SA Road Tests

Welcome

This is the home of automobile road tests in South Africa. We drive South African cars, SUVs and LCVs under South African conditions. It also just happens that most of the vehicles we drive are world cars as well, so what you read here probably applies to the models you can get at home.
*To read one of our road tests, just select from the menu on the left. Hover your cursor over the manufacturer's name, then choose from the drop-down menu.
*Please remember too, that prices quoted were those ruling on the days I wrote the reports.


We drive the 2013 Volvo XC 60 D4 Elite with Geartronic

Big, friendly and safe

Facelifted and given some new equipment recently, Volvo’s XC (cross-country) SUV is the company’s most successful model range worldwide and arguably its best seller in South Africa too. It’s available here with four engines, three gearboxes, 4x2 and all-wheel drive powertrains and four levels of trim, to give you 15 choices altogether.

Briefly, models with lower powered engines are front-wheel drive only. A couple have six-speed manual gearboxes, but most use six-ratio automatics. Those fitted with more powerful motors offer awd and Geartronic alone. As our test car was a 2.0-litre D4 diesel, it was by default a 4x2 although much of the all-roaders’ specification was present as well. Here we are thinking generous ground clearance; fair wading capability; good approach, departure and breakover angles and 65-aspect tyres.

While superior riding height is usually a formula for top heaviness, the XC60’s firm suspension overcomes that to provide very capable handling characteristics. It steers and tracks almost like a sports sedan on asphalt or good dirt roads and, in that respect, will serve its target market well. It’s just that, when the gravel got really rough, the ride became uncomfortable. You can’t have everything; not at this price anyway.

On the freeway, it idles along at about 2100 rpm at 120 km/h in top gear. That’s within the strongest part of its torque band, but we found roll-on acceleration from this speed to be fairly leisurely and kick-down wasn’t particularly snappy either. That’s where the gearbox’s manual override, using the central lever, can be useful. Paddles are supplied only with the more powerful D5 and T6 engines, so fingertip shifting isn’t an option at this level.

Where XC60 Elite shines is in those things that make it a brilliant city car for family use. Consider City Safety technology, 17" alloy wheels, roll stability control, active bi-xenon headlamps with washers, LED daytime running lights, electrically adjustable and heated door mirrors with down-lighting and automatic folding, electric windows,  roof rails, electronic climate control, leather upholstery, power child locks, ISOFIX attachments, cruise control and a high performance multimedia audio system.

Add rear park assist, rain sensing wipers, a digital instrument cluster with TFT crystal display, power adjustable front seats - the driver’s chair has three memory settings – and a powered rear tail gate. Naturally, the basics like six airbags, ABS brakes with fade support, hydraulic braking assistance, EBD, ready-alert and emergency braking assistance are included, as is dynamic stability and traction control.

In keeping with its family-friendly image, its 650-litre boot is big and square, loads at upper thigh height, has a flat floor, four lashing rings, a light, a power socket, a flip-up divider to protect light items, a cargo net and a storage tray under the floor board for small valuables. The spare is a spacesaver and if you have to use it, there’s a cover to separate the dirty flat wheel from your clean cargo. Did we mention that the hatch door opens and closes electrically, so no grunt work is required? Thought you might like to remember that.

Should you need more load space, the rear seat backs fold down in three stages; 40:20:40, to expand eventually to 1650 litres. Head room and knee space is particularly generous for those in the back seat, while foot room is more than adequate too. Repeater vents in the door pillars permit some control over incoming air. Doorways are good and wide, so getting in and out is easy. Three belts and head restraints are provided but when the middle seat isn’t being used, a big square armrest flips down to expose fold-out cup holders and a couple of shallow trays for small items.

Apart from those, seat back pockets, reasonably sized door bins, a big glovebox, two more cupholders, a utility box under the central armrest and a couple of shallow trays provide resting places for the paraphernalia of family life. Repeater buttons for music, cruise and voice controls are provided on the steering wheel; while those for wipers, indicators, high beam and computer operation are on stalks behind it.

Roomy, family friendly, inherently safe and well equipped; it’s obvious why Volvo’s XC60 is so successful.

Test car from Volvo Cars SA press fleet

The numbers
Price: R496 200
Engine: 1984 cc, five-cylinder, 20-valve, common rail turbodiesel
Power: 120 kW at 3500 rpm
Torque: 400 Nm between 1500 and 2750 rpm
Zero to 100 km/h: 10,3 seconds
Maximum speed: 195 km/h
Real life fuel consumption: About 8,3 l/100 km
Tank: 70 litres
Fuel: 50 ppm diesel
Ground clearance: 230 mm
Approach/departure/breakover angles: 22/27/22 degrees
Wading depth: 350 mm
Maximum towing ability: 1600 kg (braked)
Warranty and maintenance: 5 year/100 000 km Volvo Plan

To read the launch report, click here

What We Do

This is a one-man show, which means that every car reviewed is given my personal evaluation and receives my own seat of the pants judgement - no second hand input here.
Every test car goes through real world driving; on city streets littered with potholes, speed bumps and rumble strips, on freeways and if its profile demands, dirt roads as well.

I do my best to include relevant information like real life fuel economy or a close mathematical calculation, boot size or luggage space, whether the space is both usable and accessible, whether life-sized people can use the back seat (where that applies), basic specs of the vehicle and performance figures if they are published. In the case of clearly identified launch reports, fuel figures are of necessity the laboratory numbers provided with the release material. If I ever place an article that doesn't cover most things, it's probably because I have dealt with that vehicle at least once already, so you will be able to find what you want in another report under the same manufacturer's heading in the menu on the left.

My reviews and launch reports appear on Thursdays in the Wheels supplement to The Witness, South Africa's oldest continuously running newspaper, and occasionally on Saturdays in Weekend Witness as well. I drive eight to ten vehicles each month, most months of the year (except over the festive season) so not everything gets published in the paper. Those that are, get a tagline but the rest is virgin, unpublished and unedited by the political-correctness police.

Hope you like what you see, because there are no commercial interests at work here. As quite a few readers have found, I answer every serious enquiry from my home email address, with my phone numbers attached, so they can see I do actually exist.



Comments?
Want to ask a question, comment or just tell me you thoroughly disagree with what I say? That's your privilege, because if everybody agreed on everything, the world would be a boring place. All I ask is that you remain calm, so please blow off a little steam before venting too vigorously.