Volvo V70 2008 review

Volvo's latest V70 plays to the marque's patented strengths: bank vault safety and bank vault looks.

Such is the solidity of the thing, you'd back it to deflect a rocket-propelled grenade.

Actually, this variant would probably get you out of harm's way before bead could be drawn.

There's no doughty diesel or lesser petrol version in the local V70 line-up, just the T6 with its three-litre, 210kW/400Nm, twin-scroll turbocharged six-potter with all-wheel drive.

It's a readily roused unit that gets this big wagon to 100km/h from a standing start in a claimed 7.2 seconds _ pretty quick for almost 1.7 tonnes of luxury lugger.

The T6 is something of a stealth SUV: it has the amenity, and perceived advantages, that those who pilot big off-roaders around town claim they need, but without the social stigma.

Unless you really require seven seats, this Volvo erases excuses for having an X5, an ML (or, for that matter, an XC90) in the city.

You get a decent badge, so you won't feel inferior in the school queue. You also get an imposing shape, so you won't feel your equipment is smaller than the next bloke's.

And it all comes with Volvo safety, so you can go about your business in complete security without displaying complete contempt for humanity.

Even if the particular shade of crimson of our test car's leather upholstery leaves you cold - or nauseous - it can't disguise an absolutely first-rate interior.

The front pews are along Jason La-Z-Boy rocker/recliner lines. There's a surfeit of storage, that trademark floating console - a feeling that function and comfort have bred, and this is their baby.

That certainly holds true in the back, where three people can enjoy ample legroom and light.

This being a big Volvo, the centre position converts into a child's booster seat. Luggage space is a highly useful 565 litres.

In last week's biblical weather _ so foul at times, we'd rather have been driving on PlayStation 3  the T6 was a good place to be.

Dynamically, the T6 is hardly going to trouble a 5 Series BMW. The default position is more about surety than sensation.

Tautening suspension and steering to the optimum (there are three modes for each) can't compensate. Nor can the Geartronic transmission compare with a slick ZF auto.

The turning circle is elephantine, but all-round vision so good you hardly need the parking sensor, which sounds off like a neurotic parakeet at the merest hint of an obstacle.

Still, that's the V70 attitude: better safe than sorry.