[RishavRBhardwaj]

Volvo XC60 D5 Inscription 2021 [Diesel]

As I sit down in front of my Laptop to write this thread, I'm surrounded with a cloud of constant Deja Vu, as I've lived this moment in my mind a thousand times if not more. Right from the day we booked the car, to now, all I have done surfing on TeamBHP, is to skim through all other ownership reviews, to retrieve as much writing skills from others as I can. Whether I'm being able to do justice to that however, is upto the readers. This initial ownership review is going to be brimmed with a lot of pictures, as a consequence of me playing paparazzi to capture each moment with the car till now. I wanted to first get over the initial euphoria and form my opinions about the vehicle before posting this thread. As of now, we have clocked over 9800 Kms in about 4 months of ownership and I finally feel it's showtime.

Likes:

• The focus on beautiful, timeless design, inside out.
• Fantastic Ride Quality
• The superb 15-speaker Bowers & Wilkins audio unit especially with the Gothenberg Concert Hall mode.
• The strong twin turbo D5 Diesel Engine.
• Best front seats in the Business (Nappa Leather+ Cooling/Heating function + Massage function + Electronically Adjustable side bolsters, Underthigh support & Lumbar support)
• No feature omission by Volvo.Its as loaded as in the international markets.
• Everything feels built to last years and years of heavy use.
• Fairly usable ADAS features & top notch safety Tech.

Dislikes:

• The steering doesn't inspire confidence over corners.
• No physical buttons for AC controls.
• Just 2 years of extended warranty offered, on top of already tiny 2 years standard warranty.
• Ambient Lighting setup feels like an afterthought.
• Gearbox takes its own sweet time to shift between 1st and 2nd.
• Side door pockets are awkwardly sized. Most bottles tend to dance around.
  

Background:

Our Garage consisted of a 2017 Jeep Compass, Diesel Manual (Driven by Dad), A 2017 Maruti Suzuki Dzire , Diesel Manual, which my uncle would get chauffeured around in & A beater Maruti Suzuki Omni to carry miscellaneous stuff.

The Story:

So the tale takes me back to December 2020, First wave of COVID had just subsided, and a need for one more vehicle at the house was more evident than ever, since I was a big boy now. The 2017 Maruti Dzire had to finally change hands, from the drivers to me, And Dad's beloved Jeep Compass found its new master in my Uncle. And Dad had to choose his new darling.

A special mention of me and dad's bond over cars- For as long back as I can remember, we have had these very special moments every once in a while, that I've always looked forward to as a child. We would together take test drives of new cars that we liked, irrespective of if we are looking to buy a vehicle or not. We've loved cars so much, I do not remember a dinner table discussion without the mention of Cars in it.

Till very recently, I have had to be a mere spectator of these test drives, but not this time, as I was an Adult now.


Requirements / Usage:

The car had to be good at ONE fundamental job, ONE single box to tick: To do highway mile munching, like no one's business.

Dad drives his car himself. Thus, It had to be comfortable to drive hours on end, without fatigue.

The suspension had to be robust. It;'s hard to baby your car over bad roads when rushing for a business meeting in another city.

Rear seat comfort could be compromised, as seldom any body/butt gets an opportunity to enjoy the rear bench.

Cars considered:

Since dad was upgrading from a Jeep Compass, Nothing under 50 Lakhs on the road felt like a True "upgrade".

The Ford Endeavour- It's a brilliant SUV no doubt. But with that comes, its ridiculous size, just too big for our average build.

The Germans (BMW/X3/X5/ Mercedes GLC/GLE)- I had to stay away from the germans for a couple of reasons, One, these things are just too flashy for owning in Bihar/Jharkhand. Two, Apparently you pay more for the badge, less for the equipment.

I will have to mention the BMW X3 separately though- Oh lord how do I explain what a spectacular driving machine that is. Had it got a bit more comfortable, softer ride and some BASIC equipment like a 360 d Camera/ ventilated seats, we would be sold already.

Land Rover Discovery Sport- This was in Dad's wish list since the new facelift was launched. He has always liked its Iron Man - like face and understated looks. A bunch of his acquiantances had owned the pre-facelift one, and all seemed to love it to bits.

