In the crossover-heavy landscape of 2025, there’s something deeply authentic about a traditional wagon, even if it’s raised up and plastic-clad. It’s the Ur-family hauler, offering a significant increase in practicality over a sedan without a significant increase in bulk. It’s also a rare breed in North America, but thankfully, there’s always Volvo. The V60 Cross Country is one of the few relatively compact wagons left, a left-brained pragmatic alternative to a crossover utility vehicle with an air of higher education to it. It’s a great-looking thing, which really makes you wonder why Americans only took home 1,920 of them last year.
Perhaps we also underestimated it as an option. After all, we’ve been doing this for more than three years and not once have we road tested a Volvo wagon. Well, this oversight ends now, because I got my hands on a V60 Cross Country for a week to see if it’s just as good as I remembered. It turns out that in today’s context, it might be an even better choice than when it debuted for 2019.
[Full disclosure: Volvo Canada let me borrow this V60 Cross Country for a week so long as I kept the shiny side up, returned it with a full tank of premium fuel, and reviewed it.]
The Basics
Engine: Two-liter turbocharged twin-cam inline-four with 48-volt mild hybrid system.
Transmission: Eight-speed torque converter automatic.
Drivetrain: Full-time all-wheel-drive, open front and rear differentials.
Output: 247 horsepower from 5,400 to 5,700 rpm, 258 lb.-ft. of torque from 1,800 to 4,800 rpm.
Fuel economy: 24 mpg city, 31 mpg highway, 27 mpg combined (9.7 L/100km city, 7.5 L/100km highway, 8.7 L/100km combined).
Base price: $51,495 including freight ($57,570 Canadian).
As-tested price: $63,745 including freight ($76,095 Canadian).
Why Does It Exist?
How Does It Look?
There’s a restrained tailoring to the V60 Cross Country’s styling, like a jacket without a collar gap. From the Mjolnir-inspired daytime running lights that still feel fresh to the gently upswept crease on the doors to the crisp shoulders over the arches, Volvo’s volume wagon has only grown handsome as many other luxury automakers have been busy churning out new practical uses of the word “gopping.”
Around back, columns of strawberry syrup flow from the spoiler down the pillars and across the hatch, the Volvo wordmark sits on a bit of carved-out positive space beneath the rear window, and the words “Cross Country” are molded so subtly into the valence that you might miss them. While the silver garnishes on the cladding allude to skid plates that don’t exist, the lack of visible exhaust tips real or fake is honest in a digitally altered, everything-for-Instagram age of shoutiness. The result? The V60 Cross Country looks expensive, but never garish.
What About The Interior?
Slide behind the wheel of the V60 Cross Country and it’s easy to see where just about every other luxury car today got its cabin inspiration. This generation of Volvos ushered in some serious minimalism, a huge reduction in buttons coupled with the addition of nicer materials. Open pore woods, smooth leathers, cool metal accents and speaker grilles, even an available crystal gear selector by Swedish brand Orrefors. Guess what? It’s still a better, tighter, more cohesive execution than what most rivals offer, and it makes the V60 Cross Country feel worth the money even when standing still.
The other thing you notice inside the V60 Cross Country is that it feels enormous, and that’s not just a function of the high cowl. There’s loads of space around the driver and passengers, and the cargo area’s only two cubic feet shy of that in its bigger V90 Cross Country brother. While you do technically get more cargo space in many compact crossovers, “technically” and “practically” aren’t exactly synonyms. See, the V60 Cross Country’s cargo area measures 40.7 inches from the load lip to the backs of the rear seats, more than you get in a Mercedes-Benz GLC. Knowledge versus wisdom and all that.
Oh, and how could I not mention Volvo’s famously comfortable seats? With a litany of adjustments and the perfect blend of firmness and support, I found sitting in the V60 Cross Country to be spinally re-aligning. Speaking of ergonomics, the tilt-and-telescoping steering column adjusts to fit just about everyone no matter how you’re proportioned, and the easy-to-reach knurled knob to start the car certainly beats hunting for an obscured button on the dashboard. It all adds up to something nice but not showy, exactly what a Volvo wagon should be. Well, almost. Because of the way the sun visors are notched to fit around the roof-mounted assist handles, sunglasses are basically a requirement when the sun is low. That’s a weird move for a brand so obsessed with safety.
