There's a danger of misunderstanding this car, especially if you know a bit of Volvo history. Think of the new V70 T6, realise it's got 285bhp and a turbo, and what's going to pop into your mind?

The 1995 850 T5 R, the first time Volvo got serious about performance in this size of estate. It had lairy banana-milkshake paint, sinister anthracite blade-spoke alloys and a drastic tendency to smoke its front tyres.

It wasn't the best-mannered machine in the world, but boy it could put a smile on your face. But bury that memory because if you approach the new T6 expecting more of the same you might be a bit disappointed. It's not such an engaging car as the old one. But it is quite a lot better in every other respect.

The T6 is the top version of the new V70 range. It isn't a facelift of the previous V70 but an all-new car. It's just that you might not notice it because Volvo has elected to keep the design very, shall we say, recognisable. Fair enough, the old one was a bit of a landmark for estate design.

The new V70 is slightly more chubby so as to look more substantial, it's got a nicer interior, the detailing of the nose is cleaner, and the glassy tail has fine new lamp jewellery. But is the body shape any more elegant? I was chewing this over with a few colleagues and by the end several of us had pitched our tents in the 'no' camp.

It's almost completely new compared with the old one, because it's derived from the S80, itself all-new last year. The T6's engine is an adapted and turboed version of the S80's straight-six. It also has 4WD as standard. Which is the reason it doesn't go in for any of that old tyre-smoking malarkey. And that turbo engine delivers the goods so much more progressively than the old T5 R job.

So in the end what we have here is a top-end expression of the 2007-era Volvo estate philosophy, rather than some kind of ninja mutation of it. That means it's a car designed to appeal to your mature side, and to integrate itself seamlessly into every area of your varied life.

You really couldn't need any other car than a rapid four-wheel-drive Volvo estate, could you? Of course, your less mature side might want one, but that, it appears, is no longer any of Volvo's business.

The V70 is as per the S80, all the way back to the dashboard and seats. For the cabin Volvo talks about clean Scandinavian design, and you really can see something of that open Swedish sensibility in the high-tone colours, matt timbers and the general lightness of the visual masses. It's deliberately not as chunky as an Audi or as frowning as a 'Benz, and I love it for that.