Urban Glamping
The new XC40, completes Volvo’s SUV range, with a compact car, which sits below the very attractive XC60. But my experience with it in the driver’s seat is anything but compact. But unlike its larger XC60 sibling which utilises their widely-used Volvo Scalable Product Architecture (SPA), the XC40 sits on Volvo’s Compact Modular Architecture (CMA), which will go on to form the underpinnings for the rest of the Volvo 40 series vehicles.
Under the hood, a 2.0 turbocharged, 250bhp engine, with 350Nm of torque, takes the XC40 to 100km/h in a cool 6.4 seconds. An 8-speed transmission delivers drive to all four wheels, for added grip. Maximum torque happens from between 1,800 to 4,800 rpm, meaning that the XC40 is very drivable, whether it is cruising on the highway, or even when you are caught up in start-stop traffic.
With its 20” rims, and 245/45 tyres on our test car, ride quality can still come across as slightly too jarring, even with a suspension set-up for comfort. We believe that 19” rims would have worked better for the car. The soft suspension does make for quite a bit of tilt around the bends, but it does not come across as “rolly rolly”.
The compact Volvo also features five drive modes, with adjustable steering force and including an Off-Road mode, allowing you to take full advantage of its all-wheel drive system for a little bit of mild off-roading. The shift lever is a joy to grip, with manual shifts done in a left-right fashion, of just simply flick the shift paddles behind the wheel.
Steering feel is good, and there is sufficiant feedback coming through. As with most other Volvos, there are a few safety nets in place to ensure that you are kept safe. The Lane Departure Warning “informs” you with a haptic warning, and even steering intervention when your wheels begin to cross the lane markers. Other driver goodies include Oncoming Lane Mitigation, Run-off Road Protection System, City Safety with Full Auto Brake and Pedestrian, Cyclist and Large Animal Detection, all of which are world-first features in a car. And for the R-Design, their Intellisafe Surround system also gets an added Cross Traffic Alert with Auto Braking feature, which crucially assists in keeping you safe, and away from possible cross collisions.
In addition to just getting there, Volvo has also included a 360 camera which not only helps you with parking your car, but also provides you with an added set of top-down eyes when driving out of tight spaces.
Behind the wheel, there is a sense that the car feels a little bigger than it really is, even when the wheelbase is a not-too-long 2,702mm. Thanks to this, the turn circle of the XC40 is a good 11.8m.
With a C1 VES banding, the XC40 with the R-Design trim sits a shade above $200k, making the compact rather pricy. But unroll the list of features the car has to offer, and you might feel that it really is quite justifiable.
Orange interior? I’d say yes! Personally it is a hit with me. The XC40 may be expensive, but it does feel the part.
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