2020 Volvo V60 Cross Country _ The Best and Worst Things

The Volvo V60 Cross Country is a luxury car that offers a unique driving experience, despite its limitations. One of the standout features of this vehicle is its ultra-quiet ride. When you're behind the wheel, you feel and hear literally nothing. It's so comfortable that it's hard to believe that this car can also be a daily driver. The safety systems on the V60 Cross Country are also top-notch, with radar cruise control working extremely well. Additionally, the $4,000 Bowers & Wilkins audio system is an absolute must-have for anyone who wants to get the most out of their driving experience.

However, there are some downsides to owning a Volvo V60 Cross Country. For one thing, the engine is not as powerful as it could be. Volvo decided to go with four cylinders across its entire lineup, which can make the car feel underpowered at times. The transmission also has its issues, particularly when compared to German competitors like Mercedes, BMW, and Audi. In fact, it's even behind Lexus in terms of transmission quality.

Despite these limitations, the V60 Cross Country is still a rewarding drive. The car handles smoothly and comfortably, making it perfect for daily commutes or long road trips. The ride comfort is exceptional, with the car absorbing bumps and potholes like a dream. When you're driving, you can feel the stability control system kicking in to prevent skidding or losing traction on slippery roads. However, some drivers may find that the stability control calibration is a bit too sensitive at times.

One of the unique features of the V60 Cross Country is its ground clearance and plastic body paneling. It's designed for those who love to seek adventure or are just looking for a car that can handle rough terrain. While it's not meant to replace a full-blown SUV, it's still a capable off-road vehicle in its own right. The exterior design is also noteworthy, with classic lines and proportions that make the car look sleek and sophisticated.

For those who want to get behind the wheel of a V60 Cross Country, the driving experience is truly exceptional. It's so quiet and comfortable that you can almost forget you're driving at times. The safety features are also top-notch, making it an excellent choice for daily drivers who value their safety above all else. However, if you do decide to lease this car, be prepared for some compromises on the engine front.

