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Volvo XC90 Excellence carries the brand's first six-figure price

Thankfully, there are plenty of reasons why this ultra-plush SUV is worth its $104,900 price tag.

Andrew Krok Reviews Editor / Cars
Cars are Andrew's jam, as is strawberry. After spending years as a regular ol' car fanatic, he started working his way through the echelons of the automotive industry, starting out as social-media director of a small European-focused garage outside of Chicago. From there, he moved to the editorial side, penning several written features in Total 911 Magazine before becoming a full-time auto writer, first for a local Chicago outlet and then for CNET Cars.
Andrew Krok
Volvo

This is a Volvo -- a Volvo that costs almost $105,000. No, the Swedes (and the Chinese company that own them) haven't gone insane. Instead, Volvo's decided to turn its newest crossover into a rolling palace of opulence. The result is the XC90 Excellence, and it's very likely worth every penny.

To turn the XC90 into a properly plush vault par excellence, Volvo removed the third row to give rear-seat occupants much more space. The rear seats are now more fit for an executive, with recline and massage functionality. There are only two rear seats, with a large center console running between them. That center console includes both a refrigerator and a retractable touchscreen controller for activating the seats' various functions.

The luxury keeps on comin' with loads of Nappa leather, open-pore wood and even a set of handmade crystal glasses. Tunes come by way of a 20-speaker, 1,400-watt Bowers & Wilkins audio system. There's also a partition between the rear seats and the cargo area, because you just can't have the talent co-mingling with whatever's in the back (actually, it's to isolate noise for better sound-system enjoyment).

There's only one powertrain on offer here -- Volvo's T8 setup, which is a 400-horsepower, plug-in hybrid system that's also available on "lesser" XC90s. You won't be missing the supercharged-and-turbocharged T6 engine, nor should you, because when you're spending six figures on a Volvo, you'll want the best of what's on offer.

The XC90 Excellence is a mega-plush Volvo par, um, excellence (pictures)

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