You might expect a Volvo estate to be one of the most practical cars in this year’s test, but the V60 places style before practicality. It took all our holiday luggage, but only after some very careful packing when most mid-sized estates had room to spare.

Compared with the D5 saloon, the D3 has noticeably less muscle – it took around 15.6 seconds to pull car and caravan from 30-60mph. Strong brakes stopped car and caravan in 10.7 metres from 30mph.

Through the lane-change test the V60 put in a textbook performance, without any aggressive intervention from the stability control system. In strong crosswinds the Volvo moved around a little at 60mph and needed some steering corrections, but on less windy days it felt secure and steady.

The electronic parking brake held the outfit steady on the 1-in-6 test hill. Although the Volvo pulled up the hill without fuss in first gear, it was a little laboured in reverse and the clutch did smell afterwards.

The list price of this version stays just that side of £30,000, although it should be possible to persuade Volvo dealers to knock around £2000 from the price.