I did some research before buying, and went with the T5 2.5 litre, 5 cylinder. It's a luxury car, with leather seats, sunroof, and a 6 CD unit. It doesn't have an jack for an Ipod though. But we make due with a cheap FM tuner, we bought at Rite Aide.
The tires are wearing low, now after 50K+ miles. Kumho Solus brand. Pretty good tires. I've taken this SUV through South Lake Tahoe in the winter, during a storm and it did fine. Didn't need to chain up like other drivers. There is a "winter" setting, and it just hugged the road, with plenty of traction. I've also taken this off road a couple times, in Minden Nevada area, going through some BLM land without any problems. Nothing serious though, just fair. It's a FWD most of the time, but when the front tires spin past a certain degree, it switches to AWD.
I had to do some emergency braking once, while doing 70 mph on the freeway, with it fully loaded, kids and all. The XC90 tracked straight, and level.
This T5 is good on gas, around 24-26 on the freeway. It doesn't have tons of power, but will get you around semi trailers and what not.
The heated seats are nice in winter. I like the dual controls for the A/C and heater. There is a rear A/C control for the seat in the back.
The sound system is nice, with head phone jacks for the rear passengers. They can listen to what they want with the control panels on the C frame pillar.
The middle seats can slide back a little, but not the 3rd row seats. There are lots of outlet jacks for accessories. I do like being able to put down all the seats and, even the passenger seat and load it down project materials.