Top Lawyer in Top Gear

“Do you fancy doing a test drive in a Volvo XC60 Diesel D5 SE ?” I was asked – yes, of course, would be delighted, I replied, not having a clue what sort of vehicle it was and never having driven any sort of Volvo before. Having worked my way through a fairly boring car history majoring in sensible family-orientated economical and cheap to insure estate cars, which, while perfect for ferrying kids and stuff to and from school, university, music festivals, etc, I finally have my “unsensible” but fun, sporty soft –top (albeit it is a fairly comfortable 4- seater….I clearly still have a way to go on the petrolhead stakes).

 

So, the next step was to turn to Google – found that it is What Car? SUV of the Year 2009 with impressive comfort, durability, safety and class-leading refinement! I just thought it looked good!  So,  I was really looking forward to having a blast in what looked like a very sleek and stylish machine – I was not disappointed, well, not in the shape and the lovely sleek lines. I was a bit unsure about the colour – lime green metallic, but decided it would grow on me. Totally hated the interior, I mean, who in their right mind would put yellow and black leather together with lime green?? The Italians certainly wouldn’t! However, I know I’m being picky, but you know what they say about first impressions.

 

 I really did like the shape – smooth, very aerodynamic, no sharp angles, nice catlike slope from back to front, quite sexy. Shame about the grill – somehow not quite right, but I digress. For an automatic, this machine was very responsive and very smooth going up through the register with no nasty lurches when accelerating hard. It’s quiet too. Having driven through town at a fairly sedate pace, I took it out onto open road and got from 0 to 60 mph in a satisfyingly short count and felt as though I had hardly scratched the surface of its capabilities on speed, however, common sense had to prevail, so having gone a good few miles on the A1, I turned off to test it round the country lanes. It is really easy to handle and good round tight corners, the ride was firm and positive and with quick acceleration, was lots of fun. Conditions were  dry, so I’ve no idea how it handles in the wet, but being a Volvo, with their reputation for safety first, I’m sure they have that covered. I didn’t get the opportunity to try the “City Safety” technology, so will leave you to find out what old Clarkson had to say about his experiences with it!  I liked being fairly high off the road – great visibility all round and not a mountaineering effort to climb into the driver’s seat either!

 

On a practical level, there is loads of boot space but I think it would be a bit of a squeeze to fit 3 big adults in the back seat. Bit of a shortage of space in the door pockets and I thought it was a bit stingy only giving the driver an electrically adjustable seat. Great sound system though, decent sized courtesy mirrors for those essential lipstick moments, but where were the parking sensors?? There is good rear vision for judging where the back of the car is, but I did think that rear sensors would be standard – I’m not a coward when it comes to parking, but have got used to having such little luxuries. On a cooler note, the aircon was incredibly efficient – having finally hit a bit of a heatwave, it was positively wonderful to be wafted by cool air within seconds of starting the engine. The driver’s seat was very comfortable – great lumbar support and I really felt that I could have driven all day in complete ease. Loved the automatic fold-away wing mirrors when locking the car.

 

There are some nice little touches like the LED display on the rear-view mirror telling you which direction you are heading – the pub was at South West…….

 

All in all, very comfortable, very quick off the mark, lovely lines and really easy to drive. Just lacks a bit of a “wow” factor, but then that’s maybe because I am just addicted to my soft-top