Volvo FH Globetrotter XL
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The FH range comes with four cab choices: day, sleeper, Globetrotter and Globetrotter XL, and it is the latter that CM is looking at. It may benefit from the near flat floor, but that has its downside, as the higher floor height means access and entry to the cab is far trickier than in the FM.
With three steps required to enter the cab, finding your footing on the way out is a lot harder because of the intrusion from the wheel arch. However, once inside, you do benefit from 2,110mm of headroom and acres of storage space.
There is a total of 24 storage units, 12 open and 10 closed, in the FH cab, each of which is easily accessible and generally of a decent size, although none are quite big enough to store a decent-sized bag.
Finding a comfortable spot to relax in the FH is helped thanks to the rotating passenger seat, which (in this particular model) allows you to sit and watch the television. Sleeping is equally as comfortable with a thick, wide mattress and a bed that can be angled to let you recline with a book and make use of the flexible reading lights.
Light is an issue in the FH, both at night and in the early hours, with relatively poor illumination during the hours of darkness and too much intrusion as the sun rises. We found the windscreen curtains too thin, and had to resort to the bunk curtains, which were too baggy, with an excess of material causing them to gape.
Keeping warm wasn’t a problem as the night-heater was a formidable ally during the cold night of our test, but the lack of illumination on the controls would (and did) prove difficult for those unfamiliar with the layout of the auxiliary controls.
The Volvo is well equipped, and easy to settle into with some excellent features, but the overhead lockers eat into your head space and the removable table restricts access when erected and is fiddly to set-up and store.