10 Things You Need To Know About The Volvo XC60 Recharge

The Volvo XC60 has been a popular and successful product for the brand, and its electric avatar, the XC60 Recharge is really special. The standard gasoline-powered variants of the XC60 are pretty popular and the plug-in hybrid variants have taken the game even further. What makes the XC60 special are the safety features, as is the case with every Volvo product. It is even marketed as a very safe family SUV with space for five passengers with sufficient boot space to carry all their luggage. The size is also perfect to make it an all-rounder. Add to this, the added efficiency from the hybrid powertrain just makes it that much more desirable and attractive as a package. However, there are surely a few things that could have been better as well. Here are 10 things one should take into account while considering the Volvo XC60 Recharge.

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1 The Volvo XC60 Recharge Boasts Sharp Looks

Rear three-quarters shot of a silver 2022 Volvo XC60 Recharge

The Volvo XC60 Recharge has really sharp looks that are timeless at the same time. The straight cuts and creases make it really timeless and even after all these years, the XC60 still looks fresh. The sharp front-end design particularly grabs attention and sets a tone for the clean lines to be carried all around the car. Moreover, it follows the family look of Volvo and hence, one cannot mistake the XC60 on the road for anything other than a Volvo. The wide stance makes the car look stable and spacious. It also gets an optional dark theme that replaces all the chrome bits on the outside with black plastics and this makes the XC60 Recharge even more sharp and attractive. This also makes it look more sporty when coupled with sporty colors like red.

2 It Comes With A Luxurious Interior

Infotainment and Driver’s display in the Volvo XC60 Recharge 

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The interior of the XC60 Recharge is right up there with the best in the market when it comes to quality. All the surfaces look extremely rich and are covered in soft-touch leather in various colors depending upon the variant. Even the lower half of the dashboard, which one usually checks and touches less often, seems to be covered with soft-touch materials which elevate the cabin ambiance to a higher level. In addition to this, the quality levels across the cabin are top-notch, and everything, right from the plastic parts to the leather upholstery on the seats looks super-rich. The door pads and roof liner, too, are covered in high-quality materials and look luxurious. The high-quality materials used all around the cabin also ensure good longevity of all the interior surfaces, especially the ones that experience touch and abrasion pretty often. Volvo has not skimped on the interior quality at all, even in the base variants.

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3 450+ Horses From Its Hybrid Setup

Top angle shot of a white Volvo XC60 Recharge’s engine.

The XC60 Recharge features a large and competitive 18.8 kWh battery pack coupled to a strong electric motor that gives the XC60 Recharge a solid combined output of 455 horsepower and 523 pound-feet of torque. The battery on its own produces a strong 143 horsepower. The strong electric motor is coupled with an equally powerful and capable 2.0-liter direct injection turbocharged inline-four gasoline engine. This makes the XC60 pretty quick off the line and allows it to reach 60 MPH from a standstill pretty quickly. The electric motor delivers its maximum torque right from the get-go and this makes all EVs and hybrids extremely sprightly and fun-to-drive even in the daily urban runabouts. The new motors have surely transformed the performance of the XC60 Recharge looking at the power figures. Here are the power figures of the Volvo XC60 Recharge compared to its rivals.

Power Output Comparison

4 Top-notch Safety Features Offered As Standard

Front three quarter shot of Volvo XC60 Recharge

As is usually the case with Volvo, the safety features are all standard and this makes the XC60 extremely safe. All the advanced driver assistance systems like lane departure warning, lane keeping assist, automated emergency braking, etc. are all standard across the range. In addition to this, the XC60 has scored a solid five stars in crash tests conducted by IIHS. This increases customer confidence hugely and helps draw in customers who usually buy Volvo products for their strong safety record. Some of its rivals offer important driver assistance features as part of optional safety packages. However, Volvo never skips on safety and hence, offers all the possible safety systems as standard across the range.

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5 An Immersive Infotainment System Graces The Cabin

Interior shot of Volvo XC60 Recharge

The XC60 gets a super intuitive and easy-to-use infotainment system with a large nine-inch touchscreen. As expected, it gets all the connectivity features like Android Auto, in-built navigation, and Bluetooth. It also gets SiriusXM radio which brings it on par with all its modern competitors. One major omission is the lack of Apple Carplay. The system also allows the driver to control some common functions in the car like the HVAC. This makes it an all-integrated system that can control many of the XC60’s functions. The display quality is top-notch given its high resolution and the screen has superb clarity even in bright sunlight, hence, it should not demand anything more than a glance to see and read the information on the screen. This also makes it safer as the driver does not have to take eyes off the road for a long period of time. Also, this makes multimedia consumption very desirable.

