Category: Sporting 4x4s 
Price Range: £29,995 to £49,985
Roomy, comfortable, safe and refined.
It's no off-roader and it's not cheap.
Versatile family transport that's benefited from a thoughtful programme of improvements.
A big but barely visible set of changes made in late 2006 has broadened the XC90 range and broadened its appeal. Up until then, the big SUV had done tremendous business for Volvo as the archetypal school-run 4x4 for reasonably posh mums who queued up to buy a roomy, comfortable car surrounded by Volvo's aura of safety and responsibility.
Those qualities remain in place, but now the XC range has some more interesting engines and, on sportier models, suspension that will suit drivers who enjoy going around corners. It's also benefitted from a light makeover, inside and out and, although its rivals have also been upgraded of late, the Volvo's specification is still impressive.
It remains a big, slightly clumsy car and people who hate 4x4s on principle aren't going to warm to it one bit. But since when did Volvo buyers care what anybody thought about their choice of car?
Latest Readers' Drives About the Volvo XC90
wrote on 10 10 2007