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The V8 changes everything. I assumed that because Volvo is owned by Ford, which also owns Land Rover and Jaguar, it'd be the Jag V8, or perhaps the pig iron V8 from a Mustang. But no. It's an all new 4.4 litre unit, designed in conjunction with Yamaha, and it's really rather good.
The only seven-seat cars that are truly comparable to the V8 XC90 are the Audi Q7, which is a woeful thing with no boot and no go, and the Land Rover Discovery, which is a big and spectacularly heavy automotive V sign that chews fuel and breaks your fingernails every time you want to load a child into the back.
The Volvo, as a piece of design, has always been the best school- run car. And now, with that V8 under the bonnet, you can enjoy the run home as well. And if you are glowered at for bumbling round a city in something so seemingly vast and wasteful, simply take a leaf from the book of that great automotive thinker and motoring philosopher, Jack Dee.