2017 & 2018 Volvo SUV Reviews & Ratings

Volvo SUVs were a relatively late entry into the fiercely competitive SUV market. The first model, the XC90 was introduced in 2003 in response to the withering station wagon market which traditionally had been Volvos forte. The SUV was brought in to try to reclaim some of the market share that had been lost to manufacturers who had jumped onto the SUV bandwagon earlier and eaten into the most profitable area of Volvo's range of cars. Volvo is renowned for its reliability and quality of all... (full review continues below)

Volvo SUVs were a relatively late entry into the fiercely competitive SUV market. The first model, the XC90 was introduced in 2003 in response to the withering station wagon market which traditionally had been Volvos forte. The SUV was brought in to try to reclaim some of the market share that had been lost to manufacturers who had jumped onto the SUV bandwagon earlier and eaten into the most profitable area of Volvo's range of cars. Volvo is renowned for its reliability and quality of all its production cars and their range of SUVs is no exception.

Volvo SUVS have always been focused more on the luxury crossover section of the market and they managed to successfully avoid diving into the large more powerful gas guzzling section of the SUV market. The SUV market is highly competitive and Volvo SUVs have managed to carve out a niche for themselves with their two different models - the XC60 and the XC90. Nonetheless, even within their niche the competition is intense with many models vying for the lion's share of the rewards. Given the value for money luxury aspect of Volvos's SUVs, their direct competitors span the entire budget range and include the Nissan Duke, Chevrolet Equinox, Kia Sportage, Nissan Rogue, Mazda CX 9, Audi Q5, Acura MDX, Mercedes Benz GL Class and the Infiniti QX56.

Volvo SUVs come in two different price ranges, the lower end XC60 having three trims with the basic trim the Volvo Base Sport Utility starting at $33,000 featuring a 3.2 liter 6 cylinder engine delivering 240 horsepower at 6,200rpm and 236 foot pound of torque at 3,200rpm. Fuel economy is fairly poor for a crossover SUV only managing 18mpg in the city and 25mpg on the highway although the 18.5 gallon tank manages to keep the range to almost 400 miles. At the upper end of the Volvo SUV budget range is the Volvo XC60 R Design Sport Utility starting at almost $44,000 with a 3 liter turbocharged engine giving 325 horsepower at 5,400rpm and 354 foot pound of torque at 3,000rpm. Despite the increase in performance, the fuel economy only dips slightly to 17mpg in cities and 22mpg on highways.

The second Volvo model, the XC90 is not that much more expensive than the XC60 with Volvo opting to keep the model away from the over $55,000 range, and away from such companies as Mercedes and BMW. Instead, they offer luxury appointments and keep the price mid range. The Volvo XC90 3.2 Sport Utility starts at $40,000 with the exact same engine as the XC60 lower end model but due to the increased size and weight of the XC90 it only manages a fuel economy of 16mpg in the city and 22mpg on the highway. The top end model is a larger version of the XC60 R Design, the SC90 R Design which has similar performance but the fuel economy suffers.