I have experience of the Volvos in diesel auto trim. The auto box is fine unless, as already said above, deep fording is in the mix, which from what you say it won't be. The XC is really an on road car and more soft roader. I considered another but looking back on the running costs and drawbacks (including really quite poor road handling...too much body roll and weight) of my first one I decided against it and had a think about the reality of need and use. In my case 90 to 95% of my use is on road or gravel tracks so a full on 4x4 was just not a sensible choice. I decided to keep my RX450awd which we've had as the main family car for a few years now (it's fine across fields and surprisingly capable except in wet conditions) as that makes for a superb and comfortable road vehicle and to buy a good used Jap soft roader for local running about and off road work.
The things about all these soft roaders compared with 4wd is that many don't have the clearance or 4wd systems (or tyres) to make them much good for anything but occasional trips across fields. If steep hills are in the equation, you're best advised sticking to a much smaller and lighter 4x4 and fitting a decent set of mud tyres. Having some experience of several of these including a mates 2.5 Vitara (excellent off road) I wouldn't hesitate to recommend the Vitara as a really genuinely capable 4x4 as it has a proper low gear ratio box and a ladder chassis in the older ones, so is up to the job with good tyres. Loads of people also rate the Subaru Forester very highly for it's clever AWD system which is the match for many proper 4x4s but there's several issue with any I've looked at including awful mpg and under-chassis rust for any in the affordable (plus 10yr old) range. That goes for many Japanese cars though as they simply don't protect them enough for UK climate and salted winter roads. Find a good one and it's a great choice.
When it came down to my choice, after having bought and rejected one Vitara that was extensively corroded underneath, I plumped for either a Forester in decent condition or a Rav4. The Rav is an interesting option as people discount them too quickly. They have the advantage of being cheap to buy and run, loads of load space in the 5dr, the early ones have permanent 4wd and auto centre diff-lock and you can buy riser kits (40mm) cheaply, fit good mud tyres and they'll go places an XC60 simply will not. It's simply too big and heavy and has an awd system more designed for variable road or track conditions rather than off road. The little Rav in Mk2 guise also had revisions including a more powerful engine, a very low (almost crawler-like) first gear, which I have tried as a descent control on a steep bank recently (only had the car a few weeks) and it worked just fine. Given the choice though, if I could have found a really tidy forester of similar age and money (between £2K and £3K) I'd say that would be the better bet and just put up with poor mpg. As a second vehicle it doesn't matter. I have though been very surprised and impressed with just how capable the little Rav has been so far. In your shoes though where steep banks are concerned if you can find a decent one then the Forester, Vitara or Jimny would all work better I think.
Drawbacks of the Vitara and Jimny imho is that they're not great on road (the Rav is fabulous by comparison). They're noisy, vague on the steering and not especially comfortable for longer trips. Out of the soft roader bunch the Forester is better all round I think than any other but failing to find a good one, I think that the Rav has been the best choice for me. I looked at the X trails and they simply don't have the clearance...have you seen how low the back box is on those? Their diesel engines are built by Renault and seem to have a reputation for being very costly when they go wrong (rather than if) but a shooter mate likes his for his field work. If you do buy an X trail, then the petrol is the safer bet but you will run into ground clearance issues.
Try before you buy if you can. I would also just add that in terms of running costs, reliability and as a mostly road going SUV, the Lexus RX450h fsport we have now bettered the XC60 in just about every area. More powerful (300BHP with combined 3.5 V6 and electric hybrid system...off the line it goes like stink!), more comfortable (for me anyway) and more reliable. Zero issues in 35K miles. MPG for both is low to mid 30's in the real world, high 20's on shorter trips. The RX handles better (much better) even though it's actually heavier, has great ground clearance (we used it across some very rutted fields over the past few years on camping trips and it's been great) but it doesn't have the XC's load space.
