What is this?
If a Volvo has a B in the engine code, then it is drinking petrol or diesel. Copies with a T, you always have two energy sources: petrol and electricity. The division is simple. The front wheels are driven by a four-cylinder, the rear wheels by an electric motor.
For model year 2022, the Swedes sent all their rechargeable hybrids, namely the S60/V60, S90/V90, the XC90 and this XC60, back to the engineers for a refresh, who installed some extra battery capacity in the first place.
The backbone-mounted battery can now store 18.8 kWh instead of 11.6. Of this, 14.9 kWh is usable, and that guarantees an electric autonomy of 67 kilometers. With the combustion engine inactive, the XC60 is therefore a rear-wheel drive. It is also the most powerful road car Volvo has ever built, with a system output of 455 hp. 310 of these come from the four-cylinder, which has both a compressor and a turbo. At the rear is 107 kW, which is more than in the previous model year.
What is changing?
When both power sources give the full pound, the Volvo XC60 T8 Recharge shoots from a good 2.1 tons to 100 km/h in just 4.9 seconds. Striking is the excellent sound insulation in combination with active counter-noise via the speakers, so that you hardly notice that there is also a motor of jetje at the front. There is also a T6 version with a less powerful petrol engine, but still a system power of 350 hp. It has a similar electric range and is mainly about 6,000 euros cheaper.
As is almost always the case with rechargeable hybrids, it is mainly a picture that the administration does well, as a company car, with those miraculous CO2 emissions. The reality is less ecological: both the power and petrol consumption of the Volvo XC60 T8 Recharge are high, and you also have the inconvenience of having to plug in and refuel every now and then.
This does not detract from the Volco XC60 as a whole, this is still a car that has been put together with skill and good taste. The chairs, for example, are covered with recycled polyester, which means that 30% wool is woven: wonderfully soft and warm (it’s not about the ones in the photo). The refurbishment also brings a renewed multimedia system on Google platform, just like in the fresh C40. You now also have to use it to choose between the different driving modes, whereas before that was done with a button, which was more convenient while driving.
And from the EVs also comes the possibility to drive with one pedal, whereby unloading the gas is enough to brake the car to a standstill. Once you’ve got it in your toes, you won’t want to go back.
Conclusion?
The Volvo XC60 has not aged a bit and remains a capable and stylish alternative to the more ostentatious German counterparts. As long as the energy bill is for your employer, there is nothing wrong with this renewed T8 Recharge. For private drivers, however, the price of the plug-in hybrid SUV is far too high in relation to the real savings in running costs.
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