Volvo XC40 review: Volvo packs a significant wallop and has an elegant exterior which offers a pleasant driving experience
While the small SUV, which was named European Car of the Year, doesn't have the charm of its XC60 and XC90 counteparts, the award is still well deserved
REMEMBER that kid at school who was brilliant at everything, but also a stand-up guy?
Bloody annoying, wasn’t he?
We’ve all known someone like that at some point — the person you want to hate but can’t.
Volvo is fast becoming that guy for me. When the XC40 picked up European Car of the Year in March, I wanted to hate it — I resent being told if a car is good before I drive it.
But now I have, I’m forced to concede the title is well deserved.
That’s not to say it’s perfect, but its flaws aren’t what you would expect. It’s clinically perfect — but misses out slightly on the charm of the XC60 and XC90.
Perhaps it’s because it’s the smallest of the line-up — and Lord knows, I’m not a fan of small SUVs — that it makes less sense to me than the bigger brothers.
But none of the above matters to the the XC40’s target audience, because none of the above sounds like a criticism to them. And like it or not, once again Volvo has produced a class-leading car.
Let’s start with the exterior. It’s a museum-worthy love song to Scandi design — all clean lines and shiny smoked glass, a Christmas tree bauble to decorate the driveways of the Home Counties. It somehow manages to look elegant and sturdy simultaneously, like a female bodybuilder draped in Dior.
Unlike the SUV families from rivals such as Beamer and Audi, Volvo has deliberately separated the XC40 from the XC60 and XC90 in terms of looks — which is refreshing. But the interior is probably the star of the show.
Key Facts
VOLVO XC40 D3 FWD
Price: £28,965
Engine: 2.0 litre diesel
Economy: 58.9mpg
0-62mph: 9.8sec
Top speed: 124mph
Leghth: 4.4 metres
CO2: 127g/km
The slightly clinical edge of the outside doesn’t transfer inside. It’s still clean and tidy, but it’s lavished in showhome-quality fabrics and splashes of calming colours.
The seats feel as if they’ve been lifted from the bridge of the Starship Enterprise, and I’ll never get bored of playing with Volvo’s tablet-style centre console.
Five engines are available — two diesel and three petrol — which means there’s something for every budget. The petrol T5 packs a significant wallop, should that be your thing, with a 0-62 time of 6.5 seconds. Road noise is at a minimum and the suspension is tuned to perfection, adjusted via five drive modes, which makes driving the XC40 a pleasant experience.
But it’s pleasant in the same way as afternoon tea at the tennis club — it’s gently predictable.
And predictability is exactly what the darlings of suburbia are in the market for. The pedestrian detection and lane assist systems which come as standard on the XC40 are far more important to them than the ability to achieve lift-off oversteer on the B4450 to Chipping Norton.
That’s why they buy a Volvo XC40, the car you want to hate — but simply can’t.
MOST READ IN MOTORS
Merc is Am-Azing
OH Lord, won’t you buy me a Mercedes-Benz? The new AMG E53 if possible. In estate form.
The Germans have just announced the release of the new “half fat” AMG E Classes, in both saloon and estate.
Sitting below the fast E63, and replacing the slightly tamer E43, the E53 packs a serious punch.
It’s got a 3.0 litre, six-cylinder petrol engine with a boost function. As standard it produces 435bhp, the boost adds 22bhp.
It all helps keep the emissions and MPG down, while still boasting a 0-62 mph time of just 4.5 seconds. That’s sports car fast in a big, luxury saloon.
Mercedes claims the E53 can return 32.5mpg and produces 200g/km of CO2. Not bad, if true. And it comes with plenty of bells and whistles.
It sits on 19 inch alloys and has a sports exhaust system, as well as air suspension and ride control system.
The interior is full Nappa leather, with a 12.3 inch infotainment system. But it doesn’t come cheap. The saloon starts at £61,835. It’s two grand more for the estate. I’d better start going to church.
Fast Cars and Robbers
SOME alarming statistics, car theft increased by 56 per cent from 2016 to 2017. That’s shocking.
Last year, 89,000 cars were nicked in the UK, up from 56,000 in 2016, Government figures show.
It’s mainly down to the increase in keyless thefts, where scumbags can mimic a car’s key fob signal using a device which can be bought for just £100.
The device can pick up the signal of the genuine fob and fool the car into thinking it’s being opened legitimately.
Once inside, the thieves can override the keyless start with a simple computer. This happened to me when thieves tried to steal my Fiesta ST.
They were spooked by my neighbour so abandoned it.
Police tell me any car nippy enough to outrun the average cop car is at risk.
Thieves apparently get around £5,000 per car, which is dismantled and rebuilt into a new car from a number of the same type of stolen vehicle. That makes it very difficult to identify.
To steal someone’s pride and joy makes you lower than a worm’s a***hole.