Volvo XC90 V8 Sport 2007 Review

Road Test

Overall rating: 3.5/5.0
Engine/Drivetrain/Chassis: 3.5/5.0
Price, Packaging and Practicality: 4.0/5.0
Safety: 4.0/5.0
Behind the wheel: 3.5/5.0
X-factor: 3.5/5.0

When was the last time you saw a bright red SUV without red and blue lights on the top? If you need any reassurance about how hard this Volvo is trying to shed its staid image, you need look no further than the paintwork of 'our' XC90 V8 Sport.

Fire engine red with big graphite five-spoke rims, blacked-out trim panels and stripped of its roof rails, the five-door, seven-seater looks every inch the high-rise urban warrior and less the multi-function SUV. And thanks to its transverse-mounted 4.4-litre 232kW/440Nm V8 petrol engine, it's on its way to performing like one too.

Developed in conjunction with Yamaha (and closely related to the engine that once powered the US-market Taurus SHO), in Volvo form V8 is available in XC90 or S80 only, and is a fruity powerplant with more than a hint of old-fashioned Range Rover to its engine note.

It's a revvy, sonorous engine that isn't quite as torquey as those raised on a diet of long-stroke domestic eights might expect. The flipside of that is its shrill but effortless charge to the upper reaches of the tacho. No it's not an 8000rpm-plus screamer like Audi's RS4 but it gives every hint it could be. (There's an idea Mr Volvo: S40 V8 all-wheel drive, anyone?!)

Volvo claims a 0-100km/h time of 7.3sec for the V8 XC90 -- about 4sec faster than the frankly underdone 2.5-litre turbodiesel variant. There's a new 3.2-litre petrol inline six now available in the seven-seater with 175kW and 320Nm. If you're reluctant to be ambushed by the Carbon Cops via opting for the V8, that might prove to be the variant that's "jarrrrrst right!"

Even exercising the attractive burble and power delivery of the V8, however, we averaged just north of 15.0lt/100km during our week-long stint. That mightn't please the pious Prius people but it's pretty good for a big thumper like the XC. Expect to better that figure on the open road too, unless you're particularly heavy footed.

In the Sport variant the XC gets extra interior trim items -- the seats featured a snazzy contrasting edge stripe and there's cool, real alloy dash and console trim -- but save for the deletion of the roof rails the user-friendly basics of the three-row five-door wagon aren't compromised. The driver gets a thicker-rimmed, smaller-diameter wheel in keeping with the Sport tag.

During Melbourne's re-awakening of winter, the heated seats were a favourite.

The XC90's second row is multi-adjustable and a three-way split-fold. Even though they are essentially kids-only, we've always liked the user-friendly nature of the XC's sixth and seventh seats -- even if the load area is a touch higher than some people would like as a result.

The two-piece tailgate works well too -- its short lower-half doing a good job of keeping the shopping in situ when you open the tailgate to load your fourth instalment of bags at DFO.

Like most 'sporting' and luxury SUVs we'd expect but a handful of XC90 Sports to go offroad. The wheel and lo-profile tyre package is not well suited to do so, but they'll happily don chains and head for the white stuff.

On even streaming wet bitumen the XC has a fair degree of poise. The Sport variant has less body roll than we remembered and the vehicle's response to driver input was a touch sharper than the conventional model. It's no STi but it'll satisfy 95 per cent of those drivers shopping this type of vehicle and keep the best of the genre -- BMW's X5 -- honest.

It's worth noting too, that at $84,950 the XC might be an expensive Volvo, but it's more than $30K cheaper than the latest 252kW V8 Beemer and still $10,000 shy of the six-cylinder X5 Executive petrol which only just matches the XC in terms of equipment.

Our XC90 wasn't faultless, however. When reversing, the V8 we drove had a pronounced 'graunch' that seemed to be emanating from the front suspension (when the front wheels were on lock). And while our latest V8 tester was fault free, the XC90 V8 Executive we drove recently was showing trim faults in the form of a broken woodgrain panel adjacent the gearshift and other loose dash trims. We'll give it the benefit of the doubt and put the latter down to the the strain of being a test car.

Like most Volvo media cars of late, the XC90 Sport was fitted with Volvo BLIS blind spot warning system. As a regular motorcycle and bicycle rider I applaud the premise of BLIS but driving the XC90 I found it 'falsed' so often I started to disregard the A-pillar-mounted telltale. For instance, when driving in the right-hand lane of the freeway, BLIS regularly 'read' the solid carriage way divider. Annoying rather than dangerous, but you get the idea.

The premium SUV market seems to continue to defy fuel price and CO2 logic Down Under. While that is the case, expect Volvo's XC90 in its various guises to grow in popularity. In the future, it might face a touch more competition from the likes of the facelifted VW Touareg, but for the moment the XC90 V8 delivers a performance, badge and price combination that's hard to ignore.

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