2021 BMW X5 vs Volvo XC90

What's the difference?

Can you believe it’s been nearly two and a half years since the fourth-generation BMW X5 went on sale? Buyers clearly have short memories, though, because the first X model BMW ever unleashed on the world is still the best-seller in its large SUV segment.

Try as the Mercedes-Benz GLE, Volvo XC90 and Lexus RX might, but the X5 simply cannot be dethroned.

So, what’s all the fuss about? Well, there’s no better way to find out than to take a detailed look at the X5’s volume-selling xDrive30d variant. Read on.

The last time I reviewed a plug-in hybrid Volvo I pretty much got death threats. OK, not quite, but my review and video of the XC60 R Design T8 made some readers and viewers very angry and they even called me names, all because I never charged the battery. Well, there’ll be no need for me to flee to a safe house this time, because not only did I charge the XC90 R-Design T8 Recharge I’m reviewing here, but I plugged it in nearly all the time I wasn’t driving it. Happy now?

I say nearly all the time, because during the three-week test of this plug-in hybrid XC 90 we took it away on a family holiday and didn’t have access to power and you’ll most likely face that situation too as an owner.

So how was the fuel economy of this big seven-seat SUV PHEV over hundreds of kilometres and being used as a family workhorse? The result blew me away and I can see why people were so furious with me in the first place.