Volvo XC60 vs Volvo V60

Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) are smart for certain consumers. They allow people to give electric vehicle ownership a try before diving into the deep end of the pool by acclimating people to nightly plug-ins and the benefits of electric-only driving.

At the same time, they eliminate a phenomenon called “range anxiety,” which is the mild panic EV drivers may feel when their battery gets low. That’s because they also have a gasoline engine, and that means you can take a cross-country trip in one without ever needing to find a charging station.

Talk about a win-win situation. And among luxury PHEVs, the 2023 Volvo XC60 Recharge is an appealing choice. But it certainly does not come cheap.

Station wagons are to Volvo what pickup trucks are to Ford or Chevrolet. They’re this automaker’s bread and butter, vehicles that are integral to the Volvo brand and that represent a comfort zone for the Swedish automaker’s designers and engineers.

So while wagons have been declining in popularity for decades, Volvo has stuck with them. The current-generation Volvo V60 was introduced for the 2019 model year as the wagon companion to the Volvo S60 sedan. Its closest competitor is the Audi A4 Allroad, a similarly-sized wagon from another luxury brand. Given the lack of choices, the V60 could also be cross-shopped against the larger Audi A6 Allroad and Mercedes-Benz E-Class, as well the Subaru Outback, which lacks a prestige badge but fills a similar functional niche.

Because the V60 is relatively fresh, it gets no significant changes for the 2021 model year. Volvo offers the standard 2021 V60 in Momentum, Inscription, and R-Design trim levels but also has two spinoff versions of the wagon. The V60 T8 Polestar Engineered sports a plug-in hybrid powertrain, while the Volvo V60 Cross Country gets more SUV-like styling. We tested a Cross Country for this review.