Volvo has a bit of a history when it comes to station wagons, the brick shaped 850's that Tom Walkinshaw had race in the British touring car championship was a sensation just to behold. They raced against the likes of the Reanult Laguna, Nissan Primera, Audia A4 and the Ford Mondeo. All sedans against the front running Volvos capable of carrying pets, kids and shopping all whilst racing around Silverstone.

IMAGE GALLERY

So when Volvo call this new V60 a 'sportwagon' it has some living up to do. Interestingly in a country where people would rather arrive in the commanding driving position of an SUV such as an ix35 or a Kia Sportage Volvo has gone all out on its offerings for this wagon. You can have your choice of two diesel motors and five petrols bringing the range to seven vehicles to choose from.

If the term sportwagon appeals to you then you want a petrol, preferably the 3-litre petrol with a turbo. 224KW of power and 440Nm of torque. Combine that with all-wheel drive and you've got yourself a vehicle that will serenely drag the dog to the beach in the morning, safely get the kids to school after that and then rush to work subsequently. If the R474 000 including CO2 is a bit too much to handle then there's a choice of two 2-litre turbos  and two 1.6-litre turbos where prices start at R317 700 including CO2.

If sportwagon doesn't appeal to you all that much then the diesel is probably where you'd be heading and Volvo are offering the now very familiar D5 (from the S80 and S60) and a smaller capacity D3. Both are five-cylinder turbos and are great on fuel, averaging below 6.5l/100km, the difference between them being the D5 is a 2.4-litre and the D3 a 2-litre. It must be said that Volvo's diesel technology is extremely good, the D3 is perhaps the quietest diesel I've ever driven, even at idle it's barely audible.

I don't think this new V60 can be held in the same vein as the wild 850R's of old, those were manic with plenty of turbo lag and massive shove, and if Volvo gets its way they're pushing for that kind of car. For the moment the V60 is just a really competent road car with space in the back for pets and loads of shopping. You also get the safety and build quality the Swede's provide in a car that has all the spec you could ever need, things like lane departure warning, blind spot detection and parking sensors together with Volvo's distortion cancelling sound system make it an enticing offer. All the engines behave well and feel unstressed plus the turbocharged range will be useful on the reef.

Maybe we should leave this up to the kids though, which would you prefer to be picked up from school in? A Volvo or Korean SUV?

Pricing:

T6 AWD Geartronic . . . . . . . . . . . 474,700

T5 Manual . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 390,300

2.0T Manual . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366,000

T4 Manual . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 341,900

T3 Manual . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 317,700

D5 Geartronic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 418,300

D3 Manual . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 362,700

T4 Powershift . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 359,300

2.0T Powershift . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 382,100

T5 Powershift . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 406,300

D3 Geartronic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 376,800