Another day, another destination. The all-wheel-drive Volvo Cross Country\* can take you there.

For daily destinations - office, school, David Jones or back home - the Cross Country wagon is well provisioned with comfortable, supportive seats, excellent visibility and a 147kW 2.4-litre low-pressure turbocharged engine and choice of five-speed manual or automatic transmission. The Cross Country is as comfortable and as safe to drive in town as a luxury wagon.

For tomorrow's adventures - Cameron's Corner, fishing, camping, snow skiing, bushwalking - the Cross Country with all-wheel-drive, more than 200mm of ground clearance, and an advanced computer-activated traction control system, is more than capable of traversing Australia's rugged roads to reach destinations wherever there is a road of some kind.

The new Volvo Cross Country combines the ruggedness of a purpose-designed, go-where-you-want wagon with the absolute safety and welcome comfort of Volvo's V70.

Volvo's proven WHIPS (whiplash protection system), SIPS (side impact protection system), IC (Inflatable Curtain) and dual-stage airbag deployment ensure the Cross Country achieves the highest level of occupant crash protection. In effect as many as eight airbags protect occupants.

The all-wheel-drive market segment is a rapidly expanding and exciting niche. The Cross Country is obviously based on the fundamental design of Volvo's new V70 wagon; however, the Cross Country is more than mildly modified for its adventurous role.

The Cross Country is viewed within Volvo as an important new and distinctively different model. It was designed and engineered to be more than a V70 variant. Volvo believes the adventure-vehicle market will continue to grow as people realise the life-style benefits these all-around vehicles such as the Cross Country, the BMW X5 and Audi Allroad offer.

Car-like drivability, excellent handling, safety, better fuel consumption, load carrying, excellent over-traffic visibility, driving comfort and a certain ruggedly unique styling are all reasons why adventure vehicles will attract both car and traditional 4WD buyers. The Volvo Cross Country takes qualities from each to offer the best of both worlds.

While the five-cylinder 2.4-litre low-pressure turbocharged engine developing 147kW at 6000rpm and 285Nm from 1800 to 5000rpm is the exclusive choice of motivation, two five-speed transmissions are available. A five-speed manual or a five-speed automatic with Geartronic manual-shift function. The automatic transmission is available as a $2000 option.

Volvo Car Australia has selected two specification levels: the Volvo Cross Country and the premium Volvo Cross Country SE.

Visual cues that mark the entry-level Cross Country are steel wheels, roof rails without cross-bars and robust and good-looking textile upholstery.

The Cross Country SE acquires heated front seats, comfort features such as leather upholstery, adjustable driver's seat, active carbon cabin air filter, and a nine-speaker Dolby sound system with four-disc in-dash CD player.

The Cross Country SE is further upgraded with 16x7-inch alloy wheels (with full-size steel spare wheel), rear mudflaps and reinforced roof rails with cross-members.

Because the Cross Country satisfies import criteria as a 4WD, it will be imported into Australia at the lower 4WD import duty. The Cross Country will be competitively priced at $61,950; the Cross Country SE is priced at $69,950.

A 'Plus' pack consisting of leather upholstery and alloy wheels and costing $2000 can be added to the Cross Country.

Thanks to the application of the lower tariff and Volvo's aggressive approach to pricing, both Cross Country models are priced extremely favourably compared to their European competitors.

\*To distinguish the conventional V70, Volvo is marketing the new cross-over model as simply the "Volvo Cross Country".