2025 Volvo XC60

Pros 

• Second-row seats with lots of space.
• Several well-known safety tech features.
• You can choose a plug-in hybrid.

Cons

• There are a lot of other cars that are more fun to drive.
• It’s not as smooth of a ride in the luxury car as you might think.
• The interior style is out-of-date.

Does the XC60 have a way to move? The XC60 T8 plug-in hybrid did really well in our tests; not many PHEVs do as well in hybrid mode. Its 455 horses raced like crazy on our test track, going from 0 to 60 mph in 4.7 seconds and 107.6 mph in the quarter mile. In the real world, on the other hand, you feel a steady push from doing nothing until you’ve had enough.

But then the four-cylinder engine starts, and everyone gets on board. How fast is it going when it’s running on electricity alone? “Adequate” is how we would describe it. It doesn’t go from 0 to 60 miles per hour very quickly (11.6 seconds), but it has enough power to keep up with city traffic, and a regenerative stopping mode lets you drive with just one pedal, like in a real EV. To get a lot more power, just press down on the gas pedal and use the kickdown switch to call in the horses.

The electric assist is usually ready with quick and silent part-throttle torque, but it can sometimes fall asleep. This makes the car look very fast when going around town in hybrid mode.

This car, the XC60 T8, is great at turning and stopping. Its adaptive suspension makes it feel very stable at standard cornering speeds. It works like magic on winding roads. We did a 116-foot panic stop on all-season tires at our test track, which would have made many smaller cars look weak to show that the brakes are strong.

How well does the XC60 fit your body? It’s very comfortable to drive the XC60 T8. The front and back seats are great, and the new wool upholstery made everyone on our team go “ooh” and “aah.” The back seat’s very supportive bottom cushion stands out because it is raised enough to give good thigh support without sacrificing headroom. This is a great idea for an SUV with a low profile. On a lot of different surfaces, the suspension compliance was mostly good and only rarely bad.

The climate control system worked great even on hot days, and we like that it uses chest-level vents on the door pillars to send air to the back instead of the more common down-low vents on the back of the center console. Noise from the road doesn’t usually get in the way, but the Volvo got a small penalty for wind noise that wouldn’t go away near the side mirrors and on the roof. Even though the four-cylinder engine shakes a lot sometimes, it’s not a problem.

How is the inside? The XC60 is a nice, simple SUV to live with, though the portrait-mode touchscreen is controversial. We’ll talk more about that in the next part. The position of the steering wheel and how it can be adjusted make the driving position almost perfect. The sitting position is like a chair, and there is good vision all around. The spaces for passengers in the front and back are both great. Being able to slip in at hip height instead of having to climb up or down makes it easy to get in and out.

The only thing that is really uncomfortable is the plug-in XC60’s shift button, which looks like a joystick. It doesn’t have the usual “skip neutral, please!” detents, so the driver has to push it twice to go from drive to reverse. To do something with just one click, you have to double-click it, and it’s too easy to get stuck in the middle, which you almost never want to do.

How does the tech work? The touchscreen that is placed upright on the XC60 may be the most controversial part of the phone. The control method is much easier to use because there aren’t many physical buttons. One feature that is hidden several screens deep is the drive-mode menu. This is where you can switch between hybrid and electric mode, tell the car to keep its electric miles or charge the battery while you’re moving. Also, the backup camera screen is too small for its time because the screen is set up in portrait mode.

Even though there are some interface issues, the XC60’s Google integration is mostly good. It has voice commands for Google Assistant and a nice-looking Google Maps display between the gauges. Even though it doesn’t work with connected devices yet, Apple CarPlay works fine. Adaptive cruise control works great and can stop and go at any speed, but it doesn’t handle sudden merges well when the speed is low. The extra Bowers & Wilkins sound system we put in our test XC60 has a lot of bass, which makes it appealing to both audiophiles and regular people.

How are things with storage? The XC60 can hold a 29.7-cube load, which is a lot for its size and usefulness. For example, it will be easy to put some golf bags or other things behind the back seats. If you fold down the seatbacks, most of the big things you need to move will fit inside.

There are many good places and bins in this SUV to store small things, so we don’t think many people will be unhappy with its storage space. The only thing we would have liked is for the door pockets to have bigger drink-holder holes so that bigger water bottles could fit.

Do you have little kids? There should be enough room between the front seatbacks to fit a toddler seat in the middle rear seat that faces backward.

How much fuel does it use? On our real 115-mile route, we really put the XC60 T8’s electric range to the test. We went 38.9 miles in full electric mode, which is farther than the EPA’s estimate of 35 miles. After moving to hybrid mode, we got an average of 25.8 mpg for the rest of the trip, which is less than the EPA’s suggested 28 mpg. Even though these numbers are a little disappointing, they look good overall, considering that this is a 455-horsepower car.

How much is the XC60 worth? Our XC60 plug-in hybrid test car costs almost $70,000 with all of its perks. Does the price make sense? We would say yes. It will cost more to buy a BMW X5 xDrive50e (X5 plug-in hybrid) with the same hardware. It didn’t squeak or rattle, and the Volvo’s interior is very nice and made of good materials.

The eight-year, 100,000-mile warranty on the hybrid parts is pretty standard, and Volvo’s four-year, 50,000-mile warranty on the whole car and the engine is also pretty standard. Free regular maintenance for the first three years is a perk that doesn’t happen very often these days.

Volvo’s most recent changes to the plug-in XC60 have made it even better. The electric range is pretty good, and it’s surprisingly fun to drive. It was great spending the day together.

We suggest the Plus trim because it has more high-tech features that make driving safer and easier. However, most people who want a luxury SUV will be happy with the Core trim’s many features. With the Plus trim level, you get a video system that records in all directions, Pilot Assist, and parking cameras in the front, back, and sides.