Volvo XC60

Volvo’s XC60 is a late arrival to an increasingly competitive SUV niche. Well known for their innovative engineering in terms of safety, Volvo has announced that the XC60 is the safest Volvo ever - bold claims indeed! It is certainly the curviest - possibly best looking Volvo - for many years. Based on the S80 sedan platform, the XC60 is 8.3 inches shorter than its big brother, the XC70. The interior is sumptuous and retains all of the Volvo brand styling cues, such as the floating console. This AWD T6 model uses a turbocharged 3.0L engine producing 281 horsepower. In normal driving conditions, 90% of the power is used to drive the front wheels - when things get slippery, up to 65% of the power can be transferred to rear wheels via Volvo's Haldex IV system. A 60 mph time of 7 seconds ensures sprightly performance. The XC60 handles superbly - this is a Volvo that relishes tackling a series of fast high speed bends, or being quiet and effortless to drive on your journey home. As you would expect, the XC60 comes with a full range of safety features as standard. The latest feature making it's debut in the XC60 is Volvo's new crash-avoidance system called City Safety. Designed to prevent rear-end collisions by using a laser sensor which scans the road ahead for slowing or stopped vehicles. If such a vehicle is detected, the system operates the brakes to either prevent or at least lessen impact. Volvo claims the system can avoid most rear-end collisions entirely.