I HAVE driven many different varieties of the Volvo V70 estate over the years between 2007 and 2016 and enjoyed them all.

It's a clever car with huge levels of safety built-in - always part of the Swedish company's tradition.

The 1.6 diesels are fairly slow but all the others have decent to excellent performance and all have surprisingly good handling and roadholding.

As well as the 1.6 diesel with about 115bhp, there are also smooth 2.0 and 2.4-litre units with power ranging from 136 to 215bhp.

These are the models to go for because of their good pulling power and also decent level of economy.

This ranges from 44 to 62mpg in the Government's average, and for something of this size, that is excellent.

Petrol models at different times included a 1.6 turbo with 180bhp, a 2.5 with around 230, and a 3.0-litre with 280.

Performance is not usually what most people buy these big Volvos for of course. Rather, they are looking for the large size, either to carry the family around in comfort, or to use for business.

They all come with huge family friendliness throughout the cabin, even down to 40/20/40 split fold back seats and built-in booster seats in many.

Comfort is excellent except for an unsettled feel at low speeds in town,

The V70 was long one of the most desirable premium estates and so resale values have remained strong compared to others of a similar size.

These are cars built to last a lifetime with classy, durable materials throughout the cabin, among the best seats on the market and an enviable reputation for reliability that often extends to well over 200,000 miles.

But make sure you get full service history. No such originally expensive car should be bought without it.

The cabin is big with excellent legroom front and rear and the enormous boot has luggage nets, hooks and straps to prevent your groceries from being thrown around.

Insurance groups range up from 16 to 34 and 0 to 60 miles an hour times down from 12.8 seconds to 7.5.

Entry ES trim brings alloys, remote audio controls, cloth seats, traction control, heated electric mirrors, loads of seat and column adjustment, cruise control and an excellent stereo. From the wide range of other models, many have electric leather seats, sat nav, parking sensors and more.

Pay about £8,600 for an '11 11-reg ES D4 manual 2.0-litre diesel with 163bhp, or £15,800 for a '15 15-reg SE D5 auto 2.4-litre with 215bhp.