Ben Cooper's Volvo XC90: A Rozzer's Ride Through the Peak District

There’s a running joke buried in the number plate of DC Ben Cooper’s car in Cooper & Fry: RO55ERS, a wink at “rozzers,” old British slang for the police. Sharp-eyed viewers spotted that the plate was originally made for a Jaguar, yet in the show it’s mounted on something altogether more down-to-earth—a first-generation Volvo XC90. For a Derbyshire detective who’s spent his whole career navigating the Peak District’s back roads, farm tracks, and moorland weather, it’s a far more fitting choice than anything with a leaping cat on the bonnet.

The Car: Volvo XC90 (First Generation)

Make/Model: Volvo XC90, first generation (P2 platform)
Production Years: 2002–2014 (2014–2016 as the “XC Classic” in China)
Body Style: 5-door, seven-seat SUV
Registration: RO55ERS (a personalised plate, originally cut for a Jaguar)

It’s a car built for exactly the kind of terrain Cooper polices—unglamorous, imposing, dependable, and quietly a bit of a status symbol among people who never wanted a status symbol in the first place.

The Show: Cooper & Fry

Network: Channel 5
Premiered: 18 November 2025
Based on: The Cooper and Fry novels by Stephen Booth
Stars: Robert James-Collier as DC Ben Cooper, Mandip Gill as DC Diane Fry
Setting: The fictional town of Edendale, in the Peak District, Derbyshire
Season 1: 4 feature-length episodes (approx. 120 minutes each with adverts), adapting Black Dog, Dancing with the Virgins, Blind to the Bones, and Dying to Sin

Ben Cooper is an affable local detective with deep roots in the Derbyshire hills—his late father, DS Joseph “Barrel” Cooper, was a respected and much-loved figure on the Edendale force, found beaten to death near a bridge outside town in an unsolved case that still haunts Ben years later. Into this close-knit, secretive community comes DC Diane Fry, a guarded newcomer freshly transferred from Leeds, whose urban scepticism repeatedly clashes with Cooper’s instinctive understanding of how rural communities—and their long-buried grudges—actually work. The two are thrown together to investigate a series of unsettling deaths, and what begins as a reluctant partnership gradually becomes something more complicated, as their personal histories start to intertwine with the cases they’re solving.

Although Edendale is fictional and the Peak District setting is central to Stephen Booth’s novels, the series itself was filmed largely in Ireland—principally County Wicklow (Bray, Glendalough, Newtown Mount Kennedy) and County Kildare (Ballymore Eustace, Kilteel)—standing in for the misty, folklore-steeped Derbyshire moors.

Why the XC90 Works for Ben Cooper

The Volvo XC90 suits Cooper’s character and circumstances in ways a flashier car simply couldn’t:

Built for the Terrain: The Peak District is exactly the kind of environment the XC90 was engineered for—unpredictable weather, farm tracks, steep moorland roads, and the need to get to remote locations regardless of conditions. Its available all-wheel-drive system and generous ground clearance make it a natural fit for rural policing.

Solid, Not Showy: Cooper is described as a “genuinely nice guy”—unpretentious, rooted in his community, more interested in doing right by people than in appearances. The XC90 has always carried that same understated confidence: expensive to buy new, but never flashy, more likely to be mistaken for a farmer’s family car than a status symbol.

A Family Car for a Family Man: Cooper’s story is deeply tied to family—his father’s unsolved murder, his brother Matt’s worries about their mother’s history of illness repeating in his own children, his own uncertainty about his place in that legacy. The XC90, Volvo’s first SUV and a seven-seat family workhorse, quietly reinforces that sense of a man defined by family ties and obligations, even in a job that pulls him away from home.

Safety Above All: Few brands have built their identity around safety as thoroughly as Volvo, and the XC90 was a genuine watershed moment for the marque—the safest SUV of its era, engineered by a company obsessive about protecting the people inside it. There’s a neat, if understated, symbolism in a detective whose father died on a bridge outside town driving the safest car Volvo had ever built.

Enough Space for the Job: Evidence boxes, waterproofs, wellies for tramping across crime scenes on the moors—an SUV with proper boot space and seven seats is far more practically suited to rural detective work than a saloon.

The Volvo XC90: Volvo’s SUV Revolution

A Late but Transformative Arrival

When Volvo unveiled the XC90 at the Detroit Motor Show on 7 January 2002, the company was arriving late to the SUV party—rivals like the Land Rover Discovery, BMW X5, and Mercedes M-Class had already staked their claims. But the XC90 didn’t just join the segment; it reset expectations for it. The car was so eagerly anticipated, particularly in the American market, that Volvo’s dealers had already banked 15,000 orders before sales even began. It went on to win “SUV of the Year” in 2003 and became one of Sweden’s most valuable export products, worth more than SEK 40 billion annually at its peak.

