I LOVE FAST wagons. Positively adore them. You can be a family man with 2.3 kids and the Labrador in tow and still have fun in your car. A fast station wagon/avant/estate/touring means the world doesn’t have to be black or white, but can be a very stylish shade of grey labelled Practicality and Performance – a bit like an Abercrombie and Fitch cashmere pullover.

No surprises then that I used something called Editor’s Prerogative when Volvo replaced Wayne’s XC60 D5 R-Design with a jet black top-of-the-range V60 T6 R-Design in our long term test fleet. I immediately claimed the keys for myself.

It’s a beast. The 3.0-litre transversely mounted six-cylinder engine usually develops 224kW of power and an impressive 440Nm of torque. Top speed is limited to 250kph and the 0-100kph time is claimed as 6.2 seconds. It feels faster. More about that later...

While I couldn’t see the point of the R-Design tweaks to Wayne’s Volvo SUV, they make perfect sense in this wagon. These range from cosmetic elements such as a redesigned grille, good-looking five-spoke 18-inch Ixion alloys and colour-coded surfacing, to front sports seats and R-Design steering wheel, pedals and mats.

There are also some changes where it really matters. The chassis has been stiffened, ride height lowered by 15mm and damping response quickened. The Swedish nanny (in the guise of the electronic stability and traction control system) has been reprogrammed to allow the enthusiastic driver a bit more room to play before it brings out the wooden spoon to spank you into submission. You can cut intervention even further by selecting the right options on the car’s settings menu.

Volvo has staked its reputation on building safe, sensible cars. Not surprising as the Swedes are a safe and sensible lot. But there’s a wild side to the Scandinavians, and if you’ve ever partied with them you’ll know what I mean. Remember the five-cylinder turbocharged 850 that famously raced in the British Touring Car championship in the ’90s with Rickard Rydell at the helm? That was Volvo walking on the wild side and they’re dancing on the edge again with the new crop of S60s and V60s that can now be bought with R-Design upgrades. Our wagon retails for R499 900, a relative performance bargain.

The news get’s even better. Performance upgrades from Polestar, Volvo’s motorsport arm, will become available in South Africa before the end of the year. In fact, there’s one V60 T6 running around South Africa with the Polestar’s test software already fitted. It’s a black one, just like the one I’m driving. Hang on...?

Yup, I’m driving the Polestar tweaked V60, so no wonder it feels fast. Instead of 224kW, output is now closer to 250kW. So this is no Lingonberry-munching Swede dressed in loafers; this is an axe-wielding, mead-swilling Viking I’ve got parked in my driveway. I’ll call him Erik the Black, in honour of Erik the Red, the famous Viking explorer, founder of Greenland, and a pillager of note.

It’s still early days, so Erik and I are treating each other with mutual respect. It’s going to be an interesting adventure together. Let’s see if we’re mortal enemies or blood brothers in twelve months’ time. Right now I’m leaning towards the latter.