Volvo XC60 T8 Twin Engine

The award winning XC60 T8 offers a lot of cars in one package: family car, sports car, electric car, off-road car, luxury car and more

- Jonathan Musk

So you want a car that’s good for taking the family out, business meetings, getting somewhere that you’re invariably late for fast, but it must be frugal - oh and luxurious, of course, and have the latest technology in it and be safe and granny lives in the highlands of Scotland, so it needs to go off-road too. Oh and on occasion you might like to load it full of luggage, or a wardrobe, and it must seat five. And it can’t be too big, else it won’t fit on the driveway.

There are cars that fulfill most of these criteria, but there’s typically one or two compromised factors. Not so with the Volvo XC60 T8 Twin Engine, which seems to offer all of this list.

Let’s start by stating it is a very impressive car. But, it isn’t without competition and that’s where the Volvo manages to be that little bit different and, in my opinion, this makes it something quite special.

What is it?

First things first; this is a plug-in hybrid SUV that sits in the middle of Volvo’s SUV range and replaces its best-selling identically titled predecessor. The T8 Twin Engine name gives away its power: a 2.0-litre in-line four-cylinder petrol engine that’s turbo and supercharged to offer 320hp and 400Nm torque that drives the front wheels only, which is complemented by an 87hp electric motor driving the rear wheels. The motor gets its power from a 10.2kWh lithium-ion battery mounted down the middle of the car, which offers good weight distribution, doesn’t reduce boot capacity and provides [an official] 26 electric miles from a full charge.

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