Solving the SUV’s Achilles Heel

Early 2000s SUVs had a well-documented problem: they were prone to rolling over. Volvo tackled this head-on, and the XC90 became the first SUV in the world fitted with Roll Stability Control (RSC)—a gyroscopic sensor system that monitored the car’s roll angle and speed, automatically cutting engine torque and applying braking force to individual wheels if a rollover risk was detected. This was paired with a reinforced roof using extra-strong boron steel, and inflatable side curtains extended to cover all three rows of seats, including third-row passengers—a first for the segment.

Other innovations followed:

WHIPS (Whiplash Protection System): A seat design that reduces the risk of whiplash injury in rear-end collisions, first introduced on the Volvo S80 in 1998 and standard across the XC90 range.
SIPS (Side Impact Protection System): Reinforced structure and airbag protection for side impacts.
BLIS (Blind Spot Information System): One of the first mainstream applications of blind-spot warning technology, alerting drivers to vehicles in their blind spot via a visual signal in the side mirror.
Integrated child booster cushions: Built into the rear seats, a distinctly Volvo, family-first touch.

The results speak for themselves. According to UK government crash figures, no XC90 driver or passenger fatality in a car-to-car accident had been recorded in Britain since records began in 2004, despite more than 70,000 examples having been sold in the UK.

Engineering and Underpinnings

The first-generation XC90 rode on Volvo’s P2 platform, shared with the contemporary Volvo S80 and other large Volvo saloons of the era. It was built at Volvo’s Torslandaverken factory in Gothenburg, Sweden. The design—penned in-house and based on the 2001 “Adventure Concept Car”—gave the XC90 a distinctive silhouette that avoided the boxy, truck-like proportions of many contemporary SUVs, favouring a lower, more carlike stance with a notably low centre of gravity for the segment.

Engine Range: Five, Six, and Eight Cylinders

Volvo offered an unusually broad spread of engines across the XC90’s 12-year first-generation production run, all mounted transversely in keeping with Volvo’s front-wheel-drive-based powertrain philosophy (with available all-wheel drive):

Five-Cylinder Engines

2.4D / D5: 2.4-litre diesel, various outputs across its lifetime as emissions regulations tightened
2.5T: 2.5-litre turbocharged petrol five-cylinder, around 208–210 hp in later tunes

Six-Cylinder Engines

2.9 (straight-six, early cars): 2.9-litre naturally aspirated inline-six, 268 hp
2.9 Twin Turbo / T6: 2.8–2.9-litre twin-turbocharged inline-six, up to 272 hp, popular with enthusiasts for its performance but known for turbocharger and oil-consumption issues in some model years
3.2: 3.2-litre naturally aspirated inline-six, introduced later in the model’s life, around 238 hp, which eventually replaced the turbocharged six as Volvo simplified the range

4.4 V8: A genuine surprise for a Volvo—a 4.4-litre, 315 hp V8 engine co-developed with Yamaha, introduced in 2004 and paired with a six-speed automatic gearbox. It gave the XC90 genuine performance credentials but was ultimately discontinued due to poor fuel economy and limited demand as the car aged.

Across the whole range, Volvo quoted outputs from 163 hp up to 315 hp depending on engine and year—a spread wide enough to suit anything from a budget-conscious family buyer to someone wanting genuine pace from their seven-seat SUV.

End of the Line—and a Fitting Send-Off

Production of the first-generation XC90 continued for an unusually long 12 years, remarkable longevity for any car in an era of typically 6-7 year model cycles. The final example—car number 636,143—rolled off the line at Torslanda on 11 July 2014, and was driven directly to the Volvo Museum in Gothenburg. Production tooling was subsequently moved to China, where the car continued in production for a further two years as the “XC Classic” (or “XC90 Classic”) for that market, while Volvo’s all-new, second-generation XC90—built on the completely different SPA platform—took over globally.

Living With a First-Generation XC90 Today

The Good

Genuine Durability: The XC90’s reputation for reliability and longevity is well earned. High-mileage examples are common and unremarkable in the used market—a car built to be driven hard, for years, in poor weather.

Excellent Safety Credentials: Even by modern standards, the raft of safety features fitted as standard—RSC, WHIPS, SIPS, side curtain airbags across all rows—make it a genuinely reassuring family or work vehicle, especially on rural roads.

