Boston.com's view

When last we went for a ride in Volvo’s new for 2003 SUV, the XC90, we were on an airport runway. You may recall that we were trying to see if we could roll it over in certain emergency situations.

So, we know what it won’t do under pretty extreme circumstances. It kept its rubber virtually intact with the pavement at all times.

The question then remained, what will it do under normal circumstances: hauling a family and gear, sliding off to the recycling center, trucking groceries, coping with a winter’s worth of snow from Christmas until now?

The answer: when you incorporate all its safety features, this is the best everyday SUV on the market today.

Volvo comes late to the SUV fray but comes better armed, safety-wise, than anyone else at this point.

It could have slapped its first SUV onto an S60 or Cross Country platform, had it ride higher, and gone to market.

Instead, Volvo got original in a contradictory way. They looked for a low center of gravity even as they provided the high-view seating and big headroom that SUV owners crave. They wanted high ground clearance (not that it is a rugged offroad beast) for travel in deep snow or on treacherous paths. They got all this. You sit high, ride high, but crouch low.

Then they got real serious about safety. They provided side curtain air bags for all three rows of seating (third row optional). They put a large crumple zone behind the third row of seats to protect those passengers. And in addition to Dynamic Stability and Traction Control – skid and spin prevention programs common now to many cars – they added Roll Stability Control.

Nobody else offers it yet, but it will happen.

Roll Stability Control uses gyroscopes to monitor the vehicle’s rate of roll and roll angle. In other words, it checks to see how close you are, based on wheel turn and tip angle, to rolling your car over.

And then it fixes it, cutting engine torque and applying brakes to individual wheels. On that airport runway, I found that this system simply won’t let you be an idiot driver. As one race driver testing the car with me said, ”the hand of God just comes down and goes `DOINK!”’ – problem solved.

Basically, this computer generated safety system induces understeer (which makes the car plow straight instead of continuing on the deadly arc that causes weight shifts and weight rebounds that end in rollovers).

I was not surprised when the car performed well in a slalom test through a set of tight cones at up to 45 miles per hour. With each approach to the edge at too high a speed approaching a cone, engine power was cut, understeer induced, and we were back at a safe speed as the next cone loomed.

In what I’ll call the moose test (and please, dear readers, no one else should write in to complain that we were endangering real, live moose), we ran up to a constructed barrier at 60-plus miles per hour and, at about 55 fe et away, slammed the brakes to get around the ”moose.”

If I had any doubts about the Volvo system it was here. That is because the objective would be to get around the object and come out in a straight line on the other side. Wouldn’t induced understeer pull me right into it?

No. Because the action of the system is so momentary, and the ABS and skid control systems so effective, that I was able to leave the brakes stomped and simply steer. In one side, around, out the other.

Of course, Volvo acknowledges that even with all this, things can go wrong. Catch the tire on the side of a ditch, you can roll. Hit something, you can roll. Therefore, all those air bags and a roof reinforced with beams of Boron steel – five times stronger than normal steel.

And, in an effort to protect occupants of smaller cars in collisions with the larger SUV, a crossmember has been installed behind its muscular front end that is low enough to line up with the bumpers of th se smaller vehicles, causing their crumple zones to collapse properly.

The XC90 comes in a 2.5T or a T6 (as tested). Both are all-wheel drive.

The 2.5 has a turbocharged 2.5-liter, inline-5 engine that generates 208 horsepower, while the 2.9 has an inline-6 with twin turbos that delivers 268 horsepower. The latter produces a wonderful, if subtle, rumble when stomped hard.

The engines are transverse mounts, which allow for extra cabin space. The 2.5 comes with a 5-speed automatic while the larger 2.9 comes with a 4-speed.

The 4-speed shifted smoothly and quietly, even when pressed for quick acceleration. It let the engine do its work without shifting up prematurely, a nice trait when you’re trying to move 2 tons rapidly down a limited stretch of passing lane.

Lane changes and hard cornering exhibited only slight touches of softness.

Beefed up suspension, derived from the S90 and V70, gives the Volvo a car-like ride on the highway yet that modicum of stiffness in hard cornering for modest offroad travel. That suspension includes struts, coil springs, and an antiroll bar up front; a multilink system with coil springs and antiroll bar in the rear.

In the T6, steering is speed sensitive, a soft touch needed in slow going or parking, a stiffer touch at higher speeds.

The all-wheel-drive system is basically the same as that found in the S60 AWD. It is electronically controlled and, under normal driving, transmits more than 90 percent of the torque to the front wheels. However, if front wheels slip even slightly, almost all torque can be sent rearward. In addition, wheel slip from side to side is monitored by traction control and the brake on individual wheels can be applied to get the offender in tune with its mates.

Except in extreme handling, you would not even sense this system working for you. The XC90 handled ice, wet, and as much as 9 inches of snow on a steep grade with ease.

The view is superb from all seats. What is remarkable is that while the XC90 is 8.7 inches taller than the Volvo Cross Country wagon, and its driver sits 6 inches higher, its center of gravity is only 3.5 inches higher.

The T6 has 8.9 inches of ground clearance to 8.6 for the 2.5T. The T6 runs on 17-inch wheels while the 2.5 sits on 16-inchers.

The interior is a great touch of a luxury that is making its way through the lineup of once frumpy and functional Volvo. The leather seats are well bolstered, the sloping dash, with its central control pod offers gauges that are simple and easy to read and controls that are intuitive. Wood accents add to the feel of luxury.

The middle seat can hold three adults in reasonable comfort (a center section slides forward as a child seat), while the optional third row is really meant for two children. Reaching the rear row means lifting a handle and sliding forward a section of the middle row.

Rear and middle row seats, as wel l as the front passenger seat, fold flat for voluminous cargo space.

This will be the hottest selling Volvo in years, at prices ranging from the mid-30s to high-40s. The biggest problem will be supplying all those who want them.

Nice Touch: I love Volvo’s use of a side sketch of a seated human figure as its controls for determining air flow. Press the head, air goes high. Press the mid-torso, it comes out of dash vents.

Annoyance: I did not like the way the transmission sometimes slipped on its own into manual mode as I clicked it down into drive.