Volvo XC90

Other SUVs concentrate on going off-road or being sporty, but the Volvo XC90 is king of comfort and versatility, with brilliant seating arrangements.

• Comfort

  The XC90 has good seating quarters for seven people, and the ride is generally serene. Up front you've all the usual Volvo benefits in superb seats and great controls, plus excellent visibility.

  

• Performance

  The manual D5 slips in under 225g/km of CO2 but still gets to 100km/h in 10-ish seconds. Then you get into the torquey six-pot petrol, which makes it in 8.9 with the standard auto. The V8 petrol takes 7.3sec, drinking like a fish as it goes.

  

• Cool

  Cooler than a luxury MPV perhaps, but that's clutching at straws.

  

• Quality

  Well Volvo has been making these for years so should have most of the faults ironed out. And the general feel to the cabin, even though it's old, is still that it's a fresh, decent-quality piece of design.

  

• Handling

  This car isn't meant for swishing around corners with the tyres on fire. It rolls a lot and steers ponderously. You won't get into trouble though, because it has AWD and a load of clever active safety electronics.

  

• Practicality

  It's got the 4x4 ability to take you anywhere you'd reasonably want to go, it's got space for seven in what's actually not too cumbersome an overall footprint, the seats fold neatly when you don't need them and it's safe as houses. Hard to wish for more.

   

  

• Running costs

  Servicing and fuel are the big issues for the XC90, as insurance isn't too bad.