The overall angularity clearly says Volvo. Head-on, you might think it's the result of the mating of a Honda CRV (the grille) and a Dodge Ram truck. The XC90 has the same general shape of hood as the Ram, elevated by four or five inches over the protruding fender contours, slightly V-shaped to be consistent with Volvo design.

There's very little overhang at the rear, meaning there's a nice long wheelbase relative to the overall length of 189 inches, which is only 3.4 inches longer than the V70 wagon. And it has a wide track, for handling stability. Despite the XC90's height, it has a lower center of gravity than the V70 wagon, again for stability.

Like the V70, the back end of the XC90 appears to be made mostly of red plastic. That would be the taillights. Think safety. If it bothers you that the back of your SUV looks like Las Vegas, it might comfort you to think that you're a whole lot less likely to get creamed from behind by some half-asleep driver. You're also less likely to back into something at night, thanks to backup lights that look like spotlights.

The six-spoke 17-inch alloy wheels that are optional on the 2.5T, standard on the T6 aren't particularly distinctive. However we have seen the optional 18-inch wheels for the T6, and they are hot.

The back entry is in two sections with a 70/30 top/bottom split. The lower edge of the liftgate is waist level, leaving a tailgate that's a mere flap, so maybe this isn't the vehicle for football fans who host big tailgate parties. If you're loading something light into the back of the XC90 you might not need to drop the tailgate, but the rest of the time you'll need to open both gates. The good news is the tiny tailgate closes easily, and the short liftgate is less likely to bonk you or someone else on the head when you raise it. It's also inclined forward, which shortens the roofline and makes the whole vehicle look shorter.

There are a lot of flat black and matt black composite pieces that detract from the style and potential elegance of the vehicle: bumpers, fender flares, cladding and assorted trim all the way up to the roof. It's a design element meant to emphasize the vehicle's higher ground clearance and SUV-ness; which it does, but when a luxury vehicle goes out of its way to look like a cobbly truck, we wonder if maybe something has been lost in the translation.

Also, the fit of some of the pieces was poor. We have to allow some tolerance because the XC90s we drove were pre-production vehicles, cobbled together before the assembly line was up and running producing real cars. Latches on the gloveboxes and consoles were loose and sticky, and some of the exterior trim pieces could be wiggled like loose teeth. We expect the showroom models to be tighter.

On the upside, suggesting that the above sloppiness may indeed be accountable to pre-production, the doors closed with a light touch, and had a nice solid sound when they latched. And the rear window wiper is sturdy, protected by flat black plastic, conspicuously stronger than that on the Infiniti QX4 we drove to the airport on the way.