2021 Volvo XC90 vs 2018

What's the difference?

The XC90 Recharge makes a lot of sense for a family with a couple of kids, who live and spend most of their time in the city and surrounding suburbs.

You’ll need access to a power point for charging and you’ll have to do it regularly to get the best out of this SUV, but in return you’ll get effortless and efficient driving, along with the practicality and prestige which comes with any XC90. 

The XC90 may have been the first of Volvo's new breed of cars, but it remains exceptional in its styling, refinement, technology and safety. The R-Design trim level makes it the burger with almost the lot in that it still gives you room to option more and doesn't assume you want, say a sunroof, when you might not.

The T6 engine is excellent – powerful, with plenty of torque. All that's missing is a beefy soundtrack to go with this brute of an SUV. A cool alternative to a large SUV from BMW, Benz and Audi.

Cars are like dogs in that a year for them ages them more than one for us. So, this current-generation XC90 which came out in 2015 is getting on in age. Still, the XC90 is a design lesson in how to defy the aging process because the styling even now it appears modern and beautiful. It’s also big, tough, and prestigious looking which is how the flagship SUV in a premium brand should be.

The Thunder Grey paint my test car wore (see the images) is an optional hue, and it suited the battleship size and personality of the XC90. The enormous 22-inch five -spoke Black Diamond Cut alloy wheels were standard and filled up those giant arches nicely.

Maybe it’s the minimalist styling which has kept the XC90 looking cutting edge, because even the interior looks like the inside of a very expensive psychiatrist’s office with those leather seats and the brushed aluminium trim.

The vertical display is still impressive even in 2021, and while fully digital instrument clusters are in everything these days the XC90’s has a prestigious look and matches the rest of the cabin in its colours and fonts.

As for the XC90’s dimensions, it’s 4953mm long, 2008mm wide with the mirrors folded and 1776mm tall to the top of its shark fin antenna.

Can you believe the current Volvo XC90 came into the world in 2014 and still looks this good? Signature elements are the giant grille with its oversized badge, the 'Hammer of Thor' headlights, the unmistakable Volvo tail-lights and the tall profile with enormous windows. Yup, the XC90 is still a futuristic, stylish and elegant-looking brute.

The R-Design trim level enhances the look by adding a gloss-black grille, body-coloured side skirts and bumpers, silver wing mirror caps, aluminium roof rails, a roof-top spoiler, fog lights in the front spoiler, dual tail pipes and the 20-inch alloys you can see in the images.

The modern, minimalist design cabin has also aged well – although the portrait-orientated screen now feels a bit small. I remember writing about how outrageously large it was when it was launched – and then I sat in a Tesla with its mega touchscreen, taking displays to a whole new level.

The R-Design spec makes its presence known in the cabin, too, with the R-Design steering wheel, R-Design Sport pedals and R-Design carpet; it also adds carbon-fibre door inlays and a leather illuminated gearshift knob.

The R-Design trim level also gives buyers two seat trim choices – Nappa leather/Nubuck or Nappa perforated leather. Both are no-cost options and our test car featured the perforated hide.

How big is the XC90? Let's take a look at this seven-seater SUV's dimensions. The XC90 is just less than 5.0m long, more than 2.0m wide (with mirrors) and nearly 1.8m tall.

As far as prestige seven-seat rivals go there's Audi's Q7, Mercedes-Benz's GLS, the Land Rover Discovery and the soon-to-arrive BMW X7.

Clever interior packaging means the XC90 Recharge is more practical than many large SUVs. There are flashes of utilitarian brilliance everywhere from the children’s booster seat which pops out of the centre of the second row (see the images) to the way the XC90 can crouch down like an elephant to make it easier to load stuff into the boot.

The XC90 Recharge is a seven-seater, and like all SUVs with third rows those seats in the very back only offer enough room for kids. The second row is spacious even for me at 191cm tall with plenty of leg- and headroom. Up front as you’d expect has good head-, elbow- and shoulder room.

Cabin storage is good with two cup holders in each row (the third also has containers under the armrests) and there are large door pockets, a decent sized centre console box and a net pocket in the front passenger footwell.

The cargo capacity with all seats being used is 291 litres and with the third row folded flat you’ll have 651 litres of boot space.

Storage for the charging cable could be better. The cable comes in a stylish canvas bag that sits in the boot, but other plug-in hybrids I’ve driven do a better job of providing a storage box for the cable that’s out of the way of your regular cargo.  

