What's the difference?
Large family-friendly luxury SUVs tend to be handsome in design but somewhat restrained. Until now. BMW has introduced a major facelift for its flagship SUV, the six- or seven-seat X7. Emphasis on face.
The new X7 adopts the striking but controversial front-end from the new 7 Series sedan, but the big, bold SUV is hiding some rather significant changes under the skin. Aside from a beefier diesel that now comes with mild hybrid tech, there’s also a redesigned cabin, massively upgraded tech, more standard features, oh, and a price increase.
Do you like swimming against the tide? Do you like to zig when everyone else is zagging? Are you unafraid of making the unpopular choice?
Well, if you align with the above, I have just the car for you.
The Volvo ES90 pushes against most current trends. The luxury sedan used to be the measure of a brand, but not anymore. These days the luxury market is defined by SUVs and sedans have been reduced to an afterthought for many.
But if you’re willing to think outside the SUV-shaped box, there is a lot to like about Volvo’s new luxury offering. Whether it’s a true sedan or not is open to debate, but what it isn’t is an SUV and for those willing to live that counter-culture lifestyle this may be right for you.
When lined up against its direct rivals, the expensive X7 xDrive40d represents reasonable value for money.
It has a unique and bold look and a sumptuous, visually striking and well-appointed interior that has acres of space for family, friends, or for ferrying frequent flyers to the airport.Â
That wallop of performance from the big beefy diesel is the cherry on the top. This is how you do a mid-life update.Â
More stylish than ever before, as quiet and refined as you'd expect from a luxury car and yet the stand out feature might once again be safety. Despite seemingly every new car being loaded to the gills with safety features, Volvo has managed to demonstrate industry best-practice and leads the way again.
I would encourage engineers from every other car brand to drive the ES90 to learn how to better integrate the modern suite of active safety features like forward collision warning and lane departure warning.
But beyond that, is the ES90 a car worthy of consideration? Well, pretty much everything it does the EX90 does too, so if you prefer an SUV that’s definitely worth consideration. But if you don’t want an SUV, if you prefer a sedan or just love to be different, the ES90 is a very attractive proposition in more ways than one.