Volvo XC90

The Volvo XC90: The Safe SUV

It is, of course, imperative that you go for the car with a great handling capability, superior stability, and a fine off-road driving capability if you opt for a sports utility vehicle.

A car’s safety features should also play a major part in the choice of a car. The car’s strong selling point is, of course, its safety features that only Volvo vehicles can offer. In fact, the sports utility vehicle earned good ratings on the safety tests posed on it by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS). Tests include front crashes at 40 miles per hour, side crashes at 31 miles per hour, and rear crashes at 20 miles per hour.

The Volvo XC90 is one of just 13 vehicles to be rated “Top Safety Pick” of the said institute. The safety rating of the car comes as no surprise given its wide array of safety features that are a given for nay Volvo models. The Volvo XC90 has the standard safety features like the antilock brake system, an electronic rollover prevention system, and stability and traction control. The choice of engines starts with the base model which employs a 3.2-liter in-line six-cylinder engine to the Sport version which offers a V8 engine. This engine is the first V8 engine that the company has employed in its long history. That fact and the safety and comfort that the vehicle offers makes the XC90 Volvo’s top seller in the US market with a young buyer base at an average of 44 years old.

The XC90 is Volvo’s premium midsize SUV that debuted at the 2002 Detroit Auto Show and went on sale in the fall of 2002. The XC90 V8 was added during the middle of the 2005 model year, the most powerful Volvo ever, powered by a 311-horsepower 4.4-liter Yamaha-built V8 engine with a 6-speed automatic transmission and All-Wheel Drive with Instant Traction. For 2007 the XC90 gets new exterior styling featuring a new grille, bumpers and taillights, the 3.2 also adds color-coordinated wheel arch moldings. The 3.2 is now powered by a new 24-valve inline 6-cylinder normally aspirated engine with 235 horsepower and mated to a new standard 6-speed automatic transmission with Geartronic.

Executive summary by Glady Resign

Technical Specs
Standard Engine 3.2L I6
Standard Transmission 6 Speed Automatic
Cylinders 6
Horsepower @ RPM 235@6200
Torque @ RPM 236@3200 (foot-lbs)