubles you can put yourself … a CD-player. Even at the option level, the V60 Cross Country tries to be warm and tube-like.

Competitors

The segment in which the V60 Cross Country plays on the Russian market is extremely exotic due to the very wording - after all, we are talking about premium all-terrain station wagons. However, opponents were still found.

Audi A4 Allroad quattro Perhaps the only direct competitor of the Swede. Also one complete set, also a two-liter gasoline turbo engine with a capacity of 249 horsepower. But the base cost is slightly lower (2,975,000 rubles), and acceleration to hundreds is slightly better (6.1 seconds). Otherwise, it all depends on your preferences in terms of options and … yes, the approach to choosing a car in general. After all, Volvo is the lot of buyers who have their own view of cars

Subaru Outback Already at a stretch, but also a competitor. In Outback, there is much less premium, but a more democratic approach to prices and trim levels: the basic version costs 2,689,000 rubles, and the top version with a 260-horsepower engine can be taken for 3,669,900 rubles. In terms of equipment, it hardly loses to Volvo, but it is clearly inferior in quality of finish and dynamic characteristics

A four million wagon? But Volvo also has a full-fledged XC60 crossover - which is not an alternative to the Cross Country. The same platform, almost the same cool design, the same build quality and finishing materials, but at the same time there is also a choice of modifications: the crossover is equipped with gasoline engines with a capacity of 249 and 320 horsepower and two diesel engines at once, for 190 and 235 horses. The only negative is the price: the most affordable XC60 is 200 thousand more expensive than the V60 Cross Country

Outcome

It seems that after the departure of Saab, the Volvo brand took up the banner of the manufacturer of special Scandinavian cars. Finishing, design, engineering solutions - everything here has a northern approach. The effect of it is ambiguous: on the one hand, it manifests itself in a chic design and almost crazy attention to finishing materials, on the other, in the weirdness of minimalistic multimedia.

In general, the V60 Cross Country has managed to find a good place among the controversies: this is a practical family station wagon from cold phlegmatic Sweden, but its purchase will be definitely emotional. When it comes to plus or minus four million for a family car (read - the main or the only one), few are capable of such a choice. But that's what makes the V60 Cross Country special.