2018 Volvo XC60 T5 AWD

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Sinking into the soft leather seats of the 2018 Volvo XC60 T5, we felt something familiar. We aren’t referring to the visuals identical to those in other versions of the XC60 that we’ve driven, nor the familiar interior bits and pieces that have populated pretty much every Volvo since the 2016 XC90. The feeling went deeper, like when the perfume your great-aunt used to wear wafts under your nose or when you walk the halls of your high school after a decade or three.

Then it hit us: It was the seats themselves. Most new XC60s we’ve driven have been top-shelf Inscription models with the stylish, if firm, zillion-way-adjustable seats that heat, ventilate, and massage as part of a $3000 Luxury Seat package, or they were R-Design models with similar chairs partially covered in faux suede. And those are great seats. But this modestly equipped XC60 fitted with the base T5 powertrain in the Momentum trim had seats that felt like those we recall from pre-Geely-era Volvos, offering just the right amount of subcutaneous cushioning, utterly perfect support, and clean styling. Simple, but sublime. 

The familiar seat comfort, along with several other ways that this XC60 T5 Momentum evoked Volvos from the company’s “square as the box it came in” years, should provide a bit of mental relief for anyone who may struggle to embrace Volvo’s newfound styling swagger and its cutting-edge role in the areas of autonomous driving, innovative sales/leasing models, electrified-powertrain development, and creative engagement with non-automotive corporations like Amazon, Google, and Uber.

Indeed, rendered as it was in $595 Denim Blue Metallic paint, this test car appeared as unpretentious as a crisp new pair of jeans. The huge wheels and decorative frippery of higher-spec XC60s are not found on the Momentum trim, which makes do just fine with smaller 18-inch wheels, inauspicious black grille inserts, and a general paucity of shiny stuff. The only elements on the T5 Momentum that retain much New Volvo edge are its Thor’s Hammer LED front running lamps and the distinctive taillamps that zigzag down from the roof before cutting toward the license-plate frame. Otherwise, it’s about as conservative as your aunt’s old beige 740.

That said, beyond the seat feel, there’s not a lot of Old Volvo inside the XC60, even in its base trim. With its carpets, dash top, door uppers, and the outer rim of the steering wheel rendered in black and much of the rest of the interior done in a bone white that Volvo amusingly calls Blond, this car’s cabin looked fresh, convincingly luxurious, and certainly no worse for being a base model. The whole space is bathed in light via the standard panoramic sunroof, the better to find the Swedish flags: One peeks out from a seam in a front seat and another is discreetly embossed into the metal band underscoring the dashboard on the passenger side. The jury remains out on the ridged Linear Lime Deco wood trim inlays (a $500 option) that added some warmth to the space but looked and felt surprisingly plasticky to a few of our drivers. While contrast stitching is used in other Momentum interior schemes, it’s not used on this one. Also absent but not missed was the available fancy Bowers & Wilkins audio system; the standard 330-watt, 10-speaker stereo is plenty loud and well tuned.

A subtle yet significant contributor to the XC60’s sense of quality is the remarkable consistency of low-gloss finishes applied to the materials that make up the dash, door inners, center console, seats, and elsewhere. The only shine comes from stuff that should shine—glass, clear acrylics, and piano-black or metallic trim. Similarly, there’s a haptic consistency among the XC60’s various switchgear. Stir in the sophisticated presentation of information in the partially digital gauge cluster, which changes ever so slightly to suit each selected driving mode, and this base-level XC60 cabin boasts refinement that many competitors don’t achieve even in their highest specifications.

Our only major gripe with this T5’s Momentum-trim interior is a familiar one regarding the Sensus Connect infotainment system. It has been regularly improved and includes six months of complimentary Wi-Fi hotspot connectivity but remains a somewhat fussy thing to operate by comparison with the ever more intuitive systems found among its rivals.

When it comes to the driving experience, there is another way that the XC60 T5 evokes its antecedents. Specifically, its leisurely acceleration around town. Certainly, a 6.4-second zero-to-60-mph acceleration time is not terribly slow, and it’s decent for a mid-size Volvo crossover. But since most owners of such vehicles don’t brake-torque launch away from every stoplight—at least not often—the number that’s more indicative of the XC60’s around-town character is its 5-to-60-mph time, which, at 8.1 seconds, is a lengthy 1.7 seconds longer still. And that’s only if you floor it. Ditto the 30-to-50- and 50-to-70-mph passing times, which are nothing to brag about; plan ahead and allow a couple of extra seconds to get a running start for two-lane passing maneuvers. Given the T5’s marked nonlinearity during partial-throttle acceleration, we can understand why Volvo decided to add a supercharger, not just a more powerful turbocharger, to this engine for its next-rung-up powertrain, the 316-hp T6.

At least ride quality is deliciously smooth. The brakes are obedient and natural feeling but not too eager to bite. Ditto the steering, which is accurate but not particularly quick to respond. It may not be fast or strident, but the XC60’s dynamics are confident and rock stable.

Likewise, the XC60 T5 follows Volvo norms in offering cutting-edge safety features, but no Volvo of past eras could match today’s roster of safety stuff. Standard is lane-keeping assist, oncoming-lane crash avoidance, run-off-road protection and crash mitigation, and automated emergency braking with vehicle/pedestrian/cyclist/large-animal detection. Our example was further equipped with the $1100 Vision package, which includes blind-spot monitoring with steering assist, rear cross-traffic alert, front and rear parking assist with Park Assist Pilot, auto-dimming inner and exterior mirrors, and retractable outside mirrors. This one lacked the Pilot Assist adaptive-cruise-control system that enables something nearing autonomous capability as part of a $2200 Convenience package, and it also didn’t have the $1900 Advance package (curve-following headlamps, a head-up display, a surround-view camera system, and headlamp pressure washers). Still, it was robustly outfitted with life-protective features, and save for the engine stop/start feature, all such modernities were, for the most part, unobtrusive.

With all-wheel drive, our observed fuel economy came in at 22 mpg, the same number as the MPGe we observed when we last tested the expected fuel-efficiency leader among XC60s: the supercharged, turbocharged, and electrified T8 plug-in-hybrid model, a vehicle that weighed over 600 pounds more and also rang up a tally nearly $27,000 higher. Indeed, this T5 proves that one need not spend more to get most of the best that Volvo has to offer. It is a lovely vehicle for its $44,690 as-tested price—within 5 percent of its $42,495 base. With tasteful but tempered styling, a fair amount of comfort but no extraneous luxuries, a generous helping of turbo lag but those heavenly front seats, the T5 Momentum feels comfortable, safe, and reassuringly familiar—it’s the 740 wagon of the new millennium. And it’s a charmer.

Price Starting at

$42,495