On this episode of Ignition presented by Tire Rack (tirerack.com)
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MotorTranscript
00:00 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:02 There are very few things I enjoy more in life
00:21 than a Volvo wagon.
00:23 And this particular Volvo wagon is the new V90 Cross Country.
00:28 And it may be one of the best looking cars on the market
00:31 today.
00:32 And if you're staring at the screen wondering,
00:34 why should I care about this mommy mobile?
00:37 You are the problem.
00:39 When it was decided that owning a wagon
00:41 was the automotive equivalent of wearing a fanny pack,
00:44 wagons disappeared and the rugged, outdoorsy SUV craze
00:48 spread like wildfire.
00:50 In order to bring the wagon back,
00:52 Volvo was having to dress its best looking wagon ever
00:54 like an SUV in the hopes that it will sell in America.
00:58 So is this cross country version just a cynical marketing
01:01 exercise?
01:02 Or is it a fresh new take on the wagon format?
01:05 We're about to find out.
01:06 [MUSIC PLAYING]
01:10 [MUSIC PLAYING]
01:13 So what's different about the Cross Country?
01:31 For one, all wheel drive is standard.
01:34 Also, the ride height is raised about two inches
01:37 over a regular V90.
01:39 Both of those things are essential for going
01:41 off the pavement.
01:43 Volvo's pitching the V90 Cross Country as all terrain.
01:47 Well, is it?
01:48 To find out, we're here in rain soaked Washington state
01:52 at an off road course where I want to make my rally
01:55 fantasies come true.
01:57 On the other hand, the producers have asked me to go real easy
01:59 on the Volvo after the way Johnny declawed a Raptor
02:03 in the desert with Ken Block.
02:05 And I'm a good boy.
02:06 I follow the rules.
02:07 [MUSIC PLAYING]
02:11 Mostly.
02:17 [LAUGHTER]
02:20 [MUSIC PLAYING]
02:23 [MUSIC PLAYING]
02:27 Volvo's advanced all wheel drive system
02:42 is really a fifth generation Haldex.
02:44 And it's a front wheel drive based system
02:47 that distributes torque to the rear
02:49 unless or until the system detects front wheel slip.
02:52 It's 100% front wheel drive.
02:54 Now, if it were up to me, it'd be 100% rear drive
02:58 and fade in the front drive.
02:59 But I'll take what I can get.
03:01 The V90 Cross Country is really well behaved.
03:10 But you can make it step out if you really provoke it.
03:14 The system is constantly monitoring wheel speed
03:17 and uses the brakes to limit power at the wheel that slips
03:20 and deliver it to the wheel that grips.
03:23 Surprisingly, this triple duty of stopping the car,
03:27 distributing the power, and preventing spin outs
03:30 didn't seem to trouble the brakes.
03:32 The rotors were clean.
03:33 And there was no evidence of fade.
03:36 The all wheel drive hardware is the same on the S90, the XC90,
03:40 and the V90.
03:41 But the Cross Country has unique software.
03:44 There's an off road mode that's specific to the Cross Country.
03:48 It includes lighter steering, softer throttle response,
03:52 and a hill descent mode that's good for those gnarly,
03:56 slippery downhills.
03:58 But what I prefer is to leave it in dynamic, in the sport mode,
04:02 with the stability control as off as it can be.
04:06 Watch this.
04:16 When I'm really sliding the car around, what happens
04:19 is I can rotate it on the entries.
04:21 And when I go to power, it straightens itself back out
04:25 again and puts the power down.
04:27 So it's an entry rotator.
04:29 You kick it sideways on the way in
04:31 and then stabilize it by going into power.
04:34 I can feel the all wheel drive straightening the car up
04:37 and using power where there's traction.
04:42 Something I really like about the V90
04:45 is it has double wishbone front suspension.
04:47 It's not a McPherson strut.
04:49 That gives superior front grip because it's
04:52 better at controlling the steering angles, the alignment,
04:54 and especially the roll centers.
04:57 The higher ride height of the V90 Cross Country is fixed,
05:01 but there is an adjustable air suspension for the rear only,
05:04 meant for higher loads.
05:06 What I'm seeing here is that Volvo didn't just simply jack up
05:09 a V90.
05:10 They've compensated with different spring rates,
05:13 shock absorbers, anti-sway bars, and they've even
05:16 gone so far as to use the uprights from the XC90
05:20 to have the proper suspension geometry for the increased ride
05:24 height.
05:24 It's for real.
05:26 Is it a Jeep?
05:27 No.
05:28 But it does have off-road capability
05:31 to take your family out for the weekend
05:33 into the woods for kayaking and camping.
05:35 So the Cross Country is surprisingly
05:37 competent out here.
05:38 And while this is pretty much the most fun
05:40 I've ever had in my entire life, living out my rally driver
05:44 fantasies, I think it's time to take the V90 Cross Country out
05:48 to where it's going to spend the vast majority
05:50 of its regular life--
05:52 the road.
05:52 Now that we've gotten the off-roading out of our system,
06:09 how does it feel out here on the road?
06:12 Serene.
06:14 It's a quiet, comfortable, controlled experience.
