Volvo XC60 Review & Prices

Modern SUVs such as the Volvo XC60 are a bit like an automotive Leatherman; they need to adapt to everything. Business trip, a school run, a shopping jaunt to the centre of town. Tick. Want to feel relaxed and just a little bit cool? Tick. Taking stuff to the tip? Tick. Probably best to head for your nearest Volvo showroom then, especially since the XC60 also comes with safety tech that’s a step ahead of most alternatives.

Unlike the predictable-looking Audi Q5 and Mercedes GLC, the XC60 cuts a real dash with its Thor’s hammer-style headlights (yes, that’s really what Volvo calls them), a swept-back windscreen and distinctive hook-shaped rear lights.

Inside, you’ll find a comfortable, stylish and understated interior. It’s all very minimalist – a bit like Swedish furniture – so there aren’t any unsightly buttons cluttering up the place. Instead, you control most of the XC60’s features through its central touchscreen.

Watch: Audi Q5 v BMW X3 v Mercedes GLC v Volvo XC60

Unfortunately, while this display might look like something you’d use to order a G&T in a swanky cocktail bar, it isn’t quite as easy to use as a Mazda CX-5’s more intuitive system with its old-fashioned rotary dial. All of the driving settings are in there and it's pretty tricky to change them while you're on the go.

Getting comfortable in the driving seat, meanwhile, is a simple affair. More expensive versions of the XC60 get exceedingly comfortable memory electric seats, so you only have to set it up once. Things are very comfy in the back seats as well – there’s enough space for three adults to sit side-by-side with a decent amount of shoulder room to go round.

The boot’s pretty roomy, too, with enough space for a family’s luggage or a large bike if you flip the back seats down. However, if you’re after outright capacity, the Audi Q5 and Mercedes GLC can both hold more than the XC60.

Picking an engine for your XC60 is fairly simple because most of them are powerful enough and pretty economical. Your best bets are either the 2.0-litre petrol or diesel motors. Go for the petrol if you spend most of your time driving around town or the diesel if you do lots of long journeys where you’ll benefit from its improved fuel economy. You're also able to get it with one of two plug-in hybrid setups instead, which will be good for a lower Benefit-in-Kind and can charge the electric drive battery regularly.

No matter the engine, driving the XC60 is relaxing above all else. Sure, it isn’t as entertaining down a twisty road as some sportier alternatives and it’s a little bumpy in town (especially with larger alloy wheels fitted and even with the air suspension included) but, at motorway speed, the XC60’s is simply so cosseting that you tend to feel less tired at the end of your journey. It’s even better with Ultimate trim’s Four-C adaptive air suspension.

It’s good news when it comes to equipment, too – all XC60s get an automatic gearbox as standard and there’s a choice of two- or four-wheel drive depending on the model. You also get a plethora of safety systems and while some, such as emergency auto braking, are pretty common these days, others (such as seat bases specifically designed to take a vertical impact should you veer off the road) show how much Volvo thinks about safety.

If all this sounds like your sort of SUV, see how much you could save by checking out our Volvo XC60 deals, or read on for our detailed Volvo XC60 review. And check out our selection of used Volvos too. You can also sell your car through carwow, where dealers will bid on your car and you can get the best price for it.

You’ll find the Volvo XC60 is priced keenly next to its fellow premium badge SUVs, such as the Audi Q5, BMW X3 and Land Rover Discovery Sport.

Decent value against others in the class is balanced by quite a jump in price if you want to go from a petrol engine to the plug-in hybrid model.

For company car drivers, the price jump up to the PHEVs will be easier to absorb, especially as the T6 and T8 plug-in models reward with significantly lower emissions to lower your benefit-in-kind payments.

Comfortable and relaxing on the motorway, the Volvo XC60 is a close match for the best premium SUVs, but the ride around town can be firm

In town

The Volvo XC60 offers a superb driving position and great all-round vision for the driver, and every version comes with front and rear parking sensors, as well as a reversing camera.

Light steering helps when twirling the wheel to get the XC60 into a tight parking space on a busy high street. It also contributes towards the Volvo being a relaxing car to pilot through city landscapes and it has a surprisingly tight turning circle for a large SUV of 11.4m - better than all the alternatives.

