VOLVO XC90

Touring credentials of swanky PHEV tested by Italy-via-Wales expedition

- RICHARD LANE

I’m afraid I perpetrated rather an annoying crime on Kris Culmer by asking to borrow his new long-termer as soon as he had taken custody of it. It’s just not cricket: he will never get that silky new-car feeling back. But I had real need for a spacious machine with considerable wafting capabilities so sheepishly whisked the gleaming XC90 anyway, returning it 13 days later with 3000 miles added to the odo and fingerprints all over the touchscreen. Apologies, mate.

Averaging 230 miles daily for nearly a fortnight is a foolproof method of flushing out the weaknesses of any car. This near-£90k Volvo has some of those, for sure, as well as several strengths, more on which in a moment.

The itinerary? First to Anglesey Circuit, where the XC90 played a supporting role for the Maserati MCXtrema test soon to hit these pages. Photographer Jack Harrison could deliver a passably sharp tracking shot from the back of a donkey cart if need be, so the prospect of him hanging (suitably restrained with a harness) from the wide boot of an air-sprung premium SUV on a glass-smooth circuit all but guaranteed frames crisper than a porcelain poppadom.