Flip through the latest issue of Gulf Weekly.
As much as I love trundling around in my nifty two-door sports car, sometimes there’s a simple urge to tear around in something bigger. Something that growls rather than purrs; a heavyweight rather than a flyweight.
So it was with much excitement that I picked up the Anthony Joshua of SUVs, the new Volvo XC90. What a stylish, sensual champion this is, with its stocky, rectangular features and its sculpted shoulders. There’s more curvature on the rear (a popular feature in any walk of life) and sleek lines that give an aerodynamic feel to what is otherwise a monster.
As soon as I had the nappa leather key fob in my hand, which is easily the most attractive door-opener I’ve ever laid hands on, I knew I was in for a luxurious couple of days.
The soft lighting which greets you when you open the driver’s door, along with the soft jingle from the infotainment screen that announces your entrance, furthers this idea.
The weather has taken a turn for the scorching in recent weeks, so the first port of call was to bring this beast to life with a swift twist of the jewel-like, diamond-knurled knob and turn the four-zone air conditioning fans up to ‘save me’ level.
After the usual juggling of mirrors, seat positioning and the last stop of switching the driving mode into Dynamic (where it would firmly stay for the duration of the test drive), it was time to hit the highway.
The 2.0L engine and eight-speed transmission is quick out of the blocks and extremely smooth when shifting up and down gears. It’s particularly fun when switching the stick into manual and driving the old-fashioned way, although a small part of me missed the option of gear-shift paddles behind the wheel.
As to be expected with Volvo, safety is at the forefront of design, and I could barely go two seconds without some sensor bleeping off at me. Whether this was Intellisafe Assist warning me about over-eager drivers trying to edge into my lane or tailgating me a little too close, I felt that I was safe from harm.
I did have to disable a couple of features eventually though, as the constant interruptions were ruining my thorough testing of the media entertainment features! There’s nothing that quite ruins a screaming guitar solo like ‘beep … beep … beep’.
The Lane Steer Assist is another feature I couldn’t quite buy into. In Europe, for example, I can imagine it working a treat on the motorway when the long-haul treks leave your eyes tired and the propensity for lane drifting is at its highest, but not so much here where you always have to be at 100 per cent alert in case a Pastor Maldonado wannabe from across the causeway swerves in your way. The last thing you need when a split-second lane change is necessary is the steering wheel fighting you and trying to turn you back the other way to keep in lane!
Outstanding technological feats that I did enjoy though were the Adaptive Cruise Control (utterly fantastic, as it balances your speed but also speeds up or slows down depending on the distance of the car in front of you) and the Pilot Assist, which steers for you and maintains distance to the car in front on slower roads. Both autonomous driving systems left me feeling like a passenger at times, a welcome relief from the stress of the kingdom’s crazy traffic!
The absolute best feature was the Park Assist though. After picking up a few friends to show off my luxury motor (who all complimented the amount of space and comfort they had in the back), we headed down to Trib Fest at the rugby club. Cars were packed in like sardines, and I was beginning to think I’d have a hefty walk.
However, this feature, which works for both getting in and out of spaces, scans 360-degrees around your vehicle (complete with an overhead display on the large touch screen) and finds any space, no matter how tight it is. Even better, it parks for you (in either parallel or perpendicular format) by controlling the steering … all you have to do is change gears. Genius!
The drive back to Sitra to drop the car back to the showroom is usually either a very melancholy or very joyous occasion depending on how the experience went, and this time if the journey had taken any longer my tear ducts might have been put into work.
Luckily, I had the friendly faces of sales executive Igor Pavlenko and marketing manager Mirela Micic to greet me and talk about my experience with the car over a cuppa. The competition for best customer service is heating up between Volvo and their neighbours Subaru, but whatever the outcome of that bout, Motorcity remains the standout when it comes to delivering a top class test drive experience, regardless of the vehicle on offer.
The 2017 Volvo XC90 is available from the Motorcity Volvo showroom in Sitra, starting from BD21,500. This comes with five years unlimited kms warranty and five years of road-side assistance.
For more information, visit the showroom or call 17736222.
