Volvo XC60 (2022 facelift) review: the safety-first alternative to a German crossover
4.2/5motorssouq Editorial Team
The XC60 is the crossover to buy if you have driven a German rival, liked the badge, and disliked the run-flat tyres and the workshop bill. The B5 drivetrain is smooth rather than fast, the cabin is the most calmly designed thing in the segment, and City Safety plus the full driver-assistance suite are standard, not a box to tick. Resale trails the Germans slightly and infotainment can lag on cold starts, but neither is a reason to look elsewhere.
Pros
- Standard City Safety and full driver-assistance suite, not an options-pack upsell
- Ride comfort tuned for Bahrain's speed bumps and highway joints, quieter than a stiffer German rival
- Strong air conditioning performance through 45°C summers
- Mild-hybrid B5 four is mechanically simpler than a turbocharged six
- A three-year-old example is genuinely cheap relative to its equipment
Cons
- Infotainment is slow to boot on a hot morning start
- Resale trails BMW and Mercedes-Benz equivalents by a noticeable margin
- Smaller dealer network than Toyota or Nissan means fewer workshops know the platform deeply
- Steering is light and numb rather than engaging
Volvo's mid-cycle refresh of the second-generation XC60 did more than change the grille. It replaced the old T5 and T6 four-cylinder names with a single mild-hybrid B5 tune shared across most of the Volvo range, and in the process made the crossover noticeably smoother off the line without adding real pace. 250 hp and 350 Nm through an eight-speed automatic and all-wheel drive is adequate, not exciting, and that is a deliberate choice.
What it is actually like to drive in Bahrain
The XC60's strength on Bahraini roads is not the powertrain, it is the ride. Volvo tunes its suspension for comfort over the speed bumps and expansion joints that define local streets, and the cabin stays quiet at 120 km/h on the causeway in a way a stiffer-riding German rival does not match. Steering is light and numb, which suits Manama traffic better than it suits a coastal road, and nobody buying this car will mind.
Air conditioning performance in 45°C summers is strong, and the panoramic sunroof most Bahraini cars come with does not noticeably compromise cabin cooling, unlike some rivals. Where the car shows its age slightly is start-up: the infotainment system takes a beat to boot on a hot morning, and it is the one part of the cabin that does not feel current next to a newer rival.
Running costs, service and resale
Volvo's Bahrain dealer network is smaller than Toyota's or Nissan's, and that means fewer independent workshops carry deep stock knowledge of the platform, though the mild-hybrid four is mechanically simpler than the turbocharged sixes some rivals use. Resale sits behind the equivalent BMW or Mercedes-Benz by a noticeable margin, which is bad news if you are selling and good news if you are buying used — a three-year-old XC60 is genuinely cheap for what it offers.
What buyers consistently value is the safety suite: City Safety autonomous braking, Pilot Assist, and a full blind-spot and cross-traffic package come standard rather than bundled into an expensive options pack, which is not true of every German competitor at this price point.