Brilliant Volvo has upper hand in this test drive

A menu of Mark Glover’s AutoGlo car reviews can be seen on the Business page of The Sacramento Bee’s website – www.sacbee.com/news/business/article4005306.html

Sacramento, California – There are times as a motor vehicle reviewer that you have to own up to the fact that the car is the master, and you’re the totally overmatched apprentice.

The recently tested 2018 Volvo XC90 T6 AWD Inscription sport-utility vehicle is one such auto.

For the record, this is an all-star SUV, a recent winner of Motor Trend magazine’s SUV of the Year award and a vehicle so loaded with performance, luxury, safety features, technology and general overall brilliance that you have to snap off a salute when you finish driving it.

Yet it has so much to offer that there is no way to sample all the goodies in a week’s time, not even if you give up sleeping for a week.  It’s like snatching a black hood off a hopeless sweets freak in a 25,000-square-foot candy store and barking, “OK, you have five minutes.”

Impossible.

But what I did sample, I thoroughly enjoyed.

I loved the 2-liter, supercharged/turbocharged, four-cylinder engine with 316 horsepower that dished up heart-racing torque on the low end, but did so in such a way that I could hear the soft-spoken conversations going on in the seats behind me.

And yes, I liked the laminated panoramic moonroof with the power sunshade.  The driving/safety-enhancement features were so numerous that I’m pretty sure I could have safely piloted the XC90 with my hands in my pockets.

Luxury extras?  Oh my, yes, including seats that offered power, heat, cooling and massages.

A 12.3-inch digital instrument display had more menus and options than a grossly over-apped iPad, and the fit and finish on this Volvo were as fine as anything I’ve seen in the upper-end SUV class.

Did I get to everything?  Not a chance.  I barely skimmed the surface.

Then again, I knew it was a losing proposition from the beginning when I looked at the tester’s sticker.  The starting price on my ride was just a tick more than $54,000.  When all the options were added up, the bottom line read $74,090.

Those extras included an integrated center booster cushion, illuminated door handles, heated water nozzles and a list of safety/convenience technology features that was longer than a congressional budget bill.

Was I complaining?  Not at all.  Nothing left for me to say but thanks for letting me go along for the ride Mr. Volvo, sir.