06:19 There's a feeling of quality.
06:22 It feels expensive.
06:24 It feels like it's worth the money.
06:26 The Cross Country feels lighter than its 4,200 pounds.
06:33 The steering is responsive.
06:35 There's a sense of control.
06:37 We're in the comfort mode, and at low speeds, it feels great.
06:41 It feels controlled.
06:43 But then a little bit more of a bump gets a wallow.
06:46 We'll allow the suspension to heave.
06:49 There's a sense of body structure.
06:52 This car is really well put together.
06:54 And it looks as expensive as it feels.
07:00 The V90 is a very successful Scandinavian design by Volvo.
07:06 Part of the way they achieve that is right here.
07:08 Look at the difference between the front fender well
07:11 and the top of the hood.
07:12 This is very narrow in profile.
07:14 It makes the car look like a projectile,
07:17 like it's going forward, like it's in motion,
07:20 even when it's sitting still.
07:22 It's just beautiful.
07:23 To my eye, way better looking than any SUV.
07:27 Even though the Cross Country has additional ride height
07:30 than this subtle body cladding, it
07:32 hasn't disturbed the beauty of the original design.
07:35 In fact, that may be my only criticism.
07:38 If I were king, I would have gone even further.
07:41 I mean, we saw the V90's got real off-road capabilities.
07:45 The design should reflect that.
07:47 However, the interior design is a modernist joy
07:50 that really pleases the eye.
07:53 There's a clarity of line characteristic
07:55 of its Scandinavian origins.
07:57 The dark walnut and tan cowhide surfaces exude high quality,
08:02 as does everything inside, like the delightful jeweled
08:05 switches.
08:06 Overall, the cabin has a light and airy feel,
08:10 making it a refreshing alternative
08:12 to the stark efficiency of its German rivals.
08:16 But enough about how it looks.
08:17 Let's get back to driving.
08:19 We haven't said much about the engine yet,
08:27 so let's talk about it.
08:29 It's a four cylinder, two liter.
08:31 But it's supercharged and turbocharged to 316 horsepower.
08:37 For a full-size wagon, this is not a very big engine.
08:41 But the boosting gives it really more than adequate power.
08:45 Occasionally, it sounds and feels like a four cylinder,
08:48 especially in part throttle.
08:50 At cruise, it is quiet, silent.
08:53 That's where it's serene.
08:55 At full throttle, it actually feels and sounds sporty.
08:59 It's a quick car.
09:01 The only time that I get a sense of just two liters working
09:04 under the hood is from a standstill quick start.
09:08 There's just a moment before the engine wakes up, and off we go.
09:12 So let's slow down a minute and see how that feels.
09:15 We're at a dead stop.
09:16 I want to beat this guy to the on ramp.
09:18 Light goes green.
09:20 Come on, there you go.
09:22 There's just that moment of hesitation.
09:26 The supercharger's filling in the low end
09:28 and the quick throttle response.
09:30 Turbocharger breathes all the way to the red line.
09:36 Connected to this engine is an eight-speed gearbox.
09:39 Many manufacturers have used eight, nine,
09:41 10-speed gearboxes, but they geared them like six speeds.
09:46 Volvo has taken advantage of these eight ratios,
09:48 spacing them close together, so they click off
09:51 shifts like a race car.
09:53 The engine doesn't lose a lot of revs.
09:55 It's bop, bop, bop.
09:57 And this way, Volvo can take advantage of that small engine
10:01 in a big car and get the performance.
10:05 That's because going forward, Volvo
10:07 is going to be using a similar four-cylinder, two-liter engine
10:11 in all of its products.
10:12 So it's got to stretch from the entry level
10:15 all the way to the most premium and work well in every scenario.
10:19 That's actually what I like about a wagon.
10:22 It's got more of the car capability, better handling,
10:26 more efficiency, more performance.
10:28 Guess what?
10:29 More safety.
10:30 Active safety.
10:32 Something that handles better can avoid an accident.
10:35 And that's one of the advantages of going with a wagon.
10:39 So here's the deal.
10:40 From where I'm sitting, unless you're
10:42 going to do some serious off-roading, more serious
10:45 than we did in this cross-country,
10:47 there's really no reason to get an SUV.
10:49 Back to our original question.
10:55 Is the cross-country just a cynical marketing exercise
10:59 meant to satisfy macho vanities?
11:02 Well, when the chief instructor of a rally school
11:05 gets blown away by how it digs in and goes,
11:08 you know it's for real.
11:11 Yet, its off-road prowess does not
11:13 come at the expense of its on-road abilities.
11:17 What's great about this wagon is that it works better where
11:20 you really spend 99% of your time.
11:24 On the road, the cross-country is a more elegant, better
11:28 handling, and safer alternative to your SUV problem.
11:33 And wherever it is that your active outdoor lifestyle
11:36 takes you, you'll be using less gas getting there.
11:40 It hasn't disturbed the beauty of the original design.
11:47 [LAUGHTER]
11:49 You hear that?
11:50 It's very--
11:50 [GROANING]
11:53 Oops.
11:54 Life as a vegetarian.
11:56 OK.
11:57 (dramatic music)