Volvo XC70   Women's view

June Neary wonders why people buy large off road 4x4s when there are cars like Volvos XC70.

If there was more of a place for logic in automotive buying decisions, cars like Volvos XC70 would sell in their tens of thousands. Heres a practical family or executive estate that has all the important attributes of one of those clunky off roaders without all the unnecessary weight. Its perfect if all you want to do is to get to an awkwardly positioned camp site or tow a heavy trailer. OK, so it wont enable you to chase buffalos across the Serengeti.

I can live without that.

Like the V70 estate it is of course based on, the XC70 estate is nothing if not practical. Five passengers will travel in complete comfort and the boot space will swallow up a fair bit of kit, too. The driving position is well thought out, with all the buttons and switches close to hand and easy to identify. I had initially thought that this was little more than a facelift of the old XC70 but no: this is a completely new car. The windscreen and tailgate are raked a little more than before but the emphasis remains on serious carrying capacity. Its still extremely space-efficient with a class-competitive 485-litres of fresh air back there and a massive 1,641-litres can be liberated if you fold the rear seats down and stack your cargo to the roofline. The 40-20-40 three part split/fold rear seat offers 16 different combinations and the loadbay floor itself features aluminium rails and movable anchoring points.

A sliding load floor is also offered as an option, as is a powered tailgate. Youll also find luggage nets and hooks to help secure any items with wayward tendencies. The cars designers cleverly decreased the amount the side glass curves from front to rear, for maximum style at the driving end and maximum carrying ability at the business end. XC-embossed roof rails are a standard fit and the contrasting colour of the front foglight surrounds give the XC70 a mean squint.

Front and rear crash plates leave onlookers in no doubt as to this cars dual purpose role. The interior has been given the once over too, with most of the clunkier design themes replaced by a slicker look and feel. Otherwise there are enduring Volvo qualities such as supreme practicality and a whole slew of safety features. On the subject of safety, from previous models you get SIPS side impact protection, WHIPS whiplash protection, an inflatable curtain of head-level side airbags and the DSTC anti-skid system.

Theres also dual-stage airbag inflation (determined by impact severity) and Isofix mountings for the optional rear-facing child seat to ensure correct fitting every time you install Junior. Then theres a passenger airbag cut off switch and the Blind Spot Information System (BLIS). This acts much like an extra set of eyes and utilizes digital camera technology mounted in the door mirrors to monitor the areas 3m to each side and up to 9.5m behind the driver, producing a warning light if theres anything lurking there.

I was surprised by how composed the XC70 was around the twisty roads where I live. There are two engines offered to UK customers. Petrol buyers get a Welsh-built 3.2-litre straight-six that punches a healthy 235bhp with a maximum torque of 320Nm.

Diesel customers get the 183bhp 2.4-litre D5 turbo diesel that I tried with 400Nm of torque. The D5 drives through either a six-speed manual gearbox or a six-speed Geartronic auto with a sequential manual mode, while the 3.2-litre car is offered solely with Geartronic.

Both engines are strong powerplants that complement the driveline well without overpowering it for the sake of headline stats. Of the two, the diesel will rack up bigger sales and is marginally the preferable unit. On the motorway it eats up miles without draining the driver. If like me your longer journeys are few and far between, you'll enjoy letting your hair down in this anything but sluggish estate.

Prices for the XC70 estate models start from £31,035. As usual with Volvo, you can order the car in any one of a variety of different trim packages. Indeed, Volvo offers a truly vast array of options and accessories on the XC70. It would be all to easy to succumb to the temptations of the options list and end up paying far in excess of the list price for a fully-loaded model.

There are also a number of handy packages of extra equipment that serve to simplify the selection process. This being Volvo, every V70 comes with a comprehensive array of safety equipment including the excellent WHIPS whiplash protection system and traction control. Theres obviously ABS along with numerous airbags as well.

Our Road Test Editor remarked after driving the XC70 that this was a car whose time had come and I concur. Why buy a large off roader? I really cant see the point when you could have something like this. But then thats logical and, as we all know, if all automotive buying decisions were based on logic.