Ever since the Chinese took over Volvo a few years ago the company has gone from strength to strength bringing out new cars which are all world beaters.

Last year 571,000 models were sold round the globe, up by seven per cent on 2016, and in the UK, which had a bit of a rough year, sales held up where Volvo increased their market share by five per cent.

In a market which went down by six per cent in the UK, Volvo posted its second highest annual sales for 25 years topping the 46,000 mark again.

And there is a great second hand market as well with hundreds of people waiting for one of the “selekt” models. Last year more than 25,000 bought a second hand model and are happily driving one now!

My latest piece of Swedish/Chinese kit is the V90, which is based on Volvo’s large executive saloon, and probably the biggest car that they build.

It’s up against the German Big Three and comes out quite well with a good ride, good power and excellent luxury.

Long gone are the days when Volvos were regarded just to tow horse boxes and appear at gymkhanas. While you’ll still see them there they are now in the drives of both bankers and senior executives.

I think the best part of my test drive came when I used the V90 estate to take to a golf tournament, which was both cold and wet. Obviously there was plenty of room in the back of the car in the boot.

And on the return after the day out I turned on the heated seats which were superb, but it was the heated steering wheel which was a delight. My hands were as warm as toast in a couple of minutes. Not the normal extra you usually get but it was much appreciated The V90’s boot had enough space for three sets of golf bags on our day.

On the engine front there are a couple of diesels both of which are 2.0-litre; a 2.0-litre petrol and a powerful petrol-electric plug-in hybrid.

My test vehicle was the two litre petrol making it one of the best performing estates around and I have to say I prefer it to any of the German marques.

The V90 is an extremely comfortable ride bouncing its way harmlessly through and over potholes. There is excellent acceleration with 0-60mph reached in under nine seconds and a top speed of 130mph.

The emissions are 156 CO2 g/km which is satisfactory and you will get between and 40 and 50 miles per gallon on the run. Urban driving reduces that to round about 30mpg.

The V90 comes in at around £40,000 with generous levels of luxury and equipment right through.

There is an eight-speed automatic gearbox on all the models and this works like a dream and there is a nine inch centre console screen.

It might take you some time to work out what your car can do on the kit front because there is so much of it. But when you are an expert everything is pretty sensible and you’ll wonder how you managed without it in the past.

The entry-level Momentum trim has LED headlights, heated leather seats, sat-nav, Bluetooth, a DAB radio, a powered tailgate, automatic headlights and wipers, keyless start and rear parking sensors feature as standard.

The V90 has also upgraded its standard emergency city braking system to recognise big animals, plus pedestrians, cyclists and vehicles.

The Volvo V40 was voted car of the year recently so quality goes right through the range.

I’d drive one of their models on any day of the week. Volvo are a class act.