The Volvo XC90 Sport is a great-driving car. (Once again, as with all small SUV's this this is really a car. Period.) Handling was outstanding for a heavy brute, visibility was excellent, interior was top-notch, comfort was A++. The engine is a V8 with 311 horsepower and 325 lb-ft of torque. It goes, and goes well. The V8 will make it expensive to feed, though, and it still only seats 7. No more than my minivan, and the XC90 only gets about 19 mpg on the highway. My Sienna gets 24. And doesn't start out at almost $50,000.
It's a Volvo, folks, so it's comfy, safe, and refined. It is easy and fun to drive, and can tow a whopping 4900 pounds--my Sienna is rated at 3500. Customer reviews on websites such as Edmunds, however, have been mixed. Some people love the thing, and will never buy another vehicle. Some people hate the thing, and will never buy another one. Volvo has been having some reliability problems, and it shows in the owner satisfaction (or lack thereof) ratings.
Some kid-hauling inconveniences revealed themselves to me on the test drive, too. The third row is hard to get to. I'm not sure why, but this seems to be a recurring issue with these mini-SUV's. They're trying to cram too much in, and you sacrifice third row (and in some cases second row) comfort and accessibility. Three car seats will not fit in the middle row. The middle row of seats does have the integrated booster in the middle seating position, which seems a convenient space-saver, but my 4-year-old fit the size criteria and I was not happy with how she fit into it. The seatbelt still cut across her neck, and she didn't seem either secure or comfortable. Getting the big Britax car seat installed was another chore. An impossibility, really. The XC90 headrests, a la' Volvo's safety theme, cannot be removed. They can only be raised, and not raised enough to accommodate the high back of the Britax Marathon. I couldn't get the back side of the car seat to rest flat against the seat back; the top of the car seat was pitched forward, due to the fact that the Volvo headrest pitches forward a bit, and doesn't go up very high.
That said, this is where I tell you my Volvo headrest safety story. My husband, then a teenager, and his sister were riding in the back of the family car, a 1970's-era Volvo (I forget which model/year exactly), when their parked Volvo was rear-ended by a teenage girl in a lifted full-size Chevy pick-up truck going 40 miles an hour. The police who investigated said that if they had not been in a Volvo (which had head rests and crumple zones during an era when American cars did not) my husband and his sister would have been decapitated.
Volvo is still a leader in vehicle safety, and their commercials and brochures really make you feel like a bad parent if you're driving your offspring around in a non-Volvo!
In summation, this is a really nice-feeling car which may exhibit some reliability issues. The price tag is a bit much for hit-or-miss quality, in my opinion. If you can afford to take your car in to the dealer every time a warning light goes on, and/or all your children are in boosters or old enough to ride without them, this is an interesting candidate. If you are looking to haul 7 people comfortably and get good gas mileage at the same time, try something else.
The XC90 is rumored to be discontinued in 2012, and Volvo may (or may not) be redesigning it for 2009. Rising gas prices have probably contributed to its possible demise. If you want to test drive one, go for it. It's a great drive...for free.
Thanks to discount Volvo parts.com for the photo.
