VOLVO EX30 CROSS COUNTRY

Elevated four-wheel-drive SUV brings a fresh twist to a familiar badge

- By MATT SAUNDERS

When the idea of an estate car with a tougher brief, a chunkier look, some extra ground clearance and four-wheel drive first emerged in 1997, it did so in opposition to Volvo's halo models of the time – V70 R, 850 R etc. To hanker after a Cross Country was to have a use for what it could do: on a dirt track, over a wet field or en route to a ski lodge. And you didn't need to splurge on a powerful engine to get one. These cars may have taken on desirability in a subverted, counter-culturey sort of way, but they were intended to be studiously, almost wantonly functional.