The Volvo XC90 is an SUV that expands the category called "crossover," a more-car-than-truck middle ground of four-wheel-drive vehicles. Crossovers have better road manners than pure SUVs. They are not meant so much for rugged back-country activities as for ordinary household use to lug, tote and carry people and their things securely in all weather conditions. In short, they are meant more for bad roads than off-road.

The current 2004 XC90 edition proved to be more successful in the marketplace than expected, but Ford, owner of the Swedish company, thought that some changes were needed to keep the momentum going. The song says: "If you're gonna play in Texas, you gotta have a fiddle in the band." And if you wanna play in the luxury SUV market you gotta have a V8 as an option.

That's the conventional wisdom and for 2005 that's what Volvo's XC90 offers - a V8, the first in the company's history. After its debut in the American market the V8 version will go global.

And such a cleverly designed, beautifully realized, compact, willing V8 it is. A wonderful engine. A triumph of adroit packaging it sits sideways in the engine bay oriented east-west in a north-facing car. Taking less space for an engine means more space for people and their things.

Volvo didn't develop the engine, nor did Ford, but Ford remembered where nearly a decade ago it went for a fine V8 for the Taurus SHO and so it called again on Yamaha in Japan. Known primarily for world-class motorcycles, Yamaha knows how to pack big power in small packages.

The engine's cylinders are slightly staggered so they'll fit. The V they make is 60 degrees. The result is an engine about two and a half by two feet square (29.7" by 25") weighing less than most because of its aluminum block and cylinder heads.

Some statistics: 311 horsepower at 5850 RPM; 325 foot-pounds of torque at 3900 RPM. Torque is the force that hastens you across intersections or shoots you smartly past trucks on two-lane highways and up the on ramp onto freeways. Horsepower is about speed; torque is about launching and merging.

The V8 comes with a new six-speed automatic transmission with a manual mode called Geartronic. It will make you wonder how you ever tolerated a four speed.

Another bright feature of the V8 engine is its cleanliness. It's the only gasoline-powered V8 to earn ULEV status, which stands for Ultra Low Emission Vehicle in the government's designation system. That's impressive. Also deserving some praise is the engine's expected gas mileage; between 16 and 21 miles per gallon. With this being a weighty vehicle (4600 pounds) with a V8 engine, those figures are better than average for such a vehicle.

But a dandy V8 engine is not all that this 2005 XC90 offers.

If you are still looking for a boxy Volvo you'll have to find a used car lot. The XC90 is smooth of line and of generally pleasing proportions, which, like wearing black, fools the eye into seeing it as actually smaller than it is. It looks capable and purposeful and indeed it is.

The V8 XC90 gets some exclusive appearance touches - 18-inch wheels, for instance, and body-colored side molding and door handles. The dual exhaust pipes might be a tip off, too. And the graphite gray grille. (CONTINUE...)