Volvo V60 review

Good grief, cars are big these days, aren’t they? The Volvo V60 jumped a size when this current iteration was launched back in 2018 – it's a full 10cm longer in the wheelbase than the old one. It's nearly 4.8m from prow to stern, making it slightly longer overall than the Mercedes C-Class and Audi A4 estates. That does mean oceans more rear-seat and boot room, though.

It's also a much more sophisticated car than the first generation V60, having shifted to Volvo's big-car SPA platform, with all that implies in safety and tech. The old one, whisper it, had far too much in common with a very elderly Ford Focus.

It looks fantastic, no?

Inside, the designers took a Scandi chill pill, serving up soft materials and colours in their characteristic furniture style. The dash is, as always from Volvo, dominated by a big high-resolution portrait screen that's called on to do slightly too many things.

Still, if the screen distracts you, the car will do its best to stop you crashing by deploying its vast range of active safety interventions.

It's more dynamic to drive than the ginormous V90, though not night-and-day different. To reflect that, the design is subtly different too. The T-shaped running lights point closer to the grille, piercing out of the headlamp borders. The shoulder line doesn't run the whole length of the car, but emerges from the rear door to take a more sweeping curve. There's less decoration. But frankly you need to be a right spotter for these differences to hit your conscious vision. In our eyes it’s a brilliantly stylish estate.

What engines can I have?

Every engine is a 2.0-litre four-cylinder unit, but Volvo’s naming strategy has changed since the new V60 was launched. In the UK we now get three mild-hybrid petrol options that are badged B3, B4 and B5 – the latter being the most powerful and getting all-wheel drive whilst the rest are front-driven only. The last remaining diesel option, the B4 (D) no longer features on the configurator. So long 50+mpg...

Unless of course you opt for the T6 or T8, AWD plug-in hybrids (badged Recharge), which on paper achieve something in the region of 353mpg. Of course you won't get close to that in the real world, but regular plugging in should make them the most fuel efficient of the lot. Not bad considering they chuck out 345 and 399bhp apiece.

Worth noting you can’t spec a manual gearbox on any V60 – it’s an eight-speed auto or nothing.

The V60 might not be as fresh a piece of design or packaging as something like the XC40, but as a member of the closely related 60- and 90-series family, it gives you just what you'd expect.

That means a lovely-looking cabin, an obsessive approach to keeping everyone safe, lots of practicality and a thoroughly relaxed approach to long journeys. For a family estate, those human-centric values are pretty compelling.