How Does It Drive?
Back in 2015, Volvo whipped up one turbocharged two-liter four-cylinder engine and then treated it a bit like Steve Rogers, pumping it full of super-soldier stuff. We’re talking plug-in hybrid assistance, a supercharger to boost output further, and even both electrification and twincharging combined. This B5 variant might be the best application yet, not because it’s the most powerful but because it’s the most sensible. It features a 48-volt mild hybrid system to make stop-start buttery, and that’s about it. In a relatively small wagon, you don’t really need more than 247 horsepower.
Mind you, Volvo has equipped the V60 Cross Country with launch control, which is unusual because the harder you press the skinny pedal, the slower the V60 Cross Country feels. It runs from zero-to-60 mph in a shade under seven seconds, but acceleration’s best done surfing a calm wave of torque, right on brand for Volvo. Just a dab of throttle will take you from 50 mph to 65 mph, lowering your pulse as the transmission kicks down a gear in the blink of an eye, boost builds, and the V60 effortlessly makes its way to interstate speeds. It’s eager around town too, responsive from a stop but never excessively jumpy.
As for ride and handling, think control rather than any allusions to sport. The steering of the V60 Cross Country is single-fingertip light at low speeds but weights up appropriately when you’re really on the move, the suspension offers reassuring roadholding and dispenses with sunken manhole covers quickly without decanting your latte, and the structure that makes this thing seem small to get into imbues it with an immense sense of solidity. I wouldn’t recommend popping for the 20-inch wheels as there’s definitely some slight highway ride quality degradation with the big hoops sending slight jitters through the floor, but otherwise, Volvo nailed the brief.
Does It Have The Electronic Crap I Want?
Unsurprisingly, my fully loaded V60 Cross Country test car has just about every toy you could want. Ventilated massaging seats, a heated steering wheel, a head-up display, a robust advanced driver assistance system suite, LED headlights, leather, the works. However, some of the tech feels a bit six-model-years-ago because, well, the car was launched six model years ago. Apple CarPlay only works over a wired connection, the screens for the infotainment and gauge cluster don’t have the deepest black levels, and the Android Automotive OS-based infotainment system isn’t the fastest thing on the planet.
However, despite the annoyances of having to go into screen sub-menus for climate control and seat conditioning, the tech about the V60 Cross Country is easy to use. The app tray works as you’d expect, the digital cluster isn’t particularly configurable but it is easy to navigate, and the only capacitive touch slider you’ll find is for the sunroof. Oh, and all the chimes treat you like an actual adult. No excessive beeping if you, say, fire up the ignition before you put on your seat belt. Plus, we haven’t reached the party piece of the tech suite yet.
Volvo’s optional Bowers & Wilkins sound systems continue to be some of the best in the industry at any price point, and the system in this V60 absolutely delivers. While staging isn’t quite as good as in the outgoing XC90 due to different driver positions, it still offers crystal clarity and ground-shaking punch when you crank the knurled volume knob. It’s one of those options that’s worth every penny
Three Things To Know About The Volvo V60 Cross Country
- You might want to buy one for the seats.
- The oddly shaped sun visors could do a better job of actually blocking the sun.
- The optional Bowers & Wilkins audio system is an absolute must-have.
Does The Volvo V60 Cross Country Fulfil Its Purpose?
Absolutely. It’s still deeply pragmatic and a bit of a left-field choice in a world of upscale crossovers, but its quiet, restrained, mature brand of luxury transcends its form. You can’t help but get the sense that the Volvo V60 Cross Country is a nice car for nice people, and because it’s simply lovely rather than trying to be anything it’s not, it’s a more compelling vehicle than a BMW X3 or a Mercedes-Benz GLC or an Acura RDX. Add in pricing that’s right in the mix of the premium compact crossover market, and it’s the obvious choice for segment shoppers with no need or want for overt sportiness in a daily driver. For those that do, take a good look at the Genesis GV70.
What’s The Punctum Of The Volvo V60 Cross Country?
It’s everything a nice car for sensible yet well-heeled people should be.
