by Anthony Fongaro - Photos via Volvo - 12/22/2021
Right now, every automaker is looking for a way to sway conventional gasoline-powered cars to hybrids or electric cars. It also feels like some of them understand that the swap from a gas-powered car to a full EV can be daunting, so there’s always the tried-and-true hybrid. You don’t have to worry about charging and you get the benefit of higher miles-per-gallon. Then there are mild hybrids and they’re quite different. How so? Well, let’s take a look at my test car, the 2022 Volvo XC60 B6 AWD with the R-Design package to find out!
Thor’s Hammer, the name of the taillights which dates back a few years, still sounds and looks cool. What looks cool but disappointing is there are a few fake front vents. I understand the design, but it would be great if they were real. Twenty-one-inch wheels always make a car look fancy, and the side profile is all-wheel with the familiar Volvo silhouette. Volvo is shown large and proud on the electric-tailgate, along with Volvo’s now traditional taillights and B6 badges. What’s odd is it looks like Volvo tried to put in fake exhaust but then decided just to cover them up. Either way, the R-Design looks great on the XC60.
Open the door and you’ll see a cockpit with not a lot of buttons. In fact, the only buttons are the media, random buttons next to the steering wheel, and on the steering wheel itself. I’ll get into what’s now in the infotainment system, but let’s look ahead in the driver's seat. First off, you have haptic buttons on the steering wheel which aren’t labeled well. The left buttons are for the safety features like adaptive cruise control, while the right side is for media. There are digital dials, but you can only see a map, trip-computer, or nothing at all. It’s disappointing that you get such little information. I always like a head-up display, and this option was also ticked. Once again, not a lot of information, but it was all that I needed. I loved the interior, simply named “Slate Nappa Leather/Leatherette/Graphite Textile Charcoal interior”. How minimal.
What needed a big change was Volvo’s old infotainment system. All of the menus are different because Volvo now runs Google! That means you have Google Maps and voice commands. There are only four tiles on the infotainment system for maps, media, phone, and Google Assistant. Beyond that are the climate controls which were a little fussy. What was the fussiest was using Google Maps. About three times, on mostly cloudy weather, it couldn’t find a signal. Funny enough, my phone could. I think Volvo has to re-think this, especially because it doesn’t have Apple CarPlay and Android Auto…they will later. The Bluetooth quality is low, and people had a difficult time hearing me.
Something else I could hear was the engine, although not as much as I thought. The “B” models of the XC60 get a 48-volt mild-hybrid system. The B6 comes with a turbocharged and supercharged inline-four producing 295-horsepower and 310 lb-ft. As the name says, this XC60 had AWD. Combine all of this with the eight-speed automatic, and the XC60 gets from 0-60 MPH in 5.7 seconds. While I’m sure the XC60 can do that, there’s a big caveat and this just makes no sense. There are no driving modes. None. At least the pre-facelifted one did. Volvo says that their hybrids can’t have driving modes. This is really confusing, but really only journalists are going to use drive modes in an XC60. Also, the ignition is a switch, and the shifter takes two pushes or pulls to get into gear. Not a fan.
What’s interesting is that the XC60 doesn’t really need any drive modes. It’s a very comfortable car and the heated seats and steering wheel gets hot quickly. If you want to change the fan speed, you have to go to a large screen and the fan speed was always sporadic. It would either take a minute to realize I changed the fan speed or location. While driving, you’ll feel that this R-Design may have 295-horsepower, but it wants you to just chill. Don’t get me wrong, the XC60 does alright with corners, but the slow-to-shift automatic and more comfy suspensions weren’t the biggest fans. When you’re not gunning in, the XC60 is very smooth, and the optional 1,460 W Bowers & Wilkens sounds fantastic. There is a wireless charger, but if you accelerate even a little hard, it flies into the dash. That needs a redesign.
Now that we’ve taken a look at the XC60, let’s get to the money. As an XC60 B6 AWD R-Design, the starting price is $55,000. Some of the packages include the Climate Package for $750 and Advanced Package for $2,000. The Climate Package gets you the heated steering wheel, headlight cleaners, and heated rear seats. The Advanced Package includes the head-up display, a more advanced safety suite, a 360-degree camera, and a few little items. This XC60 also had the following options: $200 for the power tailgate, $3,500 for the Bowers & Wilkens sound system, $1,500 for 4-corner air suspension, and the lovely 21-inch wheels for around $1,100. These take this XC60 B6 AWD R-Design to $65,000.
The only catch for the XC60 that I’m not a fan of is the Google-based infotainment screen. Also, this two-liter engine only gets 20 MPG. This wouldn’t put me off from recommending the XC60, but I would wait for that update. Even without the update for Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, the XC60 is a pleasant SUV to drive. It has Volvo’s minimalistic design with a comfortable interior and decent powertrain. If you’re looking for an alternative luxury SUV, just look to the Swedes and Volvo.
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