Safety Fast

Stylish, all-electric, seven seats... and faster than a Civic Type R. Join our voyage of discovery in Volvo's complex new flagship

- Piers Ward

IF YOUR FAMILY CAR IS ANYTHING LIKE mine, there will be enough stale food, mould, and general detritus loitering on the floor and between the seats to keep Louis Pasteur in work for a decade. I would dearly love for it to be tidier and cleaner-it looks a little odd turning up at the school gates in a hazmat suit but the car is a workhorse. No point stressing about it.

The same used to be true of big Volvos, the answer to every family-car dilemma for decades. With estate cars like the 850 and then the ridiculously successful XC90, Volvo made a parent's life that little bit easier.

In theory, the all-electric EX90 is here to do the same job while being less of a burden on the conscience, offering clean transport, seven seats, and those ever-present Volvo safety credentials.

And yet.

That early XC90, launched in 2002, was available for about £35,000 (Rs 26 lakh) (getting on for £7ok, that is, Rs 77 lakh, in today's money). This new EXgo currently starts at £96.255 (Rs 1.06 crore) (or £1,469, that is, Rs 1.61 lakh, a month for the Twin Motor Performance using Volvo's subscription scheme). The topspec Twin Motor Performance Ultra version we are driving comes in at £100,555 (Rs 1.10 crore).

There are caveats to all this, of course. A more affordable version is on its way, probably rear-wheel drive and starting at around £75,000 (Rs 82.50 lakh), not that many people buy in cash these days. Plenty of electric cars are very expensive, so why have a pop at Volvo? Because Volvos are not meant to be dream cars; I find it hard to reconcile paying this sort of money for a car and then letting the kids loose in it.

And this is very much a family car. With seven seats and oodles of standard safety kit, there are few more cosseting ways of ferrying the precious little darlings around.