Top graphic image: Thomas Hundal
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I have 60K miles on my 2021 V60 CC and have zero complaints and have only needed to perform regular maintenance. Mine is the base model, which I “downgraded” to 18in wheels for extra sidewall. I take it all over the rocky mountains fishing and exploring and it has never let me down. Always gets me into the fishing hole, and more importantly, back out. If you know how to properly drive off-road, it can take you way off the beaten path.
Some complain about how the climate controls are buried in menus. I would generally agree this is not desirable, but I almost never adjust it anyway. The automated climate control works really well.
I have the base stereo, which is one small regret I have after hearing the B&W option, but it’s still pretty solid.
Mine has the older infotainment, which some have complained about, but it works fine for me. Takes maybe 15-20 seconds to load up on start. Yes, there are other options out there that are faster, but if you are that focused on infotainment load times over the actual driving experience, then you’re probably on the wrong website.
I’ve driven 8-10 hour days many times and the V60 makes it no big deal. It is smooth, comfortable and fast enough on the highway, controlled and responsive on bendy mountain roads, and can easily handle all but the roughest dirt roads to the river or trailhead.
Price and feature wise, the base V60 CC is comparable to the Outback Limited XT, with Volvo offering a few extra minor features (rain sensing wipers, panoramic moonroof vs standard moonroof, etc). Price difference at this level is right around $10K. Still noticable, but not as extreme when comparing fully loaded trims.
Best part is, if your living in the Pacific NW, Colorado, Vermont, or any other Subaru obsessed location, with the V60 you’ll easily be able to find your car in the Whole Foods lot… ????
Thanks RS for this info. It’s gone into the noggin repository just in case if/when I ever shop for a (used) V60. Much appreciated. 🙂
I have a 23 xc-60 and it would be very difficult for me to purchase another Volvo because of how shitty the UX is with the infotainment system and all the weird bullshit on the car that is just weird for the sake of it. I’ll try to just call someone via bluetooth and the car just like won’t do it half the time. Gotta plug in for carplay, which just refuses to work half the time.
It drives great and is very comfortable, though.
They’re also packaged poorly in the interior.
We’ve got a previous gen. one of these (2015) and the thing that reviews seem to miss is that these drive like absolute tanks in the snow and ice. Like almost scary how planted and comfortable they are on terrible roads. If you live in a climate where it gets cold, these are absolute beasts and highly recommended…almost like they come from somewhere that sees serious winter and it shows…
Now if only they would issue a recall/extended warranty in Canada for the rings causing massive oil consumption like they did in the US, but that’s another issue…
A timely review for me. Our beloved E91 might be finally throwing the towel in. At 170k miles, the transmission has been slipping for a few months. Not a lot…but unmistakably.
Serendipitously, I had to borrow a friend’s car over the weekend. I believe it must have been a 2023 Outback. Damn have they come a long way. Two tone seats were perforated, which makes me think ventilated? Heated steering wheel and seats. Screen placement didn’t bother me. Powertrain was good around town, and the whole car was hush. Drove over a gravel road, which I avoid like hell with other cars and…. damn was it quiet a wafted over. It looks like $25k could get you a three year old one post-lease, or thirty if you want CPO.
I’d MUCH rather have this Volvo though. But what does $25k buy me? I’ll go looking now.
The Outback is significantly roomier than the Volvo and you get a lot more for your money. $40k gets you a pretty much loaded Subie and doesn’t even get you in the door with the Volvo.
Desperately wanted one but got a T80 XC60 instead bc of far better discounts (perhaps from more inventory sitting on the lot?). Sigh…
I owned a previous gen (2017) V60 CC Platinum for 5 years. It was a great car, but ultimately was too small for what we needed. This newer gen is just not compelling. Yes, it’s pretty. Gorgeous. But that’s about it.
Despite what Thomas contended, it’s not that big. The tech fucking blows .
The beltline is deceptively high such that a short person (i.e. my spouse) feels like she’s in a tomb … and the ride is really harsh. Oh, and the mileage is middling at best… And it’s $63K?
Yeah, fuck no. I want to love it and I could even afford it at a stretch … but it’s just not …
Goddamn it’s pretty.
We also had 17 V60 CC Platinum that we just sold a few months ago. It was a fantastic car but after we picked up a new XC90 my wife felt the tech was too dated and she wanted a EV so we made that happen.
I’m really hoping Volvo gives us a EV version of the V60 (or at least the 90) but I’m not going to hold my breath.
