Leigh Robinson gets out of his comfort zone with a Polestar Volvo

Volvo used to be the armchair of motoring – safe, sedate and a little bit boring.

From the land of tall blond people, Abba and the winter sun here was a car which would get you out of a snowdrift or keep you warm when the temperature dropped below minus 20 degrees, But it was the car which belonged to your father, the university professor or the town mayor but not you. You wanted something a bit different, a bit risky. Compared to a Volvo even a Mini was a bit flash.

But that is all in the past. The current Volvo range is exciting and their Polestar models (that’s the fast ones) could even be considered a teeny weeny bit dangerous. Well not really, Volvo would never do danger.

Their cars are now both stylish and practical with all the safety features intact.

I’ve been driving the Volvo XC60 which first came out seven years ago and its got better and better since those early days.

There have been major updates this year with more to come and Volvo’s award-winning four-cylinder two litre T5 petrol engine delivering 245hp and 350Nm of torque has been joined with an eight speed automatic transmission, available in the XC60.

There is a new 18 inch wheel for the S60/V60 and XC60, and a new 20 inch wheel for the XC60. These will be complemented by a new generation of 18, 19 and 20 inch wheels for R-Design trim levels.

It is an excellent family size car with a spacious and well laid out interior, along with a big boot.

It’s not as big as the XC90, which suits a number of drivers, but it is equally as well equipped with kit as standard.

On the safety equipment front the XC60 comes with a system called City Safety as standard - a clever system that is designed to prevent low speed impacts (or minimise them) by automatically stopping the car if a crash is inevitable.

At speeds up to nine mph, the system will cut in to stop the car if its built-in laser detects an object immediately ahead.

It will also slow - but not stop - the car from speeds up to 19mph.

Given that Volvo's data says that 75 per cent of all accidents occur at below 20mph, and that its system should prevent crashes in at least half of those accidents, as many as four out of every ten accidents could be avoided with this system.

My test model was near top of the range which came in at £44,000. But the range starts at £32,000 and mine had the luxury navigation pack which added an extra £5,000 to the bill.

The model was the 4x4 D4 Geartronic but the range has a top speed of 130mph, 0-62mph in less than eight seconds while the miles per gallon can top the 60 mark, which is quite amazing, I loved every minute of driving it because on the road it is an excellent mover. It handles well, has plenty of grip and off road its bags of fun. And the off road model will give you more than 45mpg.

There's the much cheaper two-wheel drive version, badged DRIVe, which just loves economy and tiny CO2 emissions while performance is pretty good, considering.

There is an excellent cabin with a different layout which is easy to understand.

Volvo offers its adaptable ‘Active Four-C' chassis as an option, which improves the ride.