‘YOU WILL NEED a 4x4.’ My favourite words predating a short break to a conservancy on the southern Cape coast. With the Hilux out of our long-term fleet, that left Wayne Batty’s pristine XC60. Well, there among all the R Design badges is a little AWD moniker, so it should be fine, right?

Keys swapped after some fast talking, I settled in for a couple of days. What a fine car. Lovely control ergonomics, plush leather seats that fit just right, command driving position. It feels substantial and safe but also shrinks around the driver. A solid citizen.

‘It’s the most beautiful SUV I’ve ever seen,’ gushed a neighbor. Demographic confirmed, then. But that’s how positively many respond to the athletic curves and artfully wedged shape. Wide tyres, twin exhaust exits and a bold grille add to the appealing looks. I personally liked the panoramic sunroof, fold-away mirrors and the cleverly integrated curves inside, where truth to material still thrives – you know, brushed aluminium, soft leather, quality plastics. Others will no doubt dwell on the great sound, high levels of connectivity and intelligent radio.

Driving it is, I imagine, like having a Swedish travel massage. There’s a general sense of calm and relaxation. The big transverse-mounted D5 diesel grumbles bassily up ahead and the slick six-speed auto gets on effortlessly with shifting duties. You can kick down and joust through traffic and along the twisties with hardly a moment’s hesitation. Subjectively it doesn’t feel quite as planted as an Q5 or X3 as the limits approach, though it’s clearly mightily competent.

Commuting done, I’ve now got to pack this thing full of kids and camping gear. Yikes, suddenly it doesn’t appear quite so long next to the Golf in the driveway. Rear legroom is a mite cramped and the steeply raked rear window that looks brilliant in the design studio isn’t so clever when it comes to trommels and tents. So I chucked out one of the teen passengers (he had lots of studying to do), filled the vacated space with sleeping bags and hit the road.

Off the tar, as expected, the wide tyres give some flotation over sand, but ground clearance is not great, so the middel mannetjie causes problems, snagging on the deflectors ahead of the front wheel arches and scraping the underbody. Traction is no issue, with the Haldex 4WD system sending up to half the torque to the rear wheels when the front wheels (which normally receive 95% of the torque) lose grip, but it all works best on flattish gravel roads and presumably will be just the thing for ice and snow.

There’s no low range of course, but on our trip the XC60 tackled some steep sandy tracks with gusto, holding its own so long as momentum was kept up. I was quite impressed until a RAV and later a Terios sailed past on the same tracks with a lot less ox-like lumbering. The XC60 is a hefty 1.9tonne beast after all, and while this inspires confidence on tar and imparts the essential SUV solidity that fashion buyers want, it makes for a tendency to plough off it.