REVIEWS: 2010 Volvo XC60 T6 R-Design

Yowza! I was pleasantly surprised by this Volvo. Powerful and fun like a sports car with the storage of an SUV. Loved the interior trim and seats -- masculine and sporty. Seat heaters worked like a dream. Plenty of room for passengers and luggage, yet tight turning radius and compact size got me into some tight spaces.

From an art guru perspective: I love the taillights, which make for quite the abstract look at night. I'd park this in my stable before a Lincoln MKX or a Cadillac SRX. It'd be a tough call between an XC60 and an Audi Q5, but I think the Volvo might beat that as well.

- Kelly Murphy, Creative Director

The Volvo XC60 drives well, rides very comfortably, handles well, and has a well-balanced, nicely calibrated powertrain. It's also very stylish inside and out. The numerous R-Design touches (grille, seats, wheels, tailpipes, etc) are nice, but red certainly wouldn't be my choice for this car. Otherwise, I would gladly park an XC60 in my garage.

- Rusty Blackwell, Copy Editor

The in-car technology on the Volvo XC60 was pretty much outdated when the vehicle launched in 2009. One year later and it looks utterly archaic, compared not only to the luxury competition, but also cars costing tens of thousands of dollars less. Our long-term Hyundai Sonata costs less than $26,000 and has a much more attractive and functional navigation system. The Volvo's large screen is comically underutilized, only capable of displaying the navigation map. Audio, climate, and phone information are displayed on a smaller, pathetic single-color display.

Read More: http://www.automobilemag.com/reviews/editors_notebook/1012_2010_volvo_xc60_t6_r_design/index.html

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Volvo Future Engines to be Smaller, More Fuel-Efficient

Volvo recently announced it will be increasing the fuel-efficiency of its future vehicles by downsizing engine capacity.

Engine downsizing is a common way by which to decrease fuel consumption. Most manufacturers are also equipping their smaller engines with forced induction in order to maintain power outputs, a technique Volvo has been using for years. Volvo's engines with the new technology were just introduced on the new 2011 S60 and V60, only one of which we currently get here in the U.S. Volvo introduced a new 3.0-liter, turbocharged, direct-injected I-6 in the U.S.-spec S60 that puts out the same horsepower as the old 4.4-liter, Yamaha V-8.

Europeans also have more engines to choose from, including a 2.0-liter, turbocharged, direct-injected "volume" I-4 that could come to the U.S. tt's unclear whether or not Volvo's future diesel engines will make it across the Atlantic. "We are taking a deep look at whether we will introduce the diesels to the U.S.," Volvo CEO Stefan Jacoby told Autocar. "We haven't decided yet."

Read More: http://blogs.automotive.com/6734205/miscellaneous/volvo-future-engines-to-be-smaller-more-fuel-efficient/index.html

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2010 LA Auto Show: Volvo C30 DRIVe Electric First Drive Report

One of the great things about auto shows is the chance for journalists to drive prototype cars, especially at the Los Angeles Auto Show, known for its green-car test drives.

We got a chance to spend 20 minutes behind the wheel of the Volvo C30 DRIVe Electric car, with Volvo's Lennart Stegland in the passenger seat. He's the president and director of Volvo's special vehicles group.

Silent start and idle creep

The car we drove was fully fitted out, unlike one driven more than a year ago by Popular Mechanics editor Andrew English, which had only one of the two pieces of its battery pack installed--and a bad wheel bearing beside.

Starting the car, or booting it up, occurs in dead silence. There's no chime or tone to indicate that the vehicle is "awake" and ready to roll. Like the 2011 Nissan Leaf and 2011 Chevrolet Volt, the C30 DRIVe is fitted with simulated idle-creep, so lifting off the brake causes it to move forward.

That's a distinctly North American preference, Stegland agrees, and European drivers may prefer the car to behave as a manual-transmission car would, staying put until the accelerator is depressed.
Moving away from standstill, a whine from the electric motor increases in volume. It's barely audible at low speeds, but by 40 mph it's noticeable, though not intrusive. It signifies little more than that the car is a prototype. Chevy Volt engineers, for instance, eliminated audible motor whine entirely between pre-production prototype and salable car.

Read More: http://www.greencarreports.com/blog/1051992_2010-la-auto-show-volvo-c30-drive-electric-first-drive-report

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