Volvo XC90

There are shoutier SUVs than the XC90. The BMW X5 and Porsche Cayenne both strut their stuff more brashly. In its own more subtle manner, for several months last year the XC90 snuck to the top of the sales chart for cars in its class. Only recently has Volvo got around to building enough to drop the waiting list to six months.

Cresting a wave of smugness at the success of their creation, they've now introduced this 2.5T. It's intended to be something of a compromise - a petrol-fuelled version without quite the wallet-wilting consumption of the top, twin-turbocharged, V6-propelled T6 model, aimed at diesel-o-phobes. In other words, Americans.

What you get is the light-pressure turbocharged 2.5-litre, five-cylinder engine that can already be found in the S60, V70 and S80, and that's next destined to crop up in the new Ford Focus ST. In the XC90 it delivers 210bhp and 236lb ft of torque - respectively 35kW more than its closest equivalent, the (also) turbocharged, 2.4-litre, five-cylinder XC90 D5.

In a car weighing well over two tonnes, it's the torque output that you feel most keenly. With the smoothly-shifting optional five-speed Geartronic auto in place the 2.5T pulls away just urgently enough, calling for a run up to overtake slower traffic; little different from the diesel-drinking D5, then. Once warmed through, the two even sound similar, settling to a hushed thrum at a cruise.

Acceleration times away from a standstill are admittedly swifter in the 2.5T, but in the cut-and-thrust of everyday driving conditions, there's little to separate them.

Both also share a seven-seat interior that's as well designed, simple and flexible to use as any large MPV's. You've also got all the safety features of Volvo's regular family cars, with front, side and curtain airbags matched to whiplash-reducing head restraints and standard stability control - now with a sensor built in to react to excessive angles of body lean during evasive manoeuvres.

The main difference is that where the diesel version returns a respectable 9.5L/100km official combined economy figure, the 2.5T can only manage 12L/100km.

This is meant to be sensible family transport, for sensible people. The D5 makes more sense.

Peter Grunert

9/20
We say: Still a top family car, flexible and crammed with safety features. But not as good as the diesel
Price: $69,950
Performance: 0-100kmh in 9.5secs, max speed 210kmh, 9L/100km
Tech: 2521cc, 4WD, 154kW, 320Nm, 2063kg, 269g/km CO2