Volvo Cross Country
Review by RON DRYSDALE
Photos by ROBERT BOWDEN

Spotting a colleague's wife in the parking lot where she and I were both waiting to collect our daughters from an after-school volleyball practice, I'd walked over and tapped on her car's window. Time for a little market research …

"You want to drive a really cool Volvo?"

And then, for good measure, "Lots of leather … it smells awesome." Away we went … after all, the kids had kept us waiting and could now maybe wait a few minutes themselves.

"Is this, um, like their version of a Blazer?" Cheryl asked after a few moments. It was a good question, and made more interesting by the fact that it had been prompted solely by her visual and driving impressions. I, with great personal effort, had managed to keep my mouth mostly shut.

"Yes and no," said I.
Some background …

In the summer of 1997, Volvo brought the A-list automotive press (plus, inexplicably, a guy from Cosmo) to Alaska for the North American intro of the Cross Country, the Swedish company’s freshly-minted all-wheel-drive station wagon/sport-ute hybrid.

"Why summer?" I remember thinking.

Manitoba didn't get a production model until December of that year, but winter on the prairies obviously proved to be a much better venue … with sufficient snow to justify both the AWD feature and those sensuously-heated leather thrones that Volvo does so well.

Now, a couple of years later, two September days behind the wheel of a '99 Cross Country were more than enough to reassure me that, yes, if I could have just one car, it would likely be a Volvo all-wheel-drive wagon. Not this one, though …

*****

The Cross Country wasn't a particularly original idea. With a keen eye on the phenomenal sales success of the widely-advertised Subaru Outback, Volvo took its own very competent all-wheel-drive wagon and gave it the full-house outdoorsy look that Paul Hogan has hawked so successfully for Subaru. The resultant vehicle offers up the essential goodness of the original V70 AWD in an interesting and (worth-noting) similarly priced package.

Major differences?

The 65-series Continental tires from Germany are a bit taller, and boost the ground clearance by about 17 mm, just a tiny bit shy of a Ford Explorer’s.

Gray bodyside trim (carried over onto the bumpers) and fog lights are must-have sport-ute styling cues. It's an OK treatment, and not overdone.

It looks like the whole vehicle could be suspended from the Cross Country's beefy-looking roof rack, conservatively rated at a whopping 100 kilograms.

Unchanged from that first V70 AWD is the smooth light-pressure turbo bolted to the five-cylinder, 2.5 liter engine. Thus equipped, the motor makes 190 horsepower and pulls strongly from 2,000 rpm. As always, Volvo's all-wheel-drive is transparent and seamless. Combined with an automatic rear differential, traction-control and anti-lock brakes, it's a drivetrain that inspires lousy-weather confidence.

Other points worth noting:

I've read that the '99 body structure is stiffer than the structure in the '97 that I originally drove, but I was unable to spot any difference … they both felt like bank vaults. Doors thunk.

The steering wheel feels quite large at first, but I quickly grew used to it. It telescopes in and out through a surprisingly-broad range.

On the unofficial handling course that is Bird's Hill Park, the disc brakes on the test car felt typically Volvo … powerful and easy to modulate. Strong braking in those fast little wilderness clover-leafs did little to upset the car's composure.

Accelerating through that same turn felt just as benign, thanks to the magic of that viscous all-wheel-drive.

The driver's seat is incredible, but the front passenger seat offers fewer adjustments.

The rear-mounted fog light is a great idea … in a prairie white-out I'm as concerned about getting bashed from behind as I am about bashing into someone else.

Speaking of bashing and bash-survival, Volvo (as we all know) wrote the book … just like Sorel did with snow boots.

The five-speed manual transmission that I enjoyed so much in the original Canadian-spec V70 all-wheel-drive wagon is no longer available … a disconcerting sign of the factory’s perceived "dumbing down" of the drivers who can afford to enjoy these pricey vehicles.

The stereo still has a cassette function in addition to the expected CD player … great for personalized road tapes and Elmore Leonard's latest novel.

For buyers who prefer (and can afford) an even stronger brew, Volvo offers the almost-outrageous AWD-R sportwagon. With its lower-profile rubber, a suede and aluminum-trimmed interior, stronger brakes, dual exhausts and more than 260 horsepower, the R hauls considerably more than portable playpens. The Cross Country is almost without flaw but, in the world of hypothetical what-if's, that very intense V70 R gets my just-as-hypothetical nod. Power corrupts.

Bob's Take: Without serving up several thousand carefully reworked words, just let me say this became my favorite Volvo after a short week of testing. It suits my lifestyle better than the new crop of flashy coupes and sedans, and simply does everything well. Nigglies like inferior exterior door handles and a fuel filler on the wrong side are a turnoff, however. It's still one-star short of the Subaru Outback.

Home, James