The gesture control tailgate works with a foot swish under the rear of the car and the proximity key means you can lock and unlock the vehicle by touching the door handle.

The cargo area is filled with hooks for bags and a lift-up divider to hold items in place.

Four-zone climate control, four USB ports (two in the front and two in the second row) dark tinted rear windows and sun blinds top off what is a very practical, family SUV.

My family is small – there’s just three of us – and so the XC90 was more than what we needed. That said, we found a way to fill it with holiday gear, shopping, even a mini trampoline.

It's a giant box on wheels, how could be it be impractical? Actually, there are ways it could be more practical, but first the good points.

There's plenty of room. This is one of the few seven-seat SUVs where even at 191cm tall I can sit behind my driving position with space to spare, and then behind that position in the third row with just enough room for my legs. Headroom in the second row is excellent, but the third row is getting tight although my head still isn't touching the roof.

The doors to the second row are large providing a tall and wide opening for easy entry and exit. The third row is a bit tricky to get into, but I haven't met a single seven-seat SUV where entry into the third-row is a breeze.

Even though the XC90 does well to slide and fold its second row (40/20/40 split) forward, I still ended up crawling in on my hands and knees. Older kids will be able to leap in, so put them back there.

The boot is enormous and with the optional air suspension the XC90 can lower itself like an elephant getting down on its knees to make it easier for you to load stuff into the back. Yup, with all seats up you have 314 litres of boot space; with the third row folded flat you'll have a cargo capacity of 1019 litres, and with all of the seats folded (no not the front ones), there's 1868 litres. Those are measured in ISO litres which are different to the VDA litres used by many other car makers.

Storage throughout the cabin is good but could be better. There are two cupholders in the third row, two in the second and another two up front, and while the storage boxes in the armrests in the third row are an excellent idea, the second row just has small door pockets and seat-back cargo nets. It would be good to see drawers under the seats or even a fold out tray from the centre console.

Storage in the front isn't great either – that long sliding panel next to the shifter (you can see it in the images) houses the cupholders, the glove box is also on the smaller side and so is the storage area under that armrest – but it does contain two USB ports. There's one 12-volt power outlet in the second row, another in the boot and a cigarette lighter (or another 12-volt) in the front.

There's four zone climate control – and directional air vents in all three rows.

The Volvo XC90 R-Design T6 lists for $104,900, plus on-road costs. The trim level below, with the T6 engine, is the Inscription which lists for $102,900, and the entry-model is the Momentum for $96,900.

So, while nearly $105K might seem like a lot (especially once you add the on-road costs) you can feel comfortable knowing it's actually mighty fine value for money considering the amount of equipment you're given in return.

Coming standard is the 9.0-inch portrait touchscreen and the 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster, a head-up display and sat nav, there's a 10-speaker 330W stereo, Bluetooth and internet connectivity, Apple CarPlay and Android auto, digital radio, 360-degree parking camera, gear shifting paddles, power and heated front seats, four-zone climate control, a pop-out booster child seat in the second row, bending LED headlights, fog lights and a proximity key.

That's along with all the R-Design gear which we covered in the section above and the extensive safety equipment list which we'll cover below.

Our test car was fitted with the $8000 'Premium Package' which brings sunblinds for the rear doors, a Bowers & Wilkins sound system, air suspension, plus tailored dashboard and door trims. The 'Bursting Blue' metallic paint our car wore is a $1900 option.

Worried you're paying too much? Fear not, because relative to most other prestige seven-seat SUVs the XC90 R-Design T6 is at the more affordable end of the pricing spectrum.

Audi's Q7 3.0TDI Quattro lists for $106,900, Mercedes-Benz's GLS 350d is $118,729, while the Land Rover Discovery TD6 HSE manages to undercut it at $103,000.

It's interesting to note that while the XC90 T6 has a petrol engine, those rivals are diesels. Audi doesn't make a petrol Q7, Land Rover does make petrol Discoveries but only sell diesel ones in Australia, and as for a Benz GLS petrol there's only one - the GLS 500 and that lists for $165,129, which is $60K higher than our Volvo XC90. 

The XC90 Recharge (Volvo calls it this, so for simplicity let's do it, too) is an all-wheel drive SUV with a 2.0-litre four-cylinder supercharged and turbo-charged engine, producing 246kW and 440Nm, plus an electric motor which adds 65kW and 240Nm.