The suspension is a touch less comfortable than you might expect when it meets speed bumps or potholes, but it’s only a smidge stiffer than an Audi Q5. If you opt for the Ultimate trim, it comes with Volvo’s Four-C adaptive air suspension, so you can choose between normal, sport and comfort settings, with the latter making it a bit cushier over bumps.

You might want to select the Dynamic mode in the Ultimate when pulling out of junctions as Volvo’s automatic gearbox that is standard in all versions is a bit slow to respond when you put your foot down hard.

The 2.0-litre diesel engine is not as refined as we’d expect, but the petrol motors are fine.

The plug-in hybrid XC60s are called Recharge by the Swedes and can travel up to 48 miles on a charge, so they are ideal for smooth, stress-free city-bound driving in almost total silence. With the help of the electric motor, you can one-pedal drive in B mode for even simpler progress.

On the motorway

The T6 and T8 Recharge plug-in hybrid XC60 versions are very quick to accelerate, so you’ll have no trouble getting up to speed as you head down the slip road onto a motorway - even if there's a little lag when you press the accelerator.

The diesel engine needs a bit more encouragement, and it gets quite noisy when asked to sing for its supper. For this reason, the B5 petrol mild hybrid is a better bet for most drivers.

At a motorway cruise, every XC60 is quiet thanks to little engine noise and only a little flutter from the wing mirrors. A hint of tyre rumble can be heard on coarser roads, especially with the larger wheels fitted as standard to the upper two trims. Go for the optional wheels in sizes up to 22-inches and you’ll definitely pay for this in the amount of noise that filters through to the cabin.

On a twisty road

Volvo has made the XC60 to be an SUV that focuses on comfort over outright handling prowess. Push it hard into a country corner and the body will lean noticeably more than a BMW X3 or Audi Q5 does.

There’s good grip in the Volvo, and all but the base petrol and diesel models come with all-wheel drive as standard to help in slippery conditions.

However, the XC’s steering doesn’t deliver much in the way of feel or feedback to the driver, and the Volvo’s ride becomes less composed the faster and harder you drive the car, so better to enjoy the journey and the XC60’s gently-gently approach.

Superbly shaped seats offer unbeatable comfort in the Volvo XC60, though the boot is not as big as some in this class

Comfort is one of those things we almost take for granted in a Volvo, but it’s really worth pointing out just how good the XC60 is making you feel perfectly seated and cared for.

There’s nothing obviously fancy or different about the shape of the driver’s seat in the XC60, but it just seems to fit like a favourite jumper. As soon as you sit in the car, you know you could head off on a long trip and get there without so much as a twinge or muscle ache.

It helps that the heated front seats, which are upholstered in leather, can be adjusted for height electrically and also have powered lumbar movement. Choose the XC60 in the upper two trim levels of Plus or Ultimate and you get fully powered seats with position memory, while you can get a lovely wool trim on the seats instead if you don't want the leather.

You can move the steering wheel for reach and height to further finesse the driving position, and all-round vision is among the best in this class of car. Volvo equips all XC60s with front and rear parking sensors and a reversing camera, so backing into a space is simplicity itself.

Volvo has also thought carefully about storage inside the XC60, so the driver can reach down to a large door bin. You’ll find twin cupholders in the centre console when you slide back the cover that runs alongside the gear lever and ignition toggle. Another tray sits in front of this, while behind is a cubby with lift-up cover that doubles as an armrest. There’s even a decent amount of space in the glovebox.

Space in the back seats

Volvo has conjured up a mass of space in the back seats for passengers. Adults can sit here in perfect comfort thanks to generous amounts of leg, knee, shoulder and head room.

Even the Recharge models with their standard panoramic glass sunroof offer more than enough space for tall people’s heads to fit without brushing the ceiling.

The seats in the back of the XC60 are just as well shaped as those in the front, and the centre seat offers enough room for three grown-ups to sit next to each other without feeling over-familiar.

Kids will like the airy feel in the back of the XC60, and there are easily accessed ISOFIX child seat mounts in the two outer rear seats. The top two trims come with heated rear seats as standard for an added touch of luxury.

Boot space

A powered tailgate is standard with every Volvo XC60 and the top two trim levels come with hands-free opening and closing.

