The 2016 Volvo XC90 T8 hybrid clocks impressive mileage both in the city and on the highway and will be available this fall. Photo: Courtesy of Volvo
With SUVs, you take a big hit when it comes to miles per gallon. Which is a bummer for adventure-loving folks, because burning buckets of petrol to explore the great outdoors is super sucky. But hold onto your hats helmets of choice, because the 2016 Volvo XC90 will be available in a hybrid model (T8) that comes complete with a 400 horsepower engine that’s capable of 50-plus miles per gallon. This blonde love child of a Prius and a Land Rover can haul seven passengers. Whether you dub it the death of the minivan or the greenest adventure vehicle ever is your call. All we know is that this Swedish-made beast is the best thing out of Scandinavia since Ikea meatballs.
Want one? Get in line and start saving your pennies. The base price of the TW8 is expected to be about $60,000 (the price hasn’t been finalized yet), so it’s definitely more Design Within Reach than Ikea. And the additional cost for all that environment-loving efficiency is about $10k: The base price for non-hybrid versions is about $49,000.
But, according to early reports, piloting the T8 to your next adventure may rival the adventure itself. Gear Junkie raves, “The adjustable suspension, off-road settings, and nearly 60 miles per gallon could make this the ideal vehicle for multi-day drives to your next bucket-list resort or trail.”
More electric than Swedish House Mafia, more fun than roller-skating to Abba hits, and prettier than a few tracks from First Aid Kit: the best thing out of Sweden this year, the 2016 XC90. Image: Courtesy of Volvo
Green Car Reports says, “The T8 plug-in hybrid XC90 we drove shows great promise and should compete head-to-head with comparable offerings from the German trio of Audi, BMW, and Mercedes-Benz.”
And The Daily News reports, “Add to its drivability an impressive roster of safety features—including blind-spot systems, adaptive cruise control, and predictive, active braking—and the XC90 matches or beats almost all of its competitors. Already one of the safest SUVs on the road, Volvo has literally created newer, harder rollover tests for itself, and the XC90 passes them all with flying colors.”
One of the coolest things about the 2016 XC90—Volvo’s largest vehicle—is that it’s totally redesigned and larger: The 2016 is longer, wider, and taller than its predecessors. Volvo also made it more efficient by putting the XC90 on a diet that shed 200 pounds. The SUV is also the first Volvo to utilize what the company is calling Scalable Product Architecture, which “liberates Volvo’s engineers and designers, allowing them to devise and introduce a wide range of new and alluring design features while also improving drivability, introducing world-first safety features, offering the latest connected car technologies and creating more interior space,” according the company.
The new Volvo XC90 seats seven, at least if the passengers in the third row are short/kids/Oompa Loompas. The third row also folds down for added cargo space. Photo: Courtesy of Volvo
Unlike the T8′s immediate competitors, the plug-in hybrid versions of the BMW X5 and Mercedes-Benz GLE, the T8 is the only vehicle in this category designed from the ground up with a hybrid powertrain. And this translates to the T8 having as much as cargo capacity as the non-hybrid version. The same can’t be said for Mercedes and BMW; their cargo capacities take a hit because both manufacturers put the battery pack in the load bay.
Volvo claims the plug-in hybrid with both gas and electric engines can run up to about 25 miles in electric-only mode and can be recharged in about 2.5 hours. Volvo claims 60 mpg in gas/electric mode.
The third row is reported to be a tight fit for adults. But fold down those seats and there’s an abundant amount of room for gear and the vehicle can still seat five. The T8 just might be the perfect daily driver for short commutes that doubles as the ultimate weekend-warrior fun chariot. With all-wheel drive and suspension that you can tune on the fly, the handling is reported to be nimble even when the weather takes a turn for the worse. Translation: You’re the designated driver to the ski hill next year!
Stephen Krcmar splits time between sunny Los Angeles and snowy Mammoth Lakes, California. He’s completed the 304-mile drive more times than he cares to remember and has been having naughty dreams about the XC90 T8.
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