Shifting gears is an eight-speed automatic and acceleration is rapid at 5.5 seconds for the 0-100km/h sprint.

All XC90s have a 2400kg braked towing capacity.

The 11.6kWh lithium ion battery is located under the floor in a tunnel which runs down the centre of the car covered by the centre console and hump in the footwell of the second row.

If you didn’t realise, this is the type of hybrid you need to plug into a power source to charge the batteries. A power point is fine but a wall unit is faster.  If you don’t plug in, the battery will only get tiny whiff of charge from the regenerative braking and that won’t be enough to put a tiny dent in your fuel consumption.

The T6 in XC90 R-Design T6 refers to the engine – a 2.0-litre four-cylinder supercharged and turbocharged petrol.

You may have noticed in the images that our test car wears a tiny blue square on its tailgate. This is the badge of Volvo's Polestar performance tuning division. All R-Design XC90s come with the 'Polestar Optimisation' package which increases the T6's power output from 235kW to 246kW and its torque from 400Nm to 440Nm.

The Polestar Optimisation package also recalibrates the XC90's throttle response and increases the shifting speed of the eight-speed automatic.

Acceleration from 0-100km/h according to Volvo is 6.4 seconds which is a tenth of a second quicker than an 'un-Polestar-optimised' T6 - say in the Inscription T6 or Momentum T6.

The XC90 R-Design T6 is all-wheel drive and for the five of you out there who will ask, including my father in-law – it's a Haldex 'Generation 5' system.

My bet is the same people will also want to know its braked towing capacity: 2400kg.

Volvo says that after a combination of urban and open roads the XC 90 Recharge should use 2.1L/100km. That’s incredible - we’re talking about a five-metre long, 2.2-tonne, seven-seat SUV here.

In my testing the fuel economy varied greatly depending on how and where I drove the XC90.

There was a week where I only drove up to 15km a day doing the day care drop-offs, the shopping, popping into work in the CBD, but all within 10km of my home. With 35km of electric range I found that I only had to charge the XC90 every second day to keep it topped up to full and, according to the trip computer, after 55km of travel I was using 1.9L/100km.

I recharged using the outdoor power point in my driveway and using this method would take just less than five hours to fully charge the battery from empty. A wall unit or fast charger will top the battery up much quicker.

The charging cable is long at more than 3m, and the flap on the XC90 is located on the front left wheel guard.

If you don’t have a way of charging the XC90 regularly then fuel consumption will go up, obviously.

This happened when our family took a break down the coast and the holiday house we stayed at didn’t have a power point within reach. So, while we had been charging the car regularly in the week beforehand with a few long trips thrown in on motorways, for the four days we were away I didn’t plug it in at all.

After 598.4km I filled it back to full at the petrol pump with 46.13 litres of premium unleaded. That comes to 7.7L/100km, which is still great fuel economy given that the last 200km would have been without charging.

The lesson is the XC90 Recharge is most fuel efficient on short suburban and city trips with daily or every second-day charging.  

A larger capacity battery would add more range and make this plug-in hybrid SUV better suited to people who live further out of the city and do more motorway miles.

Volvo says the T6 four-cylinder turbo- and supercharged petrol engine with its eight-speed auto should use 8.5L/100km over a combination of open and urban roads – this goes for the Polestar Optimised T6, too.

We measured our test car's fuel economy at the petrol pump and calculated that after 246km of mainly suburban and city running we were using 14.3L/100km. The trip computer reported a slightly higher figure of 14.5L/100km.

We put more than 700km on the clock of the XC90 Recharge during the three weeks it stayed with my family, covering a lot of motorway miles, country roads and a stack of urban usage, too.

Now without sounding like one of the haters who hated on me the last time I test-drove a Volvo hybrid, you will need to charge the XC90 Recharge all the time if you want to get not only the best fuel economy, but also the best performance from the SUV, too.

There’s the extra oomph from the motor, when you have enough charge in the ‘tank’ but also the serene and smooth pleasure of driving in electric mode on city and urban trips.

That tranquil electric driving experience feels kind of at odds with a large SUV at first, but having now tested a few big family plug-in hybrids and EVs I can tell you it’s a more enjoyable one.

Movement is not only smooth, but the electric grunt provides a feeling of control with an instant response which I found reassuring in traffic and at intersections.

