What's the difference?
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.
In a camper-trailer market seemingly in danger of being swamped by cheap products of dubious build quality, it is refreshing to see a local mob, Australia’s Cub Campers, persisting with well-built and highly functional camper-trailers packed with standard features and with plenty of optional extras.
The company's 2.2m rear-fold* line-up includes the Weekender, Explorer and Brumby; its 3.6m line-up includes the Traveller, Escape and Longreach. (* When the trailer is static, its roof can be unfolded to the rear to become the hard floor of the camper’s entry-way. Check out the accompanying photos to better understand the process.)
Our test Brumby was a standard model (from $29,490) with an Adventure Pack ($1300) and draught skirt ($225), giving it a $31,015 price-tag.
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.
The Brumby is a fine example of top-notch design and manufacturing at a reasonable price.
It looks great, tows well, is very easy to set up and take down and does everything Cub Campers claims it’ll do – with no fuss.Â
Any issues in this camper are really only a matter of nit-picking and can easily be rectified with Cub options or adjustments.
The attention to detail is superb and, as a built-for-purpose camper, the Brumby certainly hits the mark.