There is no other car in the world that is so closely associated with a profession than a Volvo is with a doctor.
For some reason, Volvo’s have been as closely related to doctors as a mechanic is to his tools. Perhaps it is because doctors are always on the road, tending to clinics or hospitals and need to get somewhere fast and safe.
This association has somewhat dwindled now, but it was quite a thing back in the 80s and 90s, in Malaysia at least.
Having grown up in the tin mining town of Kampar, Perak, this writer vividly recalls a family of doctors who drove nothing else but Volvos, except for the odd Nissan or so which served as the second or third car.
The father of the family had clinics in different towns and spent a lot of time on the country roads that connected the towns of Temoh, Kampar and Malim Nawar. Back in the 80s and 90s, the roads were unsafe with very little in terms of safety awareness.
And the doctor was well known for being a fast driver; many used to share harrowing tales of having to be a passenger with him.
Perhaps he drove that way because he had three clinics to tend to in a day. All located about 30-40 kilometers apart. So, it was quite common to hear about him getting into accidents every once in a while, and nasty ones too.
But he always walked away unscathed. His Volvos though, rarely fared well.
That doctor is still with us today, well into his 70s and perhaps reading these pages as he is sometimes known to do. And he still drives a Volvo. An XC40 Recharge that he loves for its performance, efficiency, and handling.
While there is no doubt that Volvos are still incredibly safe cars, these days, a Volvo is much more than just that. The cars are good-looking and attract a much wider, younger audience thanks to a stunning design language and an abundance of power.
The XC90 that you see here is one such example, beginning life in 2002 as the first ever Volvo SUV and currently in its second generation that was introduced in 2015.
The model seen here is the 2023 Volvo XC90 T8 Recharge, a plug-in hybrid that is meant to be efficient and comfortable. But it also has a dark side to it too – an abundance of power.
Placed underneath that beautiful design wrapped in crystal white, is a powertrain that is made up of a 2.0-litre turbocharged engine that sends power to the front wheels through an 8-speed gearbox. Power from the engine is rated at 317PS and 400Nm of torque which is available from as low as 3000rpm.
But that’s not all, complementing the engine is an electric motor placed at the rear axle. This motor is powered by an 18.8kWh battery pack and has an output of 145PS and 309Nm of torque.
The engine and motor are capable of operating independently of each other. When the electric motor is working by itself, it has a electric range of 70km on the WLTP cycle, though we saw a range of about 60km in real world driving conditions around Kuala Lumpur.
When depleted, the battery can be recharged using regenerative braking as you go about your regular driving. Though this only works best when driving long distance such as to Ipoh or Penang.
Alternatively, you can simply plug in the charging cables into a regular three-pin home socket which will charge the car up in a claimed 13 hours, though we somehow managed to do it in under nine hours. A faster 3.7kW AC charger will charge the battery to 100% in just five hours.
The real magic here though is when both the engine and the electric motor work in unison. This gives you a very impressive combined system output of 462PS and 709Nm of torque; a figure which was once associated with supercars.
This amount of power can slingshot the 2.7-ton behemoth to 100km/h in just 5.3 seconds. Or if you feather the throttle, it can return a consumption rate of just 1.8-litres per 100km, which is equally as impressive as the performance it offers on tap. This seemingly contrasting character of the XC90 is what makes the SUV such a charming machine to own, because it seemingly understands all your needs.
But don’t mistake it for a performance SUV though, it is far from that. This Volvo rides on air suspension, and this gives it a comfortable ride quality that is quite like that of luxury cars such as the Mercedes-Benz S-Class or a BMW 7-Series. And comfort is what it does better than pure driving performance.
When pushed hard on the highway, the SUV tends to dive under hard braking and squats under acceleration. When the roads present fun corners, the body roll of the XC90 is quite noticeable and this forces you to slow down.
Dive deeper into the performance aspect of the car and you will notice that the brakes are not confidence inspiring either, and tend to feel mushy at first bite. This brake feel is a typical character of a car with a regenerative braking system.
Even the top speed of the XC90 is electronically-limited to 180kmh. In fact, as of 2020, all new Volvos have their top speed limited to 180kmh. Though the XC90 does feel like it could do 290kmh all day long.
So, the Volvo XC90 T8 Recharge may have the performance numbers that could put some sports cars to shame, but it is not built for that. It does however excel at comfort. That air suspension offers an incredibly plush ride that soaks up everything the road throws at it. The windows too are double-layered and this result in a cabin so quiet that you can almost hear your own thoughts.
Long distance drives are easily managed, and that is not just testament to the incredible power and comfort it offers, but also the interior features. The ventilated seats with heating and cooling are some of the most supportive in the industry.
The 19-speaker Bowers & Wilkins sound system too deserves a special mention as it is quite possibly the best in its segment. As far as interior features go, the only complaint is that the gloss black panels tend to get inundated with fingerprints and dust after just a day or two of use.
The nine-inch portrait style screen houses all the essential controls for the interior, such as the air-conditioning controls and even the drive mode selection. This does free up the dashboard of all the clutter from the buttons and knobs, but this also means that you need to take your eyes of the road to see controls on the screen.
This does mean that simple functions like selecting the drive mode is now a three-step process when it could be achieved by a simple press of a button. Perhaps Volvo could take a card of the Lexus way of designing a dashboard since taking your eyes off the road does not seem like something Volvo would want you to do.
Besides that though the XC90 is brilliant for a family of four or five. It is also an incredibly comfortable car to be driven in as well with its air suspension, acres of interior space and a sound system that could make some sound studios rethink their purpose in life. What more could you want in an SUV?
Specifications
Engine: 2.0-litre, four-cylinder, turbocharged with electric motor
Power: 462PS (Combined with electric motor)
Torque: 709 Nm (Combined with electric motor)
Transmission: 8-speed automatic with Geartronic
Suspension: Active Chassis with Four-Corner Air Suspension
Fuel consumption: 1.8-lites per 100km (Combined)
We like: Interior quality and space, ride comfort
We don’t like: No wireless Apple CarPlay
