72 AUTOCAR.CO.UK 28 AUGUST 2019
our years ago, the all-
new Volvo XC90 arrived
in a blaze of ice-cool
Scandi glory – if that’s
not a contradiction – and a price tag
to match: £68,785 for the D5 First
Edition. This limited-edition version
was a showcase for the new Land
Rover Discovery rival and featured
air suspension, nappa leather and
a 1400W Bowers & Wilkins sound
system, in addition to the model’s
impressive and appealing roster of
standard-fit safety kit.
It was a lot of money, but then
Volvo has always had an inf lated
sense of its own worth. Not so the
used car market. It has a different
view of the Chinese-owned Swedish
brand, and the result is that
today you can pick up a
one-owner, 2015-reg
First Edition with
52,000 miles and a
panoramic sunroof
for just £33,500.
T h at ’s mor e l i k e it ,
but it gets better:
if you’re happy
to forego the First
Edition, you can get
into a one-owner, 2015-
reg D5 Momentum – the
entry-level trim – with 63,000
miles and full Volvo service history
for £23,900. New, it cost £46,250,
so happy days.
The XC90 was made for the used
car market, and not just because
of pr ic e s s uc h a s t he s e. T he r e ’s t he
apparently tank-like build quality
to enjoy, for a start. A four-year-old
6 0, 0 0 0 -m i le r or e v e n one of t he
many 100,000-mile-plus examples
knocking about (we a saw a one-
owner D5 Momentum with 112,000
miles and full service history for
£22,000) seems like a safe bet.
Or it would were it not for the
f a c t t h at i n t he 2 018 W h at C a r?
Reliability Survey, the XC90 ranked
18t h out of 2 5 lu x u r y SU Vs. W h at ’s
more, the model has been the subject
of a f a i r nu mb e r of s a fe t y r e c a l l s ,
while software glitches appear not to
have been very far away.
A t le a s t it ’s e a s y t o ge t y ou r he a d
around the model range. Engines
are 2.0-litre four-cylinder units inD5 diesel, T5 and T6 petrol, and T8
petrol-electric hybrid forms, while
the gearbox is an eight-speed auto,
drive goes to all four wheels and
the car has seven seats. Trim-wise,
there’s entry-level Momentum,
mid-spec R-Design and top-spec
Inscription. Adding a Pro suffix
to each brings the Winter
Pack, plus, on R-Design
and Inscription, air
suspension.
Which ones to go
for? The big seller,
and our pick, is
the 222bhp D5
Momentum. It has
all the features you
could possibly want,
while its braked towing
limit is a useful 2700kg.
On the subject of towing, in
2017 Practical Caravan magazine
voted the XC90 T8 its hybrid tow car
of the year.
Judged purely on economy, it’shard to make a case for the 316bhp
supercharged and turbocharged
T6 a nd t u rb o c h a r ge d 2 47 bhp T5
petrol engines, but if your mileage is
low, pr ic e s s t a r t i n g at £ 30, 0 0 0 for a
40,000-mile 2015-reg T6 Inscription
are not to be sniffed at. However,
that’s still higher than the D5, and
when it comes to a used XC90, you
really don’t want to end up paying
mor e t h a n y ou h av e t o.
The XC90 makes even more sense as a used buy, says John Evans
All XC90s have
all-wheel drive and
are seven-seaters
F
VOLVO XC 90
AUDI A6 AVANT 40 TDI QUATTRO
SPORT S TRONIC
£3926 deposit, £654 per month, 36 months,
10,000 miles per year
A stylish and practical estate with quattro four-wheel
drive and a smooth, powerful engine. Tick the air
suspension option if hauling heavy loads is your plan.
VW GOLF ALLTRACK 2.0 TDI 184 DSG
£2658 deposit, £443 per month, 48 months,
8000 miles per year
The Alltrack is a jacked-up Golf estate (it rides 15mm
higher than the regular car) with an off-road mode,
front and rear bash plates and restyled bumpers to
give better approach and departure angles.
SKODA OCTAVIA 2.0 TDI SE L 4X4
DSG ESTATE
£1701 deposit, £284 per month, 48 months,
8000 miles per year
It’s the cheapest option here but the Octavia has a
slick 4x4 system, a clever electronic diff lock, XDS
braking and a multi-link suspension system.
TOP SPEC PICK
INSCRIPTION PRO
Inscription means nappa
leather, thick pile mats and sun
blinds; Pro adds the winter pack
(heated wheel and windscreen,
adaptive lights and bigger
wheels) and air
suspension.
AS GOOD AS NEW
4x4 ESTATES BEST LEASE DEALS