Fast estate car that zaps your fuel bills

soft nappa leather and would not have looked out of place in a true supercar.

The V90 T8’s other party piece is a switchable 4x4 system with the 320bhp petrol engine driving the front wheels via an eight-speed automatic gearbox and the 87bhp electric motor on the rear axle.

You get a choice of R-Design Pro and Inscription Pro versions, both at the upper end of V90 spec levels. Our slightly more sporty R-Design Pro is priced from £58,455 on the road, while the Inscription Pro is £59,705. They’re both about £24,000 more than the least expensive V90.

The car defaults to Hybrid mode, which blends petrol and electric power seamlessly and there are also settings for Power (which speeds and sharpens everything up), Pure (which runs the car in an as eco-friendly way as possible) and All Wheel Drive for when things get slippery.

A hold function saves the battery charge for later and another will lose some mpg to charge the battery up. A setting on the gear lever can also activate engine braking to recover more energy into the battery if required.

Our test car was fitted with the Xenium pack (big sunroof, 360º parking camera, automatic parking), the Intellisafe Surround pack (blind spot warning with steering assistance, cross-traffic alert) and those terrific seats which took the total on the road price up to £68,280 - but every V90 comes with a long and impressive list of infotainment, comfort and safety features as standard including a superb Bowers & Wilkins sound system and a Pilot Assist semi-autonomous cruise control function which will keep you in lane and a safe distance from the car in front as long as you don’t take your hands off the wheel for more than a few seconds.

Then there is a large, ipad style swipeable central touch screen with Volvo’s Sensus Connect system, which allows internet browsing and access to all your apps plus dab radio with a very easy to use sat-nav system plus power tailgate

And then there is the space inside - lots of it. With the rear seats folded flat the load area is cavernous and just the thing for a few days hard labour at Howarth Towers doing my best impression of Bob the Builder.

So if you need to move lots of stuff frugally, fast and in style then the V90 T8 could be just the car for you.

More info at www.volvo.co.uk