ALLbig executive cars lose a large amount of their value a few years down the road, which means you and I can buy them for the same price as a supermini, often with very reasonable mileage on the clock and full service history.

One of these large, cosseting saloons that is often overlooked is the Volvo S80 - a car that will stand out from the crowd of big BMWs and Audis on the roads and lasts just as well as any of them.

A taxi driver I know has one with 367,000 miles on the clock, and says it's still going well and costing him very little to maintain.

There are a huge number of models to choose from, but all come very well equipped as standard, and many will have the good automatic gearbox - which is just right for a large range topping car.

Petrol engines range up from 2.0 to 4.4-litres, and 142 to 310bhp, while the diesels range from 1.6 to 2.4-litres and 115 to 215bhp. Some have even been available with four wheel drive - both petrol and diesel - but only in the top specifications.

The petrols are pretty thirsty, so diesel is best for a private buyer, and the upper five cylinder oil burners even come with a fairly sweet sound, which is most unusual for a diesel.

Performance in the smallest 1.6 diesel is fair and all the others good to excellent, with manual or automatic gearbox.

High speed refinement is brilliant, the ride is marvellous and road holding and handling are up with the others in the executive or boardroom class.

Inside they are stylish and everything is high quality - just as it should be at this level. There's good rear passenger space and a huge boot.