If it’s a Volvo, and it’s not old enough to have heard Talking Heads’ “Once In A Lifetime” play as a new song, it’s not an Old Volvo.
As far as I’m aware, the V60/V90 weren’t even offered with turbodiesels, lol…
Also, I’m pretty sure someone in my family had a bad case of punctus, once, left em in bed for a week ;3
These look like a lovely place to spend a road trip in.I never really looked at one, but maybe my next vehicle should be one of these, whether new or used. But the climate and seat controls should be physical. I’m not a ‘set it and forget it’ person. I adjust these sometimesas a drive as conditions warrant.
The “Why does it exist?” section is missing? ….or does it exist simply so someone can take a picture of the front of it?
I though the implication was, “It’s a Volvo wagon. Why do you think it exists?”
What a gorgeous thing! Reminds me of why I fell in love with “cars” to begin with.
I got interested when I drove an old Volvo that had been road-tripped from PNW to Maine every spring and back in the fall because the (very wealthy) owners didn’t fly with their dog. With well over 300k miles the interior had seen better days but the whole thing was tight and drove like it had 30-50k.
I bought a low-mile 2011 V50 nine years ago now. Maintenance isn’t cheap but it’s long paid off and shows no signs it won’t be around another 14 years. And you can take it places really rich people go and no one bats an eye.
We have a ’22 Cross Country T5. Liked it enough it convinced me to get an S60 as a new daily after my Jeep XJ got stolen. As others have said I would rather have a non Cross Country wagon, but the CC is better for my wife and 9 yr old. They are pricey and the infotainment isn’t great but it has been a solid family car we hope to keep for many years. My S60 has the B&W audio and while not cheap, is amazing and worth the cost if you’re into car audio. The Harmen Kardon system in the V60 is also quite good.
I have the B&W in my XC90 as well and yeah I agree it’s awesome. We had the HK in our previous V60 and I always thought it was good, but the B&W is definitely a step up. Unfortunately mine spends a lot of time playing “pumpkin cat” and “taco farts” from my children yelling “hey google” from the backseat.
Have an S60 Recharge and love it. The V60 Polestar is the scoot to have, no plasticky bits, and 200 more horsepower. Plus 40 miles PHEV range.
I really liked the Volvo V60. It was a very nice handling car, and I thought it gorgeous. But the rear cargo area tapers down something fierce.
But I genuinely have no interest in the crosscountry version of it. It looks awkward to me.
I want to like new Volvos, but they’re so complex and kinda spendy. Heck, my 20-year-old one feels a bit over-complicated to me, but I guess we can’t ever go back to the days of naturally-aspirated four-cylinder red blocks.
I see a LOT of XC60s and even some V60s around LA. They’re handsome in that nice, understated Volvo way. I never think of them as cutting-edge when it comes to tech, but that’s OK w/me. If the EX30 actually were a “$35K” car, I’d go test drive one at Galpin in Van Nuys. But it’s a $45K car, and that’s a bit much for what it is (to me).
Still, I really dig the brand, regardless of who owns it. And yes, I know that cars are never going to get simpler… it’s a reality. At least this V60CC is just a mild hybrid, and not twincharged (just that word makes me shudder when I think of owning such at thing when it’s 20 years old).
Like a lot of folks my age, I just want a safe, comfortable car with some room inside, a decent stereo, and if it looks kind of nice and comes in actual colors, so much the better. Shame it takes $60,000. MSRP to get that now.
Same! A few years back, I almost bought a new V90. The twin charged power plant was just too worrisome for someone that likes to keep cars as long as possible. The used E350 wagon with a naturally aspirated six was the better choice at the time.
Which is exactly why I still want a small Mazda crossover with their naturally aspirated 2.5: it’s ‘old tech’ but so much simpler than many hybrid/electrified engines, let alone ones with forced induction. I like to drive my cars a long time too: I don’t know if it’s still available (I’m waiting for a Craigslist reply) but I’m going to the bank in a couple hours just in case I get to look at a 80s Volvo 240 wagon a friend just showed me.
Your dog will love it.
I’ve had five dogs at once in the back of my first-gen Volvo XC90. One of these days, I WILL find a photo of that on one of my retired PCs.