With the boot open, the aperture is plenty big enough, but the XC60’s load volume is not as generous as an Audi Q5’s or BMW X3’s. Is that a major disaster? Not really as the XC’s boot is still a good size and it’s very practically shaped. But at 468 litres, it is down on the Q5’s 520 litres and the 550 of the BMW X3 and Mercedes GLC.

The load floor sits flush with the bumper sill, so it’s easy to slide in heavy suitcases, and there are tie-down points to keep loads in place. You also get a 12-volt socket to charge up a portable fridge or vacuum cleaner.

Folding the back seats is simple and the headrests automatically flip forward as you do so. With the seats down, you extend the boot’s 468 litres to a maximum of 1395 litres. There’s no step in the floor, so you can push longer loads right to the front very easily.

The Volvo XC60’s interior is classy and very well screwed together, but the infotainment is not as easy to use as the best out there

Volvo has really got to grips with how to make an SUV’s cabin look and feel top notch. An Audi Q5 might just have a very slight edge when it comes to overall quality, but there’s barely anything in it and everywhere your hands and fingers come into contact with the XC60 feels soft and very well made.

This impression is further enhanced when you settle into the driver’s seat and look at the 12.3-inch colour screen for the main instruments. Volvo calls this its Progressive Driver Display and it’s similar to Audi’s Virtual Cockpit.

This display is standard in all XC60s and can be configured to show all sorts of information in a variety of ways, so you can change and tailor it to suit your own preferences. In each case, it’s all very easy to read, but the graphics are a bit dark and dull.

The Ultimate trim comes with a head-up display as well, which projects important information on speed, safety and sat-nav directions onto the windscreen so you don’t have to take your eyes off the road ahead.

In the centre console, Volvo sticks with simple physical buttons and knobs for the main heating controls to make it easy to adjust as you drive.

Everything else is run through the 9.0-inch infotainment screen, which is positioned so it sits tall and narrow in the dash rather than broad and across as most of the other cars favour.

With this arrangement, the Volvo’s infotainment display looks and feels a bit more like an iPad, and that’s pretty much how it works. You can swipe, tap and pinch to access and change menus, which are all arranged in a logical order.

The icons and menus on the XC60’s screen aren't quite big enough to get at with ease as you drive, and the system itself is just a little bit slower to respond than some. Also, it’s not quite as intuitive or easy to use as those with a rotary controller such as the Audi Q5 or Mazda CX-5.

You can use Apple CarPlay and Android Auto if you like, but both can only appear with a wired connection.

With a choice of mild hybrid petrol and diesel engines and plug-in hybrid, the Volvo XC60 has almost every base covered except a pure EV model.

The sole diesel engine in the B4 model has 197hp and returns an official combined consumption of 44.1mpg and carbon dioxide emissions of 167g/km.

That comes with front-wheel drive, but the rest of the XC60 line-up have all-wheel drive, so the 250hp B5 petrol delivers 35.7mpg and 180g/km.

Many drivers, including company users, will prefer the economy and emissions offered by the Recharge plug-in hybrid models that have a 2.0-litre turbo petrol engine and electric motor that combine to give 350hp in the T6. This model offers a 282.1mpg combined economy figure and 23g/km of CO2 output, and it can cover up to 48 miles on battery power alone with a full charge.

The T8 has a thumping 455hp from its petrol-electric hybrid set-up. Aside from its amazing acceleration, it can provide the same average economy as the T6 with 24g/km, and a 48-mile maximum EV range.

The Recharge versions of the XC60 sit at the lower end of brackets for the first-year of VED, while the B4 diesel sits in the middle of the brackets. The B5 petrol comes in with a hefty first-year rate.

Volvo and safety are synonymous with each other and the XC60 is no exception. It comes with seven airbags, including one for the driver’s knees, and ISOFIX mounts in the two outer rear seats.

Every XC60 has front collision warning and automatic emergency braking, plus lane keep assist and cruise control with speed limiter.

Volvo includes everything you’d expect of a car in this class, and it goes even further with systems to minimise the impact of the car going off the road in a collision to better protect its occupants from any impact.

There have been a few recalls for this generation of Volvo XC60, though most are for minor problems. All should have been sorted by a Volvo dealer by now.

The XC60 comes with a three-year/60,000-mile warranty as standard and this can be extended up to four years and 80,000 miles for an additional cost.

The Recharge models have an eight-year/100,000-mile warranty for their battery packs.