2019 Volvo XC40 vs 2020

What's the difference?

The Volvo XC40 is the smallest and most recent addition to the Swedish brand’s SUV line-up and from the moment it arrived in 2018 it seems just about everybody hailed it as the best thing since smashed avocado.

Seriously, the praise was so high for the hugely anticipated car you could have been forgiven for thinking it could have been the new Dalai Lama or the Messiah.

But what’s it like live with? The XC40, not the Messiah.

We found out when an XC40 Inscription T4 came to stay for a week. During that time, I found out just how much fuel it needed, how much room was inside, what is was like to drive and what was missing from that impressive armoury of safety technology.

As much as any brand in the Australian car market Volvo has evolved into an SUV company. Its full-size XC90 broke the ice in the early noughties, joined by the mid-size XC60 in 2008, with this car, the compact XC40 completing the three-piece set in 2018.

Volvo is one of only a few shining lights in a declining new vehicle market, and the XC40 is giving the XC60 a nudge for top spot in the Swedish maker’s range. So, it must be doing something right… right?

We spent a week with the entry-level XC40 T4 Momentum to see what all the Scandinavian fuss is about.