Volvo's Exceptional XC90

If you're looking for a classy family vehicle that's safe as a tank, the improved Volvo XC90 should definitely be on your shopping list

by Thane Peterson

Editor's Rating:

The Good: Safety, available all-wheel drive, and third row of seats

The Bad: Sluggish performance, price mounts rapidly as you add options

The Bottom Line: An ultra-safe people-hauler with added flair for '07

Reader Reviews

• View Slide Show

Up Front

If you're looking for a classy family vehicle that's safe as a tank, the Volvo XC90 should definitely be on your shopping list. It's the first luxury sport-utility vehicle I've come across with a longer list of safety features on its sticker than comfort and convenience gear.

The XC90 has also gotten a lot sportier recently. For '07, the base model now comes with a 3.2 liter, inline, six-cylinder engine that delivers 235 horsepower, considerably more than the previously available 2.5-liter, 211-horsepower, five-cylinder engine. Yet the new six-cylinder engine uses variable cam timing and cam profile-switching (allowing the engine's intake valves to lift to different heights depending on how much power is needed) to achieve the same fuel efficiency as the previous engine. Alternately, the XC90 comes with an even bigger 4.4-liter, 311-horsepower V8 that was first introduced in 2005. However, the V8 seems like overkill to me now that the model has a decent-sized, entry-level engine.

It's also potentially a lot more expensive. The 2007 XC90 starts at $36,830 with the six-cylinder engine, rising by more than ten grand, to $47,120, if you go with the V8. A new, limited, V8 Sport version of the XC90 with stiffer suspension and some special styling cues starts at $49,995. That's not the whole story, though, because the V8 versions of the XC90 come with a lot of standard equipment you have to pay extra for with the smaller engine. More on that later.

Volvo, a unit of Ford (F), improved the XC90's exterior styling for the '07 model year, giving it a new grille and taillights. The six-cylinder-engine version now has color-coordinated side moldings and door handles, and cool new outside mirrors with turn signal flashers integrated into them. The V8 model gets the new outside mirrors, too, as well as aluminum roof rails.

The Selling Point: Safety

However the vehicle's big selling point remains safety. On Nov. 22, XC90 was one of just 13 vehicles rated a "Top Safety Pick" by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, earning the institute's top "Good" rating in all three categories by providing adequate protection of occupants in front crashes at 40 miles per hour, side crashes at 31 mph, and rear crashes at 20 mph. That last rating is especially reassuring to me because I always wonder if the third row of seats in SUVs provide enough protection for kids during rear-end crashes.

All versions of the XC90 come standard with antilock brakes, an electronic rollover prevention system, stability and traction control, and every kind of airbag around, including side-curtain airbags covering all three rows of seats. Options include Volvo's Blind Spot Information System ($595), which uses digital cameras mounted in the outside mirrors to warn the driver when vehicles overtake the XC90 on either side.

The downside, as with other midsize SUVs, is that fuel efficiency is lower than with station wagons or crossover vehicles. The XC90 with the six-cylinder engine and all-wheel drive is rated at 16 miles per gallon in the city and 22 on the highway. In my test car with the smaller engine, I got 17.5 mpg in a stretch of 174 miles of driving, though I pushed the vehicle pretty hard. The mileage rating is only slightly lower with the V8 engine: 15 mpg in the city and 21 on the highway.

For a Younger Market

The typical buyer of the XC90 is a relatively youthful 44 years old, five years younger than the average for the segment, according to the Power Information Network, which, like BusinessWeek is a unit of the McGraw-Hill Companies (MHP), and 61.5% of XC90 buyers are between the ages of 36 and 55, as opposed to just 52% for the segment.

The XC90 remains Volvo's top-selling U.S. model, but the brand's sales have slipped overall as consumers have turned away from SUVs. Volvo's overall U.S. sales in 2006 were off 6.3%, to 116,067 units, after falling 11.1% in 2005. The SC90's sales topped out in 2004 at slightly less than 40,000 units, then dropped 8.2% in 2005 and another 7.7% last year, to 33,241 units.