• Plenty of seats-up boot space
• Comfortable and roomy rear seats
• Rivals have larger seats-down boots

How much space is there?

Enough. The Volvo V60’s rear seats offer adequate head and legroom for two adults. It makes good sense for families, too, because the rear doors open wide (which makes it easy to load your kids) and there’s plenty of glass to brighten the cabin. Plus, you get loads of cubbies for holding stuff like sweets and chargers.

The rear bench is a little uncomfortable for three, as the car’s large central tunnel eats into foot space. In addition, if the front occupants lower their seats to the floor, foot space for the outer rear passengers is at a premium. Still, these are minor frustrations rather than deal-breaking obstacles.

Volvo V60 boot space and storage

This is really where Volvo should shine. Historically, the company’s estate cars have always been great at carrying stuff, but the V60 is a bit of a mixed bag. With the seats up, you get 529 litres of boot space, which is larger than the 500 litres you get from the BMW 3 Series Touring and the 476 litres offered by the Audi A5 Avant.

But the V60’s boot stumbles when you fold its seats flat, as you get less space than both the 3 Series and C-Class estates. Maximum capacity is 1,441 litres, which is 69 litres less than both these rivals. So, you’ll have a bit more of a fight loading bulky bits of furniture into the back of the Volvo.

At least you don’t sacrifice any boot space by opting for the PHEV (like you do with the BMW 330e Touring). Most of the car’s plug-in hybrid tech is housed in the transmission tunnel, leaving capacity above the boot board unchanged. You do, however, lose the V60’s underfloor storage.

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The V60 also makes up for its lower boot capacity with stacks of user-friendly storage gadgets. You get lashing points, hangers for shopping bag handles and levers to drop the rear seats from the rear bumper. We especially like Volvo’s pop-up divider that prevents items from flying around the boot when it isn’t rammed to the gunnels.

The quality-of-life features are rounded off with a standard-fit hands-free electric tailgate. That means you can open the boot with two armfuls of luggage by simply waggling your foot under the rear bumper. Setting all these strengths aside, though, we should point out that you can get cheaper estates with more spacious boots. Even the Volkswagen Golf Estate has around 100 litres more storage – and it’s at least £10,000 cheaper.

Is it easy to park?

Remarkably so. It might be a large car, but its many, enormous windows mean you get a great view. Car parks certainly feel more approachable through the V60’s glass than they do through the arrow slits you get in the sportier, lower-slung BMW 3 Series Touring.

Automatic parking systems are also available – plus the option of a reversing camera – which, in our experience, really take the stress out of parking. We’re particularly fond of Volvo’s 360-degree camera system, and quickly found using it became second nature.

Safety

• Loads of impressive safety tech as standard
• Achieved a five-star Euro NCAP rating in 2018…
• … which has now expired due to the car’s age

Volvo is synonymous with automotive safety, so it shouldn’t really surprise you that the V60’s wreckages were trailered away from Euro NCAP HQ with five-star ratings. However, we should flag that the car was last tested in 2018. That rating is now so old, and NCAP’s test have moved on so far, that it’s no longer comparable with the newest cars in the class.

That’s not to say the V60 is an unsafe car, though. Quite the opposite, in fact. The car does a great job of protecting its adult and child occupants, while Volvo’s safety tech was arguably ahead of the curve for its time. It scored highly in the category, with only a minor glitch with the car’s lane-assist tech letting the side down.

You also get a plethora of sophisticated mitigation equipment, such as Volvo’s City Safety automatic braking tech, which can slow the V60 down to avoid pedestrians, cyclists and large animals. It can even clock if you’re too close to the edge of the road or an oncoming car and swerve out of the way to avoid an accident.

If you do end up heading for the wrong side of a ditch, Volvo’s Run-off Road Protection should help to minimise the severity of the impact. The second it detects a lack of tarmac under its tyres, the V60 will tighten its seat belts, deploy the airbags if you’re about to hit something and shear its mounting bolt for the brake pedal so you don’t injure your ankle. There’s even a special shock absorber built into the seats that absorbs the impact of the car reconnecting with the earth, therefore minimise damage to your spine.

Watch: Volvo V60 Euro NCAP safety test video