Review: Volvo V90 Cross Country driven

Not a fan of SUVs, but still enjoy active weekends white-water kayaking or adventure biking? The Volvo V90 Cross Country is the car for you. This ‘lifestyle’ family estate provides the perfect compromise between go-anywhere ability and daily-driver practicality, and while it is expected to account for only 25% of UK V90 sales, it’s still an important model for the Swedish manufacturer.

The jacked-up wagon features all-wheel drive, a 60mm-higher ride height, a wider track and softer, more pliable tyres. Beefier styling cues include extended wheelarches and tough lower body cladding. There are few changes over the standard estate inside, with only the new Off-road drive mode accessed through a rotary dial on the centre console. This tweaks the throttle mapping, steering and gearbox to make off-tarmac work easier, although this model is designed more for muddy tracks and fields rather than the full-blown wilderness.

The Volvo goes up against the Audi A6 Allroad and Mercedes-Benz E-Class All Terrain. Can it compete with the Germans?

With its high-set, commanding view of the road, supportive and comfortable seats, and huge amount of passenger and luggage space, the V90 Cross-Country is highly practical. Five adults can easily fit inside, and it matches the A6 Allroad for outright comfort, although the E-Class All Terrain is plusher.

The normal V90 mixes dynamic handling with long-distance comfort, but this incarnation errs more on the side of the latter. Its soft throttle, quiet engine and reworked dampers give a cosseting ride both when cruising and on fast B-roads, although there’s more lean when hard cornering.

Our test car’s D4 diesel is the range’s base engine, and is available with 4WD only in the Cross Country. All higher-powered D5 Cross Countrys get all-wheel drive as standard. The D4 is powerful enough but the 8.8sec 0-62mph time seems slow; we prefer the D5, with its PowerPulse turbo-enhancing tech. A petrol alternative may come to Britain eventually if there is enough customer demand.