I wouldn’t be so sure. For 2024 less than 2% of Volvo’s US sales were wagons. They sold about 2,500 wagons in the US, compared to Subaru selling about 168,000 Outbacks. Obviously not everyone is going to “graduate” from an Outback to a V60 or V90 but holy cow it feels like Volvo could do a better job at it capturing some folks.
I mean, Lotus sold about 2500 cars in North America last year – why the hell are Volvo wagons as rare as Lotus sports cars?
Price is certainly a factor ($20K over an Outback is quite a bit), but it seems the 60/90 cars are now a fading light for the U.S. market. Volvo moved production to Europe and with the cancellation of the T8 version and tariffs looming it probably spells the end of this lineage of gas models within a couple of model years. Most of the brand’s sales are in Europe now, too. Even China gets more Volvos than the U.S. does.
Subaru’s done a heck of a job. I wouldn’t say there’s any “graduation” needed here, there’s no shame in having a “regular” car.
There’s one of our senior VPs that has famously been a Subaru household for ages. He’s got quite the a legacy of outbacks.
That’s an imprezzively brazen pun there, friend.
As a current V60 owner, I should note that I previously owned 3 Subarus before moving to Volvos. I can absolutely see why people cross shop them – I certainly did. The move to a Volvo was because I wanted a similar ownership experience as a Subaru – but nicer. That’s exactly what Volvo’s are to me. I love these, and recommend them all the time. I still want to pick up a T8 / Recharge version of the V60. Someday. I would also mention that I couldn’t recommend a Subaru to anyone for the last several years due to their adoption of CVTs.
The real tragedy is that they stopped making the proper wagon version of the V60, instead of the jacked-up V60 Cross Country, which is the only one they sell now.
I love these, but I never felt they were particularly roomy inside – it honestly reminded me of an early 2010s Chevy in terms of claustrophobia.
On point.
Agreed, although that seems par for the course for the segment. This was a while ago but I initially liked the idea of getting a 3-series, A4 or V60 wagon as my first “dad car”, but honestly they felt tiny compared to the American wagons I grew up in. I’m sure they work well for some people but if you’ve got a family of big people and/or some sizeable cargo that you regularly carry, that class of wagon isn’t really the way to go.
The Regal TourX and E-class wagons are 9 or 10 inches longer and offer something like 50% more cargo space, which is more what I have in mind when I think “wagon”, although they aren’t terribly sporty.
Bring back the Acura TSX wagon and that would be just about right for me – just about halfway between those two segments.
The Merc surprisingly is short almost 10 cubic feet versus one of the big FWD-based wagons like the TourX, V90, or the old 9-5 Sportcombi. Next tier are the FWD-based midsizers like Golf Sportwagon, TSX, 9-3 Sportcombi and V60 (which is the smallest of that bunch).
The A4 and 3-series wagons have less than 60 cubic feet, partly as a result of longitudinal drivetrains and maybe smaller wheelbases. Even the mid-size 5-series wagon, back when it was made, didn’t even clear 60 cubic feet.
The TSX wagon was nice but really needed the torque of the new generation of turbocharged Hondas.
The V60 is very tight on the inside.
Volvo wagons represent the biggest gap between “Want to Like” and “Can’t Like” for me today. It’s a tough level of cognitive dissonance.
I guess the biggest problem is how nice Subarus have gotten for less than 2/3 the price. $64k buys a lot of car elsewhere, and I still never fully got on board with treating Volvo on the same level as the other Euro lux brands (maybe it was the Ford Era that soured me on them a bit too much).
I’ll take the seats, though. My parents invest in Ekornes chairs about once every 10 years, and my mom’s always complaining about car seats being too harsh…but they still won’t look at Volvo for some reason.
It’s funny you mention Subarus. I was a sales manager at a Subaru store for a while and the most cross shopped brand was Volvo by a wide margin. The price deltas did not matter one bit, as the people who were buying these cars were definitely upper crust. The conversion rate was surprisingly high, so I’d suppose you’re pretty spot on.
My local Subaru dealer is also a Volvo and Cadillac dealer. They are doing very well.
Volvo has made the most consistently comfortable front seats of any automaker on the planet.
This is why I drive my 21 year old V70 more than any of my other cars by a wide margin. It’s like driving a couch.