Since there's no Land Rover dealership in Jharkhand, Land Rover Kolkata were so considerate that they sent a TD vehicle down to Ranchi, from Kolkata. Not once but twice. And to cut it short, We instantly fell in love with it. The ride quality was fantastic, Performance was ample, and It felt nimble to drive too. But it was the horror stories of Land Rover's reliability that made me unsure.

LR Discovery Sport

Someday in the middle of both test drives, They also showed up once with their new Evoque. Looked really striking in this shade, but Dad didn't like the firm ride and an awkward rear end shape.

Range Rover Evoque

We were still firm on the Disco Sport. As it was the year end, we were keen on getting the new 2021 model that had to come with a bunch of upgrades. We decided to book one as soon as it hits our shores in March. It finally did in April and We booked one with a RED exterior and Black interiors. We were promised a delivery in June. "Sometimes you should let your heart rule" is the excuse I used to comfort myself with, whenever that ghost from the horror stories haunted my nights.

This was the time I posted this thread-

Fast forward to June- No update on the vehicle, no VIN allotted, apparently due to COVID's 2nd wave.

We were told that they could deliver our vehicle (In our desired colour combination) only after October 2021. Since we already had waited for so long, why not a few months more, we thought.

But somewhere, there was this itch to try out the Volvo XC60, More so, after a lot of suggestions from fellow TeamBHPians in my What Car? thread.

Again, we don't have a Volvo Dealership too in Jharkhand, We call their Kolkata dealership, and in a couple days, They drive down 400kms to Ranchi for the TD.

We realised that pictures/videos just don't do justice to the beauty of this Swedish art of metal. And this was by far the most luxurious interior I'd ever laid my eyes on.

Performance wise, I hadn't expected a lot from the XC60 initially, since most (Indian) youtube reviews were rather lukewarm about it. But it managed to surprise us quite a bit, and calling it rather "Sporty" didn't feel like a crime anymore. Not as sporty as a Bimmer, but coming from from a Jeep Compass, I had no space to complain.

XC60

Amber Interiors

[RishavRBhardwaj]

The leap of Faith

It was already around 7 months into the Car Hunt and that extra space of our garage was still empty. There was still no VIN allotted against our booking for the Discovery Sport, and it started to seem like Land Rover might have to sell ONE LESS vehicle this year. We cancelled our booking for the Disco, with a heavy heart indeed. Having established a rather emotional connection with the people at JLR Kolkata.

Now it was time to book the Volvo, The production of the Diesel XC60 had stopped and it was the last lot of diesels being sold like hot cakes.

Colour options were scarce too, Black, White and Pine Grey were the only exterior colour options available. For the interior, we could pick between dark chocolate and Amber. (We chose Amber).

Black and White exterior colours were both eliminated almost instantly, The former upon slightly difficult upkeep, while white was never our desired colour anyway. Options narrowed down to just the Pine Grey. The problem was that I had only seen it in pictures/videos. In some, it looked closer to a black and in others, it looked closer to a green. We were puzzled till we saw this picture, and that was all it took for us to take the leap.

The delivery was scheduled for a date more than a month away, exact time (down to the minute) was mandated by our Astrologer. And the wait begun.

The "New Car" urge was still far from being satiated, So I resorted to some accessory shopping. (More on that later in the thread)

In a week, we got the VIN and a few pictures of the car standing at the dealer's yard. It had to stand there for about a month so I made sure proper conditions were met.

Delivery:

Going by the rules/traditions in our Family, we aren't allowed to sit in the new car until a Puja is performed with it at the house. Taking a typical delivery from the Dealership in Kolkata and driving it down to Ranchi was thus out of question. So we chose to get it home delivered instead. Our SA was also coming along to give us a formal delivery experience.

19th October 2021- The car left Kolkata in the morning, and I decided to catch it at the highway to escort it all the way to our place. To this point, I was still apprehensive about how the Pine Grey colour would look in flesh.

Love at first sight:

Looking through the healthy layer of dust all over it, the colour looked a lot darker than in pictures, neither too dark to be called a Black, nor too grey or green. It's a very tasteful mix of black, grey and green.

Straight to 3M for a thorough wash.





In all its Glory

Final Delivery took place the next morning.

Joined by The Audi A6 for a joyride

[RishavRBhardwaj]

The Finishing Touch:

By the time I got the delivery, had managed to graduate myself on all sorts of Accessories that were available for Volvos worldwide. What could be a better past time for a pandemic struck student anyway. I ended up installing some simple yet elegant pieces.

