Friday, 28 September 2018

FIRST LOOK: 2018 Volvo XC60 in Malaysia – RM299k-RM343k


The Volvo XC60 is finally available in Malaysia just one year after it made itsdebut at the Geneva Motor Show in March last year. Actually it’s less than oneyear and that’s pretty quick by any measure. What we have here is thetop-of-the-line T8 Twin Engine Inscription Plus and it’s fully importedfrom Sweden priced at RM374,000. It looks like the XC90 but this isobviously smaller and it goes against the BMW X3, Audi Q5 and Mercedes-Benz GLCThis one here is fully kitted and comes with the Bowers & Wilkins sound systemand it undercuts the locally assembled XC90 by a full RM40kdespite being a CBU unit. Before we start talking about this car the model thatyou should really be interested in is the locally assembled XC60 which will beavailable starting in April. The good news is you can start placing yourbookings today and there will be three versions available for you to chooseThe CKD lineup starts with the entry-level T5 Momentum that’s priced at RM299,000But unlike before, there’s no T6, going up instead to the T8 – an engine that will be offered in two trims whichis the Inscription and Inscription Plus models. It’s also worthy to note that thenew T5 is RM30k more expensive than the old T5 modelPricing for the top spec CKD XC60 is at RM343k ora full RM30k cheaper than this unit right here. Specs wise itwill be by and large the same except that the CKD versions will lose out onair suspension and as an added bonus all variants including the base T5 Momentumwill get all-wheel-drive compared to the old one which was only available infront-wheel drive. So if the CKD batch is coming who then is gonna buy this car?Simple. For those who can afford it and want to be the first to own it andbefore you register your interest in the CBU unit, I just want to tell you that allunits have been spoken for so might as well just go for the CKD unitLets first start talking about the most interesting bit of the car that is theplug-in hybrid engine. Under the bonnet or rather under this soft-touch enginecover is a road tax-friendly 2 litre four-cylinder engine and it’sthe exact same one found in the XC90 and S90 T8. That means it gets 407 horsepowerand 640 Newton meters of torque making it even more powerful than the AMG-poweredGLC 43 which is a RM540k car that comes with a 3. 0 litre twin-turbo V6Primary propulsion comes from a twincharged engine which means it gets aturbocharger and a supercharger for a more linear power delivery the enginealone makes 320 horsepower and 400 Newton meters of torque and it’scomplemented by a secondary engine in the form of an electric motor which ismounted on the rear axle. Marry the two engines together and you get 407horsepower and 640 Newton meters of torque. It’s incredibly powerful no doubts aboutthat and in fact it’s the most powerful SUV in its class. Together with an8-speed automatic this 0-100 sprint is done in 5. 3 seconds and it will goonward to 230 km/h as its top speed. Now it’s crazy because this car weighs 2. 1 tonnes. Now that’s really impressive. For those of you who are new to the volvoway of doing things the T8 badge means it’s a plug-in hybridand one way of knowing is through this charging port right herethe XC60 is equipped with a 10. 4 kilowatt hour battery pack thatoffers a cruising range of up to 45 kilometers when fully charged and it’sneatly tucked away in the center tunnel meaning boot space is not compromised at allVolvo says it takes anywhere between two to seven hours to charge up thebattery depending on the charger that you use but most of us just charge itovernight like we do with our cell phones anywaythere’s regenerative charging as well and you can even prompt the engine tofunction as a generator to recharge the battery but you end up using extra fuelnow let’s talk about the exterior. It’s basically a shrunken down version of theXC90 and it still looks really really goodit’s visually less commanding of course because of its smaller size but there isno mistaking this for anything other than a Volvo when you see this on the roadHere we get a nice bold Inscription grille with the Iron Mark badgeFull adaptive LED lights with Thor’s hammer daytime running lights, front parkingsensors and a forward facing camera and radar system for the incrediblyextensive Volvo Intellisafe safety system. Round the side it gets 19-inch10-spoke diamond-cut alloy wheels which look eerily similar to the S90sDoor mounted side mirrors with signal indicators and a camera down here aswell as nice metal work down here to complement this beautiful chrome stripover at the back again unmistakably Volvo. This nice-looking L-shaped LEDstrip outlines the rear proportion and forms the taillights and unlike the XC90the LED strip stretches all the way towards the center like the