Our Portugal adventure is the first long trip with our new Volvo XC60 Recharge 6T so there will be a few comments in the portugalbycaravan blog about how it performs. It's a plug-in hybrid and we get around 45 - 50 miles electric range at home which covers a lot of local driving. On long trips it harvests enough energy to start up and move off on electrical energy and there seems to be more than sufficient power and torque from its 2 litre turbo petrol engine to easily overtake and keep to around 60mph, the UK legal limit when towing. We have yet to try mountainous roads though. The downside is around 22mpg on motorway tows with our 1.7 tonne caravan.
Solo, flooring it produces a 5.7s 0-60mph time - and it certainly feels like it. If we get bored we can always chat to it - it's controlled through embedded Android so 'OK Google' can do surprising things...
It's comfortable, cosseting and has a great sound system so let's see how it does on this trip.
So - How did it perform on the UK - Portugal trip?
Background
What a person thinks of a car depends on their personal preferences and needs and I'm no different; we need a car that is comfortable, good to drive long distances and one that is a stable and powerful towcar with enough room to store our essential gear, leaving the passenger seats free when required. That's all logical stuff and easily quantifiable. What is more difficult to define is how a car gets into your head - how it makes driving enjoyable; do you actually want to just drive the thing? I've driven and owned a heck of a lot of cars and three found a place in my head: a Citroen XM; a Mercedes E class 3l Diesel on air suspension; a Touareg R-line 3l diesel. The Touareg could go everywhere we wanted to go, was a brilliant towcar and responsive drive - easy choice. The other two were sublime on all surfaces and just, well, a wonderful drive. I valued these over responsive 'sporty' handling cars, like our Mazda RX80. You might guess where I'm going here...
The trip
Distance covered: 4,490 miles (7225km)
*Fuel consumption towing: 21 - 23 mpg (13.5 - 12.3 l/100km)
Fuel consumption solo: 31 - 35 mpg (9.1 - 8.1) l/100km)
These figures are for brisk towing and solo driving. When towing at legal limits (80 - 100 km/hr) on motorways, the average usually settled at 13.4 l/100km)
The car was fuelled with 98 Ron unleaded where possible, either E5 or E10 as per Volvo advice when towing.
The car was not charged on the trip so was, in effect, used as a 'self charging' hybrid. [Of course the car will run on battery for around 45 miles from an overnight charge at home].
We used motorways to travel long distances to and across Portugal, often covering in excess of 500 km with the 'van on the back. The combined mass of the outfit was around 3.9 tonnes. (Car 2.2t, Van 1.7t).
Road trips were on a range of roads and surfaces, some smooth, some badly potholed.
Towing
The conditions for long tows varied from clear motorways with little traffic to busy with many lorries, sometimes in very poor visibility with high winds. Around the Spanish - French border and particularly travelling east-west across Portugal there were some long, steep climbs.
The Volvo performed impeccably in all the conditions described above. In high gusting wind, the van would occasionally move very slightly but the car was always in control, the the 'van always quickly returning to track, the same being true when overtaking lorries in these conditions, the outfit imparting total confidence once the outfit 'feel' was established. There was always more than sufficient power available when required and no overheating was seen on the long motorway climbs.
Apart from a couple of occasions when motorway ripples required a reduction in speed, the ride was extremely comfortable with low ambient noise levels. Off the motorway, the car was completely competent - and, as before, possessing more than ample power. Visibility was good and, in an indefinable way, very easy to manoeuvre on and off site, particularly when reversing.
I run a digital rear view camera from the caravan to a monitor on the lower windscreen/dash and a Co-Pilot caravan navigation app on my smartphone clipped onto the left hand driver's vent. The car's excellent reversing camera system, allowing each camera to be individually selected allows easy hitching to the 'van. The built in Android was great and, unlike some testers, I had no issue at all with the controls. Google maps was used at all times. The Harman Kardon sound was excellent when fed with the downloaded Spotify app - all connected to my Google and Spotify account. We had a problem with the system on our return journey through France in that the built in modem would not connect to the internet; it occasionally indicated 3G was connected but then failed again. It was fine when back in the UK.
The seats were great, as was the stowage for various travelling items - and the boot took all of our caravanning gear.
Solo
We spent a fair amount of time on mini 'road trips', visiting mountain towns, villages and other sites on our itinerary so we ran on virtually all possible types of road - and there we have the Volvo's forte, at least in my book. It's not a BMW for 'feeling the road' but, my goodness, it's comfortable, sure footed, powerful and quiet. My kind of car. Google maps in the driver's display makes navigating an absolute doddle, too. So that's another car on my list of memorable vehicles then. At my age, it's likely to be the last!
Anything not to like?
On two occasions I found myself wrestling with the wheel when roadworks forced us to continuously cross a solid white line; the Volvo really didn't like that. This behaviour isn't unique in new cars but it's horrible and, in my view, certainly not a safety feature, especially with a 'van on the back.
Summary
I was worried about the car on this trip. We've invested a fair amount of money in this PHEV and there was a lot at stake. A powerful turbo petrol driving the front wheels with an electric motor driving the back wheels, all controlled by software sounds 'interesting'. Fortunately it all works seamlessly and it's turned out to be the kind of car I (we) can fall in love with; it's that indefinable thing that happens when lots of little (and some big) things add up to something a bit special. Job Done.
* A week later, towing on a trip of some 85 miles from Eastbourne to Leigh on Sea in mixed conditions, including very heavy traffic through the Dartford Tunnel, an indicated 26.3 mpg was achieved with a starting charge of zero. The car was fuelled with a tank of Esso Supreme+ 99.
It's always nice to know that the professionals agree with your opinion. I picked up Auto Express at Southend Airport for a quick read on the 'plane and look what I found:
from Sept-Oct 2025 edition
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