6 Spacious Cabin For Its Class

Side Interior shot of a Volvo XC60 Recharge

The XC60 is pretty decent in terms of exterior dimensions and this reflects on the generous interior space as well. The XC60 has very spacious legroom in both rows, as can be seen from the pictures. The cabin is decently wide too, which should make it easy to carry three passengers in the rear seat with sufficient shoulder room for everyone. The seats in Volvo cars in general, too, are really well cushioned and provide excellent under-thigh support along with very good lower back support and that should be the case in the XC60 as well. The space as per the specifications is good all around and that should make the interior of the XC60 really comfortable and spacious.

Volvo XC60 Recharge Interior Dimensions

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7 Decent Fuel Efficiency By Segment Standards

Side profile shot of Volvo XC60 Recharge

The Volvo XC60 Recharge delivers pretty decent fuel efficiency, thanks to the hybrid powertrain. As is the case with all hybrids, the XC60, too, delivers very good figures at lower speeds in urban conditions where traffic density is usually higher. It returns a very respectable figure of 25 MPG combined, 22 MPG in the city, and 29 MPG on the highways. This is on par with all its competitors and makes it perfectly suited to anyone looking for a comfortable, safe, and fuel-efficient hybrid SUV. The XC60 is pretty large and heavy and hence, a combined figure of 25 MPG is really attractive. Users who have more usage at lower average speeds in urban conditions could extract even more mileage as that allows the XC60 Recharge to run on pure electric power for longer durations. The electric motor powers the XC60 all by itself in low consumption situations for the maximum possible distance like in crawling traffic and this ensures high efficiency as the gasoline engine does not kick in at all.

8 No Dearth Of Cargo Space

Boot of Volvo XC60 Recharge

The XC60 Recharge has a huge boot despite having those battery packs under the floor. It has a capacity of 25.8 cubic feet which makes it large enough to carry luggage of five people comfortably. With the rear seats folded, the booth space goes up to an impressive 63.3 cubic feet. In addition to this, the boot area is very well shaped which makes it possible to stuff in more luggage and avoid wastage of space. The low-loading lip is an added benefit and this allows easy loading of heavy luggage into the boot without the need to lift the luggage too high up. The rear seats are foldable which makes the boot even larger and enough to carry luggage for moving houses. The boxy shape on the outside makes for a perfectly square boot on the inside which helps in making the maximum use of available space.

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9 0-60 mph in Under Five Seconds!

Front three quarter shot of Volvo XC60 Recharge

The XC60 Recharge is pretty powerful and as expected, that reflects in its performance as well. It produces 400 horsepower and 472 pound-feet of torque. The combined power output is an impressive 455 horsepower and 523 pound-feet of torque. It accelerates to 60 MPH from a standstill in just 4.5 seconds which makes it faster than some performance SUVs. It benefits from the added boost that the electric motor provides at low speeds and that improves the off-the-line performance significantly. The XC60 Recharge is really fast considering it gets just a 2.0-liter four-cylinder gasoline motor. The hybrid powertrain just transforms the XC60’s performance to a whole new level. This kind of acceleration in a family SUV is not that common and this makes the XC60 Recharge extremely fun to drive.

Volvo XC60 Recharge Specs

10 The Volvo XC60 Recharge Starts At Around $45,000

Rear shot of the Volvo XC60 Recharge

Although the XC60 Recharge is packed to the brim with features, it is also on the higher end of the price spectrum when compared to its competition. Its prices make it sit on the higher end of its segment. The fully loaded variant of the XC60 Recharge costs around $74,690, which is pretty expensive. The fact that all the high-end driver assistance features are standard makes it somewhat good value, but still, it is on the expensive side nonetheless. One good thing is, many desirable and attractive features are standard and prospective owners are not forced to go for expensive option packs to get all those features like a nice infotainment system and good music system. It even gets a superb-sounding Harmon Kardon sound system. Here are the starting prices of the XC60 Recharge along with some of its rivals. The XC60 Recharge range starts at $44,545.

Price Comparison