Volvo XC70

Our verdict

The Volvo XC70 is a difficult thing to categorise. All that plastic makes it look a bit of a mess outside, but the cabin is beautiful. The off-road ability is better than you’d think, but the on-road cornering probably worse. Think carefully about whether it fits your needs.

Comfort

The suspension, tuned for rutty tracks, is ideal on typically poor British roads, where it glides over stuff that would make most ‘sporty executive' cars crash and thump. You also get the typically excellent Volvo seats, and little road or wind noise. But the diesel engine is a bit noisy.

Performance

There are just two engines. The D5 diesel is getting behind the pace now, turning out the same performance from a 2.4 that others get from under two litres. The AWD and optional autobox slow it down further. The petrol six is sweet but needs revs to really perform, and is thirsty.

Cool

If the V70 is cool, the identity-crisis XC70 has had a few minutes defrosting in the microwave.

Quality

The pared-back but beautifully made dash and cabin furniture is a joy, and the materials fine, given a 'country' twist on the XC70. You do get a great sense of reassurance from this car even if the reliability record isn't unblemished.

Handling

The XC70 corners better than most SUVs of course, but if you think of it as a car you'll be disappointed. The steering is soggy, there's a lot of body roll and the all-weather tyres compromise the on-road grip. Still, the worse the weather gets, the comparatively better off you'll be, thanks to AWD.

Practicality

The XC70 will get you most places. It has semi-off-road tyres, an electronically controlled diff, slightly raised ground clearance and a specially tuned traction control and hill-descent system. You're practically obliged to tow something with it. There's a huge range of storage and tie-down options in the boot, and good built-in child seats.

Running costs

There's no way to run a new XC70 cheaply, but if you have the petrol you're really shelling out: group 17 insurance and 272g/km of CO2. Servicing is expensive too.