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October 2000

CARS WORTH NOTING

2001 Volvo V70 Cross Country

This is the perfect anti-SUV. With acres of leather and a high-powered sound system that maximizes your tapes and CDs, slipping behind the wheel of the Cross Country puts you behind the wheel of a luxury sedan.

But Cross Country drivers won't cower in the face of Explorers and Suburbans. It rides about six inches higher than the regular Volvo V70 wagon (nearly nine inches of ground clearance), to better make eye contact with SUV drivers, but you don't need running boards to climb aboard. And the Cross Country's 200-hp, turbocharged 2.4L inline 5-cylinder engine and all-wheel-drive system are potent enough to tackle terrain that 90 percent of Cross Country owners would never dream of tackling.

The Cross Country offers the full gamut of Volvo safety equipment (including side airbags and side-curtain airbags), gadgets (cargo nets, window shades, ski racks), plus a new navigation system that rises majestically from the top center of the dash pad. It also has its own style with a plastic front bumper cover that's colored and grained to look like an aftermarket cover but more durable.

The Cross Country is not devoid of truckishness. A stiff suspension combined with meaty Pirelli Scorpion tires makes for some good thumps on the tortured streets of Detroit. And the $36,000 to $40,000 price range is right in monster SUV territory.

In a market awash in trucks, the Volvo Cross Country stands out.

- Dale Jewett