Garage
108 whichcar.com.au/wheels
more than a cursory effort in this
department is what helped Volvo’s
small SUV claim victory in Wheels Car
of the Year 2019. Though the sportier
seats in the T5 are a touch narrow and
flat to rival the cushy tush holders in
some rivals, the breadth of adjustment
to find a suitable driving position is
great, and the materials feel premium
with practical longevity in mind. It’s
the Scandinavian feng shui: it’s lagom.
But the leaps and bounds Volvo
has made in the ease of use and
convenience of its instruments and
controls aren’t immediately evident.
Volvo’s step into the ‘all-in-
one’ infotainment system was, in
many ways, brave. When the XC90
arrived in 2015, you could count
on a velociraptor’s hand how many
manufacturers had successfully
embraced a digitised cabin.
It’s almost par for the course that
when a manufacturer opts for a
landscape screen – particularly when
it’s plotted on top of the dashboard
like an afterthought – the design and
layout for functions such as heating,
cooling and seat-warming are already
baked into the dashboard’s mould.
But when a portrait screen is
used, it usually means most of those
functions need to be moved, or
integrated, and it is the latter that canURELY THERE’S NO
place more important in a
car than where the driver
touches it for most of its
motoring life – bum on the
seat, hands on the wheel,
fingers on controls.
Driving position, connection with
the car and touch points quickly form
an almost infrangible first impression;
so there’s no point engineering a
dynamically stunning vehicle and
putting a wonky steering wheel on it.
After living with the XC40 for
a couple of months, I think thatreally make a mess of functionality.
The XC40 has basically shoehorned
nearly every core function into its
touchscreen; gone are ‘old-school’
switches. So what of its functionality?
When Renault started doing this
about half a decade ago, it was a
nightmare. It was like trying to pin
down a Battleship in the board game
but on a boat that was actually sinking.
I was reluctant to think that the
Swedes had found a solution, but they
have. The software is lightning quick
and there’s no latency from recognition
to input. Hit the seat-warmer and it
instantly clicks and changes the graphic.
The HVAC (heating, ventilation and
air-conditioning) is the same. It’s like
a smartphone to use, and it controls
almost everything – lane-keeping
assist, engine start/stop, ‘bending’
light-beam assist, adaptive cruise
control, traction control, seat-warmers,
and obvious things like the radio.
What’s best is that it isn’t
distracting to use and it makes life
easier, not harder. It’s clever, and
shows we can successfully move on
from switches that are collecting dust- literally. It’s an example to many of
how to make the switch to digitisation
feel seamless. And it makes a good
impression, every day.
ALEX RAE
REPORT
NINES
SWEDE AS
A K.I.S.S.
COTY WINNER SHOWS
HOW VOLVO BOFFINS
MASTERED THE MANTRA:
KEEP IT SIMPLE, STUPIDVOLVO XC40 T5
Price as tested: $62,710
This month: 1067 km @ 9.4L/100km