Volvo XC90 (P5)

The global financial crisis in 2008 brought difficult times for the automotive industry, as cash-tight and credit-strapped customers bought dramatically fewer cars. Collapsing sales triggered a wave of bankruptcies, sales, and consolidations, with many old nameplates like Pontiac and Saab disappearing forever. Volvo, under Ford ownership, was seeing strong new product launches with its P1 compact and P3 mid- and full-size platforms, but even they saw sales shrink, becoming a liability for their corporate parent. In 2009, Ford thus sold Volvo to Geely Automotive, with the deal finalized and completed by 2010. 

By this time, Volvo had begun initial development of its next common car platform: "Scalable Product Architecture" or SPA. Designed for mid-to-full-size cars, this new platform (also sometimes called "P5") would be paired with new "Volvo Engine Architecture" VEA four cylinder engines, making all new Volvos constructed from the same building blocks.

With the specter of climate change and resource scarcity looming on the horizon, SPA and VEA were designed from the outset to support easy electrification. The "spine" of the car can mount a high capacity battery pack, and there's baked-in support for engine start-stop with an integrated starter/generator, hybrid and full electric drive, and plug-in, high voltage charging.

Reflecting changing consumer tastes towards SUVs and crossovers, Volvo decided to launch this new platform not with their large sedan, but with the next generation of their bread-and-butter XC90 3-row crossover SUV. As Volvo's new flagship, the XC90 debuted with a host of advanced new technologies: Sensus touchscreen infotainment and navigation, "Thor's Hammer" headlights, automatic braking, self-driving features like lane-keeping and adaptive cruise control, BLIS blind spot monitoring, and plug-in hybrid functionality as an option on T8s.

As with all SPA cars in the USA, the XC90 is exclusively powered by VEA (also sometimes badged "DRIVe", pronounced "drive eee") 2.0L inline four engines paired with Aisin-Warner TG-81 8-speed automatic transmissions, either in turbocharged "T5" or twin-charged (turbo- and supercharged) "T6" trims.

New in 2023 to the XC90 (and its S90 and V90 platform stablemates) is a high-voltage mild hybrid system in the B5 and B6 trims, replacing the T5s and the T6s. The more powerful 48-volt electrical system in place of the standard 12V system enables the use of an integrated starter-generator, which captures deceleration/braking energy and adds some electric assist back to the engine when accelerating away from a stop. With this change, every XC90 model from the base B5 to the top-of-the-line T8 Recharge is now at least partially electrified.

In the range-topping "T8", the twin-charged four cylinder is paired with hybrid electric drive to bring overall power output to over 400hp. Besides the brisk pace, this hybrid drive also serves as the XC90's AWD system, with the electric motor on the rear axle taking the place of the T5 and T6's Haldex-derived AWD driveshaft and AOC to drive the rear wheels under heavy acceleration or when front wheel slip is detected.

Despite the little 2-liter VEA engine being a "highly stressed" unit (producing as much as 360hp in some forms!), we've found the complete powertrain package of SPA cars like the XC90 to be pretty dependable in service, provided scheduled maintenance items like the timing belt are replaced at the proper interval and using the proper tools. Early SPA cars had some electrical and software gremlins with accessories and advanced systems like the self-driving technologies and infotainment, but newer cars and cars that have seen dealer service to iron out the kinks have matured nicely.

Model information is based on the USA vehicle market. Other model variations may exist outside the USA.