Practical Space: Seven seats, a substantial boot, and genuine load-carrying ability make it hugely versatile for family life or, as in Cooper’s case, for hauling evidence boxes and outdoor gear across the Peak District.

Strong Values in the Used Market: Well-maintained examples, particularly the six-cylinder and V8 variants, hold their value reasonably well and remain popular as affordable used family SUVs.

Buy accessories for your XC90 from Amazon…

The Bad

Turbocharged Six Reliability Concerns: The 2.9 Twin Turbo T6 engine, while a favourite for its performance, has known issues with turbocharger wear and oil consumption on higher-mileage examples—worth budgeting for on inspection.

Thirsty V8: The Yamaha-built 4.4-litre V8 delivers genuine performance but at a real cost in fuel economy—one of the key reasons it was eventually dropped from the range.

Age-Related Wear: With production stretching back to 2002, early examples are now well over two decades old, and typical issues around suspension components, timing belts (on diesel variants), and electrics should be factored into any purchase.

Not a Driver’s Car: Despite its relatively low centre of gravity for the class, the XC90 was never designed to be sporty. It’s a car built around comfort, safety, and practicality rather than outright driving thrills—entirely appropriate for a working detective, less so for anyone chasing genuine driving enjoyment.

Filming Locations: Ireland Standing in for the Peak District

Despite being set in Derbyshire’s Peak District, Cooper & Fry was filmed almost entirely in Ireland:

County Wicklow: Bray, Glendalough, and Newtown Mount Kennedy provided much of the misty, dramatic landscape standing in for the Peak District’s moors and valleys.

County Kildare: Ballymore Eustace and Kilteel also served as filming locations.

Robert James-Collier has spoken about filming during one of the hottest summers on record while wearing a tan leather jacket inspired by Bergerac—a nod to the classic British detective drama aesthetic, and a detail that fits neatly alongside the show’s understated, unglamorous vehicle choice.

Robert James-Collier: From Downton to Derbyshire

Robert James-Collier, 49, leads the cast in his first “out-and-out lead” role, having built his profile as the scheming footman Thomas Barrow in Downton Abbey and, earlier, as Liam Connor in Coronation Street. He’s described Ben Cooper as “genuinely a nice guy,” a deliberate contrast to the more corrupt characters he’s played previously, such as in The Level. Mandip Gill, best known to sci-fi audiences as a companion in Doctor Who, plays the guarded, ambitious DC Diane Fry.

The series draws from Stephen Booth’s long-running Cooper and Fry novel series—18 books and counting, set entirely around the Peak District, and a two-time finalist for the Sherlock Award for Best Detective created by a British author.

The XC90 and Cooper: An Understated Match

The Volvo XC90 and Ben Cooper share a certain quiet reliability. Neither is interested in making an entrance. Both are built for tough terrain and long hours, engineered around the idea of protecting the people who depend on them, and quietly more capable than they first appear. Where Lily Petal’s Triumph Spitfire announces itself with noise and colour, and Harry Wild’s BMW E30 signals sophistication and sharp wit, Cooper’s Volvo does something altogether more Cooper: it just gets on with the job, safely, reliably, mile after mile across the Peak District’s unforgiving roads.

That the number plate reading RO55ERS was cut for a Jaguar and ended up on a Volvo instead feels, in hindsight, like exactly the right kind of mismatch for a detective who’s never been interested in looking the part—only in doing it properly.

Technical Specifications: Volvo XC90 (First Generation, 2002-2014)

Manufacturer: Volvo Cars
Production: 2002–2014 (2014–2016 as XC Classic, China)
Total Production: 636,143 units
Assembly: Torslandaverken, Gothenburg, Sweden
Platform: Volvo P2 (shared with first-generation Volvo S80)

Body Style: 5-door, seven-seat SUV
Layout: Front-engine, front-wheel drive or all-wheel drive

Engine Range:

5-cylinder petrol/diesel: 2.4L-2.5L, 163-210 hp
6-cylinder petrol (naturally aspirated): 2.9L / 3.2L, 238-268 hp
6-cylinder petrol (twin-turbo): 2.8L-2.9L, up to 272 hp
V8 petrol: 4.4L, 315 hp (Yamaha co-developed, introduced 2004)

Notable Safety Features:

Roll Stability Control (RSC) — first fitted to any SUV worldwide
Whiplash Protection System (WHIPS)
Side Impact Protection System (SIPS)
Inflatable curtain airbags across all three rows
Blind Spot Information System (BLIS)
Boron steel reinforced roof structure

Notable Awards: SUV of the Year, 2003; over 100 international awards across its production life

Ben Cooper’s Volvo XC90: A Rozzer’s Ride Through the Peak District