Overall, the Volvo V60 Cross Country is a luxury car that offers a unique blend of comfort, style, and practicality. While it may not be perfect, it's still an excellent choice for those who want a smooth-riding car with advanced safety features without breaking the bank. With its impressive sound system, quiet ride, and capable handling, this car is sure to turn heads on the road.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: ennow it's time to take a quick look at the v60 t5 cross country and this is almost identical to some of the other Volvo products we did so I don't want to just keep rehashing a lot of the same things but instead I'm gonna give you a brief pros and cons list of why you would choose this more than likely to lease or to buy used then some of the other competitors so let's get started the highlights the interior design the aesthetic design this is more and more rare in the automotive industry because every single manufacturer wants to have everything modular so every single car tends to be very generic this has a sense that there was interior designers there were people that were very skilled in material choice diversity and materials and it feels very modern it feels very clean without being insanely sterile like what you see from Audi and BMW and some of the German brands it has its own unique personality and I think if you're of the age and you're the type of person that values this in a car that you're in every day it's one of the best in the industry at an affordable price range until you start going to some crazy boutique price price tag now aesthetics are one thing but solidness is another when you shut these doors you feel like you're in a cocoon there's no doubt I was driving on the road and I thought I could probably get hit by a semi in here and survive and that's a big thing of what Volvo's trying to sell is that feeling that confidence you get the safety element and if you're somebody that values that over other stuff while this might be the car for you the other part is the audio system and I've talked about this now in every Volvo product those cars or SUVs equipped with the Bowers & Wilkins audio is the best stuff we've tested basically for under seventy thousand dollars it is so good that I literally found myself sitting in this car driving it more often just to listen to music and if you're somebody that loves that experience you hat you maybe you don't have home audio because you just don't have the money or you know of the time you want to get in here Bluetooth sounds good your Android auto apple carplay USB it sounds amazing and when you get out of something like the Ford Escape I just got out of it's one of the worst audio systems we tested when you start to hear it back-to-back and test these objectively and subjectively you appreciate it even more and if I had an award to give I'd give them an award for it so they could stick it in their trophy case now there are some negatives here and I'm this is the first Volvo I've been in that has some squeaks and rattles and there's some rattles coming from the back - and I'm gonna give it a pass here because the first time I've experienced it and secondly it's been sub-zero so the expansion and contraction of all the plastics the clips it could be part of that the other thing is the leather in here I mean this is like this beige color and everything looks really bad I mean I don't see a total discoloration like some cars but you can definitely see like where jeans have stained the beige so you probably would want to go towards the darker interior and then the last part to talk about is great as the audio system is the infotainment they have done over the air updates so it has improved the speed and usability of it but it still has the same problems with lag enos controlling like seat heaters seat coolers namely when the car starts up its really slow changing the temperature still slow that's a big problem for me and I know they're addressing it with the next-generation infotainment where Google's Co designing it but if you're buying this just know that you've got to use it and see if you can deal with that going forward now the cross country obviously it looks tough but what you have is the wagon and the hatch and I know why would you want that because you can just get an SUV well this has a ton of cargo capacity I really did try to test it out I loaded some furniture in here I put the seats down and the only negative part about it is the actual height because you know it's more of a car proportion but literally most people are gonna fit and anything they possibly could want in here and still have a ton of room in the backseat and I really appreciate that about this and it's one of the best parts about this body style that you're gonna use and enjoy for years to come but let's take this for a drive and see how it is volvo v60 t5 all right I think I'm going to start out by highlighting probably the worst thing about the modern Volvo's there's a lot of good things but the new engine architecture they went to all four cylinders and they did this for a few reasons global emissions fuel efficiency standards and to stay in business the idea of having one base four-cylinder engine that you can kind of change around they have a turbocharged version turbocharged supercharged version and turbocharged supercharged and a hybridization version of all of that together and the benefits are they can have that engine built on one assembly line doesn't matter what it is they don't have to have multiple factories for the same motors it can all come out of one same the same place and that means they are saving money and able to more efficient efficiently build vehicles by doing that now understanding that is one thing when you're buying a car like this everything about it is so refined it's so comfortable it's so modern and then you hear the vacuum cleaner that is under the hood and it just drags down the whole experience and I'm gonna say that's just the worst thing about driving this because everything else is so satisfying the ride quality is pretty good it's 80th percentile they haven't resorted to any crazy dampers or anything that's off the deep end expensive the isolation that you get from the road this is an ultra quiet driving experience you feel and hear literally nothing it is so comfortable and when you add in the fact that the safety systems like radar cruise control works extremely well this is one of the better safety systems on the market and then you add in the $4,000 Bowers & Wilkins audio system which is the only way that I would buy this car this becomes an absolutely serene driving experience it's one of its become one of my favorite cars to drive if I had to drive something every single day you have the practicality the usability and the ride comforts great but it's set up really it's set up for safety safety first with Volvo so when you're driving this harder you're gonna notice it definitely wants to understeer it will never rotate its rear end around it doesn't matter what drive mode you pick and I had a chance to play around with this in the snow and in the snow it would just terminally plow it really literally wants to take you into the ditch when you're driving it so I played around with drive modes dynamic helps a little bit because it's it's transferring a little bit more it's more rear biased but the best way to do it is to turn the electronic stability control into the sports setting on the touchscreen go into dynamic and that was the best way I could get through snow then you could rotate their turns the car didn't always want to plow the stability control system didn't always want to come in and take over it just felt much better so I feel like the the stability control calibration is a little bit fickle or sensitive on this but really from a drivability standpoint you are absolutely gonna love to drive this and in terms of acceleration I don't think anybody is really gonna just if you're gonna get this as a commuter it's just about the right amount of horsepower you're never gonna feel like you don't have enough power to merge or to get on the highway and the benefit of if you don't get on the throttle since you have a four-cylinder the fuel economy tends to be pretty good if you're driving like a good or good boy or good girl or if you're you know gender neutral or whatever you're not and identity yet you're still gonna get 27 28 miles per gallon and I think that alone as a daily driver makes this so compelling but I think the main thing is the costs the cost to own the depreciation I think when you look at this as a whole this is an absolute lease vehicle - given the complexity of the motors specifically when you get into the t eighths you want to lease this now I think is a good time to get into the final thoughts and sum up most of the things that I've talked about final thoughts on the v60 cross country now I've already done a full video on the v60 wagon which you can check out there's more detail there the main difference between this and that well this says a little bit higher ground clearance and more plastic body paneling for those who like to seek adventure or in my case adventure finds me I can't tell the difference honestly I mean there's a little bit better command of the road and the ground clearance you can tell from the wheel gap more than anything but this isn't gonna you know this isn't gonna replace a full-blown SUV but it's not trying to because proportionately the exterior looks like it's not trying too hard it has a great shape to it and unlike many of these SUVs and CDs that are just they look so awkward this doesn't it has that classic long lines of a wagon that most people don't care about anymore but it still has the usability of that and it drives like a car like a very smooth riding car I've talked about it to death it's quiet comfortable in all of that the negatives are the engine you know they went to four cylinders across their entire lineup I already explained why and then some it's a downer it really does it hampers the driving experience the transmission torque converter transmission that's in here is definitely not on par with the German competitors like Mercedes BMW and Audi it just it doesn't really compare I would say you know it's even up slightly below what Lexus is doing with their 8-speed so again drivetrain is not the highlight but everything else is so rewarding and so satisfying that I would absolutely say if you're in the market for a luxury car that's not insanely expensive and you get a lot for your money here definitely lease it I think you'll be really happy with it for a couple years if all you do is commute and you just want the more smooth things in life thanks for watching I'll see you next time you\n"