3D Kagu Mats: The original velvet mats were useless at best, as expected. - Had heard good things about 3D Kagu Mats + @Paneristihobbes's stamp of Trust made it easier for me shell out another 9k.





Aluminium Pedals: Stock, The Pedals look very cheap and Plastic-ky. So I added these aluminium pedals. Easy to install, just fits on top of the original pedals + Provides better grip+ Look great.



Sporty exhaust Trims: Liked 'em, got 'em. Simple.



Before-



After- Also look at that striking LCLC sticker.



Wireless Apple Carplay: Who likes to play with dangling wires?

Volvo doesn't offer wireless Carplay. Its shame, now that cars a fourth of the price offer it.
Upon sifting through the whole of internet, I found this very promising little piece of tech by the name of Carlinkit Carplay. Enables wireless apple carplay, without any lags/issues.

[RishavRBhardwaj]

The Review:

Exteriors

I vividly remember watching 3 Idiots every Sunday with a hidden motivation behind. While the family members thought it was the inspiration from the movie that kept an otherwise fidgety kid anchored to the sofa those full 3 hours, no one knew it was those areal shots of that fruity Red Volvo XC90 that had been doing the trick.

Now I won't start drawing similarities among this XC90 and the modern XC60. Volvo designs have evolved Big time over the decade, For Good. Which in itself is an achievement, nowadays. (I'm not talking about you BMW)

It'll be wrong to not express my obsession over the looks of this machine, just for the sake of sounding a bit unbiased. To sum it up in a word or two, The XC60 looks simple, yet beautiful. Much like that 2011 Blackberry Curve still lying in my drawer. Clean lines, no crazy cuts and creases & made to age like fine wine. This is typical to all Thomas Ingenlath's designs, take the Skoda Superb for example.

Side Profile

If you don't look back at your car after you park it, you've bought the wrong car.

Thor's hammer DRLs + Signature C-shaped Tail Lights





Interiors

Gives me a lot of bragging rights, that the interior has been done by Robin Page, (Ex) Head of Interior Design at Bentley. Sure, there's no exotic million dollar dash-clock, but the Bentley pedigree does manifest itself in the knurled switches and knobs that feel like jewellery pieces.

All that design expertise onboard, could have been utilised to build/ smartly place some physical buttons rather than shoving everything into that vertical central touchscreen.



Nappa Leather seats- Supremely comfortable, but very easy to soil.



Amplifier with exposed wires below the driver's seat Wasn't there a better place to conceal it?



The Wireless Charging Pad placement is very natural. You don't have to hide away your phone into a secret chamber to charge.



That 15 Speaker Bowers and Wilkins system can put all the Harmon/Kardons, Bang&Olufsens, and even Burmesters to shame.

Driving

I believe every vehicle has its own "character". Now that we naturally associate this word more with movies/ web series, why not try to put it this way- The XC60 is like Pankaj Thripathi's character in Mirzapur. Powerful but calm.

Engine & Transmission: The inline 4, Diesel. Also called the D5 (235 Bhp+ 480nm) is silky smooth, Sounds sweet when revved hard and pulls very strongly. What else you want from an engine?
But Somehow, it's the transmission (especially in comfort mode) that fails to impress the adreneline junkie. You'll keep begging for a downshift, and by the time it'll give you that, you'll already have lost that overtake opportunity. It always wants you to give it the boil gradually, Drive like a gentleman. But If you are really in the mood to boo that BMW on the highway, Switch to dynamic mode and it will never disappoint. The personality of the drive train is such, that you'll feel a bit guilty after you drive like a mad kid.

Ride & Handling:

The Ride is proper luxury. Even though MY2021 XC60 comes with Coil Springs, unlike the earlier MYs that came with Air Suspension. Ride quality, with the coil springs hasn't taken a hit, Rather It seems to help the vehicle with more stability at high speeds. Plus, added reliability makes the trade-off certainly worth it.

It's not ideally supposed to be thrown into corners but I have to say, Body control is commendable. I still wish the steering had been a bit more ("feelsome" ?), yes it weighs up quite a lot in Dynamic mode, but that weight does feel very artificial.


