Video: 2017 Volvo XC60 Review

So we wondered how well has the 2017, which is appearing at dealerships now, holding up? The answer is Volvo has done a pretty good job keeping the XC60 competitive but there's no question, this is a very different vehicle from the XC90 full size SUV, which has won a jillion awards including cars.com's top honor the Best of 2016. First, I'll show you three features that are on both models that help distinguish the Volvos from their competitors. All three of these features involve seats. Number one, a long time staple of Volvos is excellent seats. They are really supportive and comfortable without being mushy. Second, outward visibility is very important to Volvo. So if you're in the driver's seat, you look back and you see raised head restraints in a seat that's not occupied, all you have to do is reach forward and hit a button on the dashboard and there, your view is clear. It's also good if someone is misbehaving back here. And third, the optional integrated booster seats for children. They just pop up like this, there's one setting or you hit another button, goes a bit higher for smaller children. The good things about this about this are obviously, that it's always there and perhaps more important, when you don't need it, it's completely out of the way. As for the exterior, the look betrays the generation's age. It's not terrible but it's not the styling standout that the XC90 is. It has an old underlying platform leftover from the days of Ford ownership as opposed to the XC90, which has a new platform. This model is only a few hundred pounds lighter than the XC90 and you feel it when you're driving. It feels a bit heavy for it's size, though the curb weight isn't that different from direct competitors like the Acura RDX or Cadillac XT5. Maybe it's about the steering which is extremely frustrating. Somehow it manages to mix an overall lack of feedback and numbness with a tendency to jerk the wheel almost violently over mid corner bumps. It's so incongruous, it's almost impressive. Now, our car has the optional two liter turbocharged and supercharged four cylinder engine that's also in the XC90 that cars.com owns. Here it has a little less power, 302 horsepower, but it's a nice match. It's responsive, it works well with the eight speed transmission and it actually has decent mileage despite the power. As far as mileage is concerned, the base engine with front wheel drive in the XC60 has higher combined EPA rated miles per gallon than the competitors. Well done, Volvo. Bearing in mind that this is Volvo's more affordable model, the interior is still more premium than outright luxury. The XC90 has finally made that leap for Volvo and is comparable to the best out of Germany and the UK. The biggest difference between the 60 and the 90 is right here in the control system. Now, the XC90 has incorporated just about everything into a single touchscreen, whereas here you have the old style button layout. If you don't like touchscreens, this might be just your thing but it's still not the best design. Just doing things like changing radio bands takes several steps. That button, this knob, this button. The satellite radio function has one of the more modern capabilities and that is you can see what's playing on other stations while you're listening to one but you have to hit a button and it shows separately the channel, the band and the track that's playing. The XC90's touchscreen does a better job of integrating all that stuff. There are actually a lot of these yes but examples in the XC60. For example, the 60 has many active safety features. They work very well and more are standard than before for 2017 but it doesn't have the pilot assist feature that makes stop and go traffic so much more tolerable in the XC90. The XC60 offers a wifi hotspot but it's 3G instead of the faster 4G in the XC90 and the Cadillac XT5. The XC60 doesn't have a full time rear view camera like the XT5 does but on the upside, it also doesn't have weird shifter operation and the Cadillac user experience multimedia system, which has more detractors than fans. Maybe a lot more. Likewise, the Acura RDX has a two screen system that's kind of baffling. So it's not enough just to have a modern system, it has to be well done and we believe it's well done in the XC90. Believe it or not, when it comes time to make your decision, what's going on in the dashboard might be a major factor whether you choose the '17, wait to see what's next from Volvo, or go for an alternative from another brand.