V90, you knowjust in case you can’t tell that it’s an XC60. One more thing I really likeabout this car is the way the exhaust looks and how it fits to the overalllook of the car but upon closer inspection you’ll find the real pipe inthe center so this isn’t a real deal. If you think the XC60 looks veryfamiliar on the outside then in here is pretty much a carbon copy of the XC90and S90. everything from the steering wheel the instrument cluster the dashlayout the head unit and even this media control is really as close as it getseven the controls down here there with the layout and the switches and the buttonseven the cubby holders are similar. There are however a few exceptions. The middlesection of the dash is a little different and this whole piece ofdriftwood trim is crafted from a single piece of wood. Real wood. This thin stripof chrome outlining the wood just adds another touch of class. As you can expectfrom a car in this class and price range the quality of materials used throughoutcabin is pretty solid. You’ve got soft touch plastics here and here as well as downhere with some leather and nothing really feels out of place, cheap or tackyeverything is just really really nice. With the Inscription Plus you get a15-speaker Bowers & Wilkins sound system with 10 channel Class D amplifierIt’s standard here with the CBU unit but if you want this in the CKD version, make sureto go for the Inscription Plus, and not the Inscription. This option alone costsRM10k but this is something you and all yourpassengers even your deaf grandparents will really enjoyso the standard equipment here or any other XC60s for that matter would bethis nine-inch Sensus connect screen head unit diamond cut twist to startknob and drive mode selector, dual zone climate control and powered leather seatsthe Inscription trim gets this big panoramic glass roof, beautiful crystalgear knob made by Swedish glass maker Orrefors, paddle shifters and powerfolding rear seats. by the way the leather seat can be held in two colorscharcoal or maroon brown. Now let’s check out the back seats. Back here as you cansee space is pretty decent. It’s probably not as spacious as the GLC but I don’t thinkanyone’s gonna complain I’ve got the seats adjusted to my driving positionand you see I’ve got at least two knuckles worth of space hereHeadroom as well not too bad window opening pretty large so you don’tfeel claustrophobic in this back seat right here and you’ve also got a nicearmrest that stick out better than a Bentley Bentayga. But there’s one thingI have to point out about this car is the footwell down here – notice how thetwo mounts for the rails for the seats to move front and back, it’s getting inthe way of the foot well so you don’t get as much space for your feetThis centre hump on the other hand is not a problem it’s a very common SUV thing andthe battery is built in here. There’s no centre air vents here but it’s built intothe B pillars which could be enough I guess. Unfortunately there’s nointegrated booster seats back here but you do get ISOfix mounting pointsdown here but let me show you one thing I really really like about this carunderneath this seat is an opening for you to keep large items such as a iPad Minior a large iPad would fit there no problem why because they canAs for practicality, this car’s boot space is just a little bit bigger than the older modelhere it gets 505 liters of space but the older car had 495 litres. It’s notclass-leading that’s for sure but the Mercedes GLC and upcoming BMW X3 bothget 550 litres of space but you know it’s still decent, plus you can fold therear seats down to make room to fit more stuff in here. Models with air suspensionget to lower the rear axle via the two buttons right here. Lastly, all XC60scome with Volvo’s full range of safety technologies as standard and nothingelse out there comes close to what this guy offers. There’s City Safety, detectionfor pedestrian and cyclist and large animals, lane-keeping aid, blind spotmonitoring and a number of active features that make sure you stay withinyour lane when you’re driving. With the inscription however you get an extrafeature called Pilot Assist which automatically accelerates and brakes foryou when driving at up to speeds of 130 km/h. And every purchase of the XC60comes with a five-year unlimited mileage warranty packageOverall the XC60 is priced just a little bit higher than some cars in its classmost notably the Mercedes-Benz GLC 250, but it does come with a whole lot more kitWhat do you think of the car let us know in the comment section belowThis has been Matthew thank you for watching and as usual I’ll see you in the next one



source https://cardetailingphoenix.com/index.php/2018/09/28/first-look-2018-volvo-xc60-in-malaysia-rm299k-rm343k-3/

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