Safety: Seriously?

ADAS: (Pilot Assist+ Adaptive Cruise Control) Not just there as a "cool feature" to surprise your friends once in a while. In the past few months of extensive usage, I can now trust it more than my sister's driving.

[RishavRBhardwaj]

Conclusion:

I don't remember where I heard this, "BMWs are sports cars trying to be luxury cars and Mercs are luxury cars trying to be sports cars" And " Maybe Audis are trying to be both". But what about Volvos? I feel they are not in that game itself. Yes, the company has managed to shed the image of making boring cars. But their philosophy of making simple, sensible and safe cars is still the same. (Am I Sounding too much like a sales guy?) To me, A better Dealership Network is the only missing piece of puzzle in Volvo's overall success in the country.

To sum it up, Each moment I've spent with the XC60 has been an absolute pleasure. And I still walk up to my window every morning just to catch a glimpse of this beauty.

Stay tuned for more!

[Rudra Sen]

Mod note: Thread moved to Test-Drives & Initial Ownership Reports. Thanks for sharing.

[V.Narayan]

Hearty congratulations on purchasing one of the best cars in the market in this segment and more. If my experience with the XC60 is anything to go by you should enjoy many miles and years of experience with the this car. The Volvo engineering quality of designed in reliability is like what Mercedes used to be till circa 1995 or so. And the spares have been priced reasonably for a car in this price range. You'll never tire of its torque and growl. :-)

Compared to my XC60 of 7 years ago your car has mouth watering interiors and finish.

Enjoy the experience.

[Excommunicado]

Congrats Rishav on this lovely looking car. I try to resist the temptation of turning my head when seeing these beautiful machines on the road. I tell myself- 'why flame the ego of the driver/owner ?' But to be honest, my love for cars makes my resistance futile and I give in. I may sometimes end-up staring at 265mm tyres of Endeavour or 275 rear of the 530d while totally ignoring the car.

All this just to draw you attention towards what a choice of vehicle you have made. It is an allrounder which will definitely make heads turn, more so in that splendid black colour. Congrats!

[Tokengrip]

That color just works man.! You could def spend some time staring at it. Congrats on the purchase..
Besides being understated what appeals to me is that you have a ride that's a little unique from everything else. Like when you see another xc 60 i m sure you ll feel some kinship coz it won't be something that happens too often. Enjoy your ownership experience.

[hey.rudey]

Congratulations on the new new purchase! Sure must be a treat to drive. Volvos are built to impress, and to be honest they seem more exotic to look on Indian roads when compared to the Germans and Brits. Please do share more about the Dynamic mode if time permits

[ashish2135]

Hi Rishav,

Really nice colour on your XC60. With this colour this is the best looking car to have in the segment.

The Volvo definitely has the most unique character in this segment. It is nice to see Volvo making its presence felt in Jharkhand!

[abhii176]

Wow! She's an absolute stunner, Rishav. Many congratulations on your purchase and wish you a trouble free ownership of this beauty!

Have to say, there's something about Volvo's design language that just stands out without being too flashy. Understated and classy!

[Swapnil_Alto]

Congratulations on your new purchase Rishav, you've chosen an amazing shade. What a looker it is!

Looking at the Volvo's pictures at the Nucleus Mall parking, Getalsud Dam and the 3M Car Care - felt right at home.

Wish you happy miles with the car. Drive Safe!

[FloatingCanvas]

Congratulations on the beautiful addition to your family.

I love the understated elegance of Volvos that seem to radiate warmth in a subtle and sublime manner while other luxe brands focus on being conspicuously attractive.

Originally Posted by RishavRBhardwaj

The leap of Faith

Options narrowed down to just the Pine Grey. The problem was that I had only seen it in pictures/videos. In some, it looked closer to a black and in others, it looked closer to a green.

I can now see your apprehensions about how the colour would turn out in real life. I find it different in each of the pictures you've shared here. And love each and every shade of it. It's like a perfect mix of the best shades of grey, green and black to ensure the car is aptly dressed for the occasion every time.

Look forward to reading and seeing (through your well shot pictures) your future experiences with the car.

[Nikhil0812]

Congrats on the car! The XC60 has always been one my favorites in that price range. It looks absolutely striking in the Pine Grey shade . Wish you a million happy miles with the car.