San Diego Magazine / January 2005 / The “Mom” Car: 2005’s Volvo XC70

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The “Mom” Car: 2005’s Volvo XC70

HEY! WHAT ARE you driving today?” The blonde, fiftysomething woman dressed in a pink warmup suit has just bounced in the front door of the gym.

“Oh, nothing special,” I reply. The women I work out with at our “girls only” gym are often amused by the parade of vehicles I drive each month. “Just a Volvo station wagon,” I say, pointing to the 2005 Volvo XC70 parked outside the front door. “It’s kind of boring.”

“Oh, you mean the Volvo parked next to mine?” the woman in pink asks, pointing to an unremarkable 1990-something Volvo sedan parked on the XC’s passenger side.

“That’s it,” I rally with feigned enthusiasm. “It’s got great acceleration and some nice features.”

This isn’t the first time I back-pedal opinion during my week with the Volvo. I’m a fan of 1970s muscle cars and 2005 “anything fast and low” models. A Volvo is about as exciting to me as a Friday-night book club.

But Volvo has a fan club that won’t buy anything else. And new enthusiasts are arriving daily. I run into them—not literally —in every parking lot. Volvo is enjoying a lot of acclaim from converts, and after a week in the XC70, I figure out who most of those people are: moms.

Like many of Volvo’s current models, the XC has improved styling. It’s a handsome wagon that avoids many of the pitfalls of SUVs, like their high center of gravity and rollover risk. Its most-likely competitors are the Audi Quatto four-door wagon and the Volkswagen Passat GLX, also all-wheel-drive wagons with high marks for styling and performance. But the Audi and Volkswagen could be categorized as a tad more, well, sporty. Volvo has a practical, safe and solid persona that screams “I shop at Whole Foods Market” and “My child was student of the month.”

Part of that characterization is from a reputation for safety. With a list of safety features that include multiple airbags, childsafety door locks and a plethora of anti-theft features, the XC is a rolling vault—albeit a pretty fast one.

Despite the quick acceleration of the turbo-charged, 2.5- liter in-line, five-cylinder engine, the XC feels cumbersome on surface streets. With stiff steering and body lean through turns, it doesn’t feel nimble or highly maneuverable at low speeds. Freeway driving is a much better experience. The allwheel- drive system sticks to the road with confidence, and the V-5 provides lots of turbo boost. The five-speed automatic transmission shifts without hesitation, and cruise control kicks in promptly without decelerating, showing off a strong engineand- transmission combination.

For moms everywhere, the utility is great. The rear door lifts easily and opens to cargo space at the perfect height for every family member to toss in a box from Costco. The thirdrow seat makes seating for seven easy.

As a family car in a “near luxury” category, it has a lot to offer. With a base price of $34,810, the XC is a good value for the commuter who is shuttling kids to school and hitting the interstate every day. It’s for the driver who values solid, safe performance in a less-SUV-like package. And for that person who wants to get to the Friday-night book club at Barnes & Noble on time.“