VOLVO EX30

As brand's baby EV leaves our fleet, how has it measured up?

- Andy Pringle [e-mail]

MY family and I are saying goodbye to our Volvo EX30, and if I had to sum it up in a few words, I'd say it had been a perfect fit. As soon as the car arrived on our driveway for the first time, I could tell things would go well. Not only was it easy to thread the car onto the concrete without damaging our neighbours’ low hedge or our plants, but a Volvo sat comfortably among the other premium-branded cars on our local streets. I hate to admit it, but image is important.

As is a wide breadth of talents, and the Volvo certainly possesses that. Above all, we needed the EX30 to be a family car, and as I've said before, it’s perfect for mum, dad and a 12-year-old daughter. Much of the car’s time is spent crisscrossing southwest London on the school run, shopping trips, family days out and ferrying our daughter to football matches and show rehearsals - the EX30 is ideal for this.

The electric powertrain makes light work of urban traffic, and I've never wanted more performance out of town. To be honest, it is much quicker than I need; I barely ever used all of its 272bhp, relying instead on the 343Nm of torque to make any trip less hard work.