Volvo Car Malaysia has just launched the eagerly awaited Volvo XC40 here. The premium compact SUV will be sold here in the XC40 T5 R-Design variant for the moment. Yes, one variant for the moment and it will be sold in fully imported form as you see here until locally assembled models be made available at the end of the year.
The Volvo XC40 T5 R-Design will be offered from RM255,888 (OTR, without insurance inclusive of excise duty and sales tax). Volvo Car Malaysia have stated that they have acted on feedback received from their customers when choosing which variant to bring in and it seems, Malaysians like them sporty. Hence the R-Design specification and quite a varied selection of exterior colours which are bolder than before.
The XC40 T5 R-Design will be made available in four colours - Bursting Blue, Fusion Red, Crystal White and Osmium Grey. Personally, the blue and the red are the most striking. But all the colours suit the compact SUV and brings out the lines of the car. Well, maybe the grey is the most conservative colour and is more understated than the rest.
The XC40 is designed around Volvo's new Compact Modular Architecture (CMA) platform for their smaller cars. It is the first of their new batch of compact cars but it will also be equipped with most of the technology and equipment which you can find in its larger XC siblings, the XC60 and the range topping XC90 (which are based on Volvo's Scalable Product Architecture - SPA).
The XC40 is a very good looking compact SUV, there are interesting styling and design throughout the exterior of the car. The lights, front and rear are distinctive and unmistakably Volvo. There are interesting plays of form and a very characterful kink in the C-pillar and rear door. It may look chunky and make the rear pillar take on a unique look of its own, but visibility is still good if you are in the driver's seat.
Whilst being all petite and cute (compared to the larger cars), the XC40 still gets equipment like Pilot Assist (semi-autonomous driving), City Safety (autonomous collision mitigation and avoidance for pedestrian, cyclist and large animal detection), Run-off road Protection and Mitigation, Cross Traffic Alert with Auto Brake and other stuff too. It is well equipped.
Aside from the usual gadgets and other equipment, Volvo actually put some time and effort into making the XC40 suitable for the urban user. With the XC40, Volvo actually researched how city dwellers globally use their cars and how storage space inside the cars were utilised. With this, the XC40 has oodles of storage spaces, holes, slots and other innovative packaging solutions for the SUV.
One example is how the engineers moved the door speakers up front to the dashboard, Volvo created enough storage in the door pockets to fit a laptop or a tablet or some water bottles. There are also slots for parking tickets, a removable bin, foldaway hooks for takeaways and other hidden storage compartments too.
The car is quite nice to drive too as we had a short test at the launch venue in Genting Highlands. They XC40 T5 R-Design is powered by the 2.0liter Drive-E 4 cylinder turbocharged engine. It makes 252hp and 350Nm torque. It is all-wheel drive and the power is transmitted via an 8-speed automatic transmission. 0-100kmh is claimed to be in 6.4seconds.
Initial drive impressions of the XC40 T5 is good, with some turbo lag initially but the overall performance levels are quite good with extremely high levels of ride and comfort inside it. The SUV is very refined and the engine noise is so well muted that you'd be amazed that this is only Volvo's smallest SUV and not its range topper. It is very refined. The all-wheel drive chassis rides well but there is some understeer when you push hard in the SUV. Of course, Volvo designed this for the ultimate compact crossover vehicle which needs to be great in all situations. Drive this SUV within its limits and it will impress you.
It did impress me actually. Stay tuned for an initial impressions video on the XC40 T5 R-Design which should be up on Motoring Malaysia's YouTube channel soon.
In the meantime, Volvo Car Malaysia have stated that the all-new XC40 T5 R-Design will be available for viewing at all authorised dealers starting this weekend.
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