The transition from electric motor to petrol engine is almost seamless. Volvo and Toyota are only a couple of the few brands which seemed to have achieved this.

The XC90 is large and that presented a challenge when trying to pilot it into my narrow driveaway and in car parks, but light, accurate steering and excellent visibility with large windows and cameras galore helped there.

The auto parking feature works well even on the higgledy-piggledy streets in my neighbourhood.

Topping off an effortless driving experience is air suspension which provides a cushioned and composed ride, with great body control all while wearing those 22-inch wheels and low-profile rubber.

At 5.0m long, 2.0m wide and nearly 1.8m tall the XC90 R-Design T6 is big, but in comparison to other large SUVs it's one of the easiest to drive.

The images in this review were taken at the top of an eight-storey carpark: it's a good place to take photos of my review cars and at the same time test pilot them through probably the worst-designed car park you'll encounter.

Narrow ramps and tight turns are not really ideal conditions for a large SUV but the great visibility through the XC90's big windows, the excellent field of vision offered by the wing mirrors, the light steering and smooth throttle response made climbing to the summit pretty simple.

The flat, broad bonnet helps with being able to see exactly how much room you have between the concrete pylon and an insurance claim, too. Other large SUVs with curvaceous lines and noses that dip away from sight will have you sitting up like a meerkat trying to see how much room you have.

A four-cylinder petrol engine may seem small for such a large SUV but the T6 is outstanding – it's efficient and impressively powerful. Not once did I feel like it was lacking in grunt, but there were many times I wished the exhaust note sounded beefier.

Our car had the optional air suspension which for the most part turned out a composed and comfortable ride, although being fitted with fairly low profile tyres on large wheels (Continental ContiSport Contact5 275/45 R20) meant when the road surface turned bad the ride suffered.

And these aren't even the largest wheels. The R-Design T6 comes with no-cost option 22-inch wheels – they look good, but you'd be wise to try them before you buy.

The touchscreen will take some getting used to – I kept discovering more hidden 'pages' and functions the more I swiped around it.

A serenely quiet cabin, comfortable seats with uber-stylish surrounds, a commanding driving position and not being in just another German SUV made the experience even more special.

If this was Family Feud and the question was: 'Name a type of car that's safe? I'd bet the answer would be 'Volvo' every time. I'd also wonder if Volvo had paid for the question to be asked on the show.

Anyway, the reputation is justified and the brand continues to pioneer life-saving technology and equip its cars with the latest safety gear.

What's just as noble is how Volvo applies the full range of safety systems to all grades of XC90 – so even the base grade Momentum T6 comes with the same safety features as the R-Design T6.

This includes AEB which Volvo says is active from four km/h and can brake effectively to avoid a collision with a pedestrian at up to 45km/h. At speeds higher than 45km/h but below 70km/h the collision is mitigated.

According to Volvo the system will also detect cyclists and if one swerves into the path of the car, the XC 90 can reduced its speed by up to 50km/h. As for other cars, the XC90 can brake to avoid a collision if the speed difference between the cars is less than 30km/h.

The XC90 is also equipped with adaptive cruise control with stop and go function, lane keeping assistance, blind spot warning, rear cross traffic alert with AEB that works while reversing.

A run-off mitigation feature also brakes and uses evasive steering to pull the car back into its lane if the vehicle accidentally starts to veer off the road.

The XC90 is fitted with front airbags, side airbags, driver knee airbag, plus second and third row inflatable curtains.

For child and baby seats you'll find two ISOFIX mounts and three top tether points across the second row – there aren't any in the third row.

The XC90 R-Design T6 has a space saver spare located under the boot floor.

Chinese company Geely own Volvo, but the XC90s that are sold in Australia are made in Sweden.

The XC90 is covered by a five-year, unlimited kilometre warranty. Two service plans are offered: three years for $1500 and five years for $2500.

The XC90 is covered by Volvo's three-year/unlimited kilometre warranty. Servicing is recommended every 15,000km or 12months – whichever comes first.

There are two service programs offered for the XC90. There's the 'SmartCare' plan which costs $2225 for three years/45,000km; $3500 for four years/60,000km and $4230 for five years/75,000km. Then there's the 'SmartCare Plus' plan which costs $3050 for three years/45,000km; $5350 for four years/60,000km and $6540 for five years/75,000km.

It would be good to see Volvo offer capped price servicing, which doesn't need to be purchased as an additional piece of coverage.