REVIEW - Volvo XC90 B5 AWD: sweDELICIOUS!

First of all, a very Happy New Year to all of you. As you can see, my new year was even happier, thanks to getting Volvo's flagship vehicle, the XC90, again for a review.

- SYED SHIRAZ SHAH

I shall take this opportunity to finally declare that Volvo India's inhouse Comms. team and their PR agency are the absolute best Comms. and PR teams in the Indian auto industry right now. Getting a vehicle from them is never a pain, and the process is always simple, devoid of any lies or deceit. These ladies and gentlemen are doing a fab job, and it needs to be said.

Now, regular readers would know this to be my second outing with the XC90, and I must say that though I had driven it extensively the first time around itself, I had to take it again because I really don't believe in the adage that excess of anything is bad.

No sir, excessive level of serotonin just can't be bad for anyone, especially in today's day and age where almost all of us are leading stressful lives for some or the other reason. Here, a luxury SUV certainly does help. So let's verify if it did that again to me and also whether I was able to gather some new insights.

DESIGN & PRESENCE
Eagle-eyed readers, especially if their memory rivals that of a dolphin, might remember that earlier this year I had mentioned something peculiar about the new XC90's design.

For those of you who don't remember, well, I had said that though the XC90 still looks handsome, I prefer the design of the previous one because it had an underlying intimidating aura around its personality, say, something on the lines of, "I am a peaceful giant, unless you give me a reason to show you my viscious side." The new one, I had said, looks friendlier in comparison. And that's not a bad thing. Because, upon deeper introspection I was able to realize that the world isn't as bad as it seems, and we can still maintain peace in our lives without needing to come across as intimidating to everyone around us.