Review of the new Volvo XC90 - Travel Story

It's fast approaching five o'clock local time and the wipers are in overdrive, battling to clear the windscreen of the snow that's been easing down with growing persistence ever since we left the N90 and began our assent to Val Thorens. There's a good two inches of white powder on the surface of the Alpine road that coils its way up from the valley floor to Europe's highest ski resort but the tyres of our Volvo XC90 have gripped faultlessly so far and it plods onward into the mounting blizzard.

It's all an alien scene to the one nearly nine hours ago as we rolled up from the ferry's salty car deck and on to French soil. More than six hundred miles of Autoroute monotony lay ahead through the kind of foggy dampness that could have placed us anywhere in the UK during the colder months. Then we turned off the trunk road, climbed a few hundred meters and suddenly it was hairpin bends, mountains rising like sharks teeth and every window hosting its own Christmas card vista. Big scenery and big weather like this are rarities in Britain but that's partly why thousands of us migrate each winter to the snowsports playground of the French Alps and precisely why we picked a big car like Volvo's XC90 to follow them.

Four-wheel-drive is a godsend in these conditions. Halfway up the road to Val Thorens we'd already experienced a couple of hairy moments where the front-wheel-drive Volkswagen Golf ahead lost traction, despite the extra grip provided by its snow chains, and began slithering back down the slope toward us. There's not much one can do on a narrow road in such a situation except clench your buttocks, clutch your insurance documents and pray the approaching vehicle's wheels regain some purchase. To our relief, things never became too dicey and the floundering Golf always managed to scrabble its way onward. By contrast, the XC90 ploughed on imperiously at a safe distance.

Even where the snow is compacted by the traffic and becoming icy, there's only the occasional quarter turn of wheel slip to indicate that grip could be in anything approaching short supply. The TRACS system distributes power between the four wheels efficiently so that the DSTC traction control is rarely called into action and confidence is inspired in all on board.

"Volvo have sacrificed the serious offroad ability that luxury 4x4 buyers never use for mild road manners and impressive comfort"

Waiting up at 2,300m in the deepening twilight is the warm, pine-walled chalet we've booked along with ski hire and ferry crossings through leading UK winter sports tour operator Ski Collection (www.skicollection.co.uk / 0870 770 0407). All we've needed to worry about since crawling out of bed at 2.30am that morning was getting there and now the trip is in its final, most spectacular stages. Not that what went before was any less revealing so far at the XC90 is concerned.

Motorways are where big luxury 4x4s like the XC90 usually feel the most impressive and with a vast swathe of France to cross, we took to the two-lane Autoroutes with gusto. The XC90 delivers a polished performance at cruising speeds with a well damped ride and minimal wind noise around the mirrors and a-pillars at 80mph. Equally, road roar was virtually undetectable as we barrelled along through the flat farmland of Northern France.

The 2.5-litre D5 diesel engine looks less impressive on paper than equivalent units fitted to rivals like BMW's X5 and the Mercedes M-Class but it proved surprising on our trip. We averaged 28mpg, some way shy of the official combined cycle average of 34mpg but still creditable given the kind of driving we were undertaking. When tasked with relaxed cruising duties, even at the 130kph French Autoroute speed limit, it's highly refined.

After the mammoth motorway trek and before the snow closed in, there was some scope to hustle the XC90 along some winding B-roads. It coped admirably and in a way that belied both its size and the substantial load on board (four adults plus enough jumpers and socks for a week on the slopes). The engine doesn't respond well to being gunned out of the corners but if a relatively even pace is maintained, the XC90 can entertain. Body control is good with vehicle easing itself into corners without the violent pitch and lurch of some big offroad offerings. The brakes do their job in a smooth, progressive manner and the Geartronic automatic gearbox shifts ratios smoothly so long as you are correspondingly easy with the throttle.

The XC90 interior has been its unique selling point since launch and the thoughtful design helped make our nine hour incumbency something more than bearable. In many ways, the control interface is the antidote to the menu driven systems favoured by rival marques. These come across to many, particularly on first acquaintance, as complex and unfathomable but the XC90 keeps it simple. With most functions operated by their own large and clearly marked buttons, the fascia is more Fisher Price than minimalist chic but there's definite appeal in that.

In typically pragmatic fashion, Volvo have sacrificed the serious offroad ability that luxury 4x4 buyers never use for mild road manners and impressive comfort. The XC90 has more than enough traction for the Alpine snow and ice we encountered and that will be good enough for the vast majority of buyers in this sector. The build quality is strong and while the design lacks the finesse found in the top rival luxury 4x4s, there's a simple, family-orientated feel that, along with the extensive boot and adaptable seven-berth seating system, is refreshingly in-keeping with this vehicle's remit. It all makes the XC90 a highly rewarding companion on a trip like this. Rounding the last hairpin and cresting the final rise into Val Thorens, the journey home is seven days on the slopes away. Still, nine hours in an XC90 is no longer the foreboding prospect it was a day ago. For that, we're extremely grateful.

TOP 4 XC90 DEALS

The results below show the top XC90 deals on buyacar

Volvo XC90 2.4 D5 [200] SE Lux 5dr Geartronic Diesel Estate
Price £33,233 Read XC90 Reviews	Save £8,912
Volvo XC90 2.4 D5 [200] Executive 5dr Geartronic Diesel Estate
Price £34,696 Read XC90 Reviews	Save £9,049
Volvo XC90 2.4 D5 [200] R DESIGN 5dr Geartronic Diesel Estate
Price £31,954 Read XC90 Reviews	Save £8,791
Volvo XC90 2.4 D5 [200] SE 5dr Geartronic Diesel Estate
Price £30,217 Read XC90 Reviews	Save £8,628
VIEW MORE DISCOUNT XC90 DEALS