" 'Allo boyo, look you, mind your 'ed, isn't it?", said Taffy when I walked into his bar. Don't be misled; my friend Taffy Lumley is not a stereotypical Welshman. He comes from Samoa and has merely acquired a few Brythonic phrases as a kind of stock in trade. Taffy is not his real name, either; he was christened Joanna, after the rugby star.
He owns a little pub near Aberystwyth called Davy Jones's Locker and I used the new Volvo XC90 to pop down and see him. I didn't tell Volvo as they are a bit sensitive about Davy Jones and his locker, ever since some 350 eagerly awaited XC90s found themselves under the weather: about thirty fathoms under, if reports are to be believed. But, as it says in the Bible: 'They that go down to the sea in ships and deposit their business in great waters; those men shall see the works of the Lord.' So there was some consolation, then.
But there is less so for those who stood on the harbour wall, searching in vain for the best thing to export itself from Sweden since Brit Eckland invented the sauna. Bristling with Volvo brand-values, the XC90 combines ruggedness with sophistication and is a worthy challenger to the more expensive BMW X5.
Built on the same platform as the S80 and the Lincoln, the XC90 is offered with either the T6, turbo-charged petrol engine or the D5, five-cylinder turbo-diesel. I drove the latter and enjoyed every moment. In lead-in S trim and mated to Volvo's Geartronic hybrid transmission, the car I drove would cost you £30,975 and every penny would be well spent.
From the outstanding driving position, through the nimble platform to the cunning tailgate assembly, this new entrant to the SUV market promises to set definitive standards. OK, so the ride height is lower than, say, the Disco or the Land Cruiser (ne้ Colorado), but what it lacks in inches is more than made up for by the ergonomics. Within seconds of climbing behind the sizeable wheel, I felt at home. The only non-Volvo aspect to the cabin is the centre stack, which is no longer angled towards the driver as in other Volvo products. But that aside, the whole fascia is neat, logical and intuitive, as befits a car in which 'Sports' and 'Utility' share equal billing.
A direct replacement for the Audi 5-pot diesel that powered the original S80, the 2.4-litre Volvo D5 unit delivers 340 Nm of torque from as low as 1750 rpm and an output of 165 bhp. The outcome is a 0-62 mph time of 12.3 seconds and a maximum speed of 115 mph, in return for 31.0 mpg on the combined cycle. What the figures can't convey is the sense of power inherent in the smooth beat of the engine. As diesels go, few sound more willing or exciting, underscored, as it is, by the muted sound of the intercooled turbo blowing in the wind.
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