Volvo XC60 First Drive Review: One of the Safest Cars That Exists

The tech-laden Volvo XC60 is loaded with safety and convenience features, which make it easy and safe to drive.

The Volvo XC60 is one of the safest vehicles to drive. 

(Photo: The Quint)

The Volvo XC60 is such a tech-laden SUV, that it’s actually more tech than car. With the amount of safety features it has on its list, it is as close as you can come to autonomous driving.

The Volvo XC60 has been launched at Rs 55.9 lakh ex-showroom pan-India. At that price point, it is pretty good value for money as compared to other SUVs in its segment such as the Audi Q5 or the BMW X3, especially if you look at the list of features it offers.

The Quint was invited to Chennai to test drive the 2017 Volvo XC60 on the East Coast Road heading down to Puducherry.

Driving the Volvo XC60

The XC60 is powered by a Volvo’s D5, two-litre, four-cylinder diesel engine that puts out 235 bhp of power and 480 Nm of torque. It is mated to an eight-speed automatic transmission with all-wheel drive. It features multiple driving modes – Eco, Comfort, Rough Road and Dynamic, which alters its characteristics depending on the terrain.

The D5 also features ‘power pulse’ technology, which gets rid of turbo lag in the diesel engine. It stores compressed air on board and forces it into the turbocharger, enabling the driver to accelerate faster.

Then you have technologies like lane-keeping assist that keeps the vehicle within the lane, slightly correcting the steering as well. Switch on adaptive cruise control, and the XC60 will follow the car ahead of it, accelerating and slowing down as needed. It can even come to a complete stop if the car ahead of it stops, without needing driver intervention.

It has automatic braking feature which slows down the car and even brings it to a halt when it detects a collision or a large animal or pedestrian on the road. The City Safe braking function stops the car automatically if it detects jaywalkers. All this technology makes it a pretty safe car to drive.

For the full list of features and functions of the Volvo XC60 watch the video.

Video Editor: Puneet Bhatia
Camera inputs: Vikram Venkateswaran

(Breathe In, Breathe Out: Are you finding it tough to breathe polluted air? Join hands with FIT to find #PollutionKaSolution. Send in your suggestions to [e-mail] or WhatsApp @ [phone])