VOLVO'S pioneering work on safety is legendary - it was the first car maker to fit seat belts back in the 1950s - and since then it has always been ahead of the game.

And to that end all of its cars - even though some have 450bhp on tap - are now limited to a maximum of 112 miles an hour.

This bold move was introduced back in 2018, when the latest V60 estate was unveiled to the world, and the company's aim is that no-one will be killed or seriously injured in any of its new models.

The elegant and sophisticated V60 comes with loads of cutting edge safety built in.

The City Safety suite of collision-avoidance aids are standard and they include automatic emergency braking, which can detect vehicles, pedestrians, cyclists and large animals in front of the car day or night, and warn of a likely collision.

Should the driver not react, it will automatically apply the brakes to avoid the collision or to limit its severity.

All versions also come with Run-off Road Mitigation and Protection, to help prevent the car leaving the road and if that's unavoidable, to give maximum protection to the occupants.

Steering Support is another safety aid, which can provide additional steering input to help the driver steer around an object in an emergency.

And this also forms part of Oncoming Lane Mitigation, which helps steer the car back onto its side of the road should it inadvertently veer out of lane.

So, we know the big V60 is just about as safe as a car gets, but it also drives beautifully in every way.

At launch, they were available with both petrol and diesel engines, but after 2020, the range became all-petrol with or without mild hybrid support or plug-in hybrid support.

Earlier diesel models had 2.0-litre engines with 150 or 190bhp, and capable of just over 60 miles per gallon. The 150 gets to 60 from rest in 9.6 seconds and the 190 in 7.7.

Like the diesels, all the petrols have a 2.0-litre engine with various stages of turbo and supercharging, plus the extra urge of electric motors.

Earlier straight petrol models had between 160 and 245bhp and could all do a best of 45 miles per gallon, with the sprint covered in between 8.8 and 6.6 seconds.

Plug-in hybrids all use the petrol engine to drive the front wheels and electric motors to drive the rears giving all wheel drive and an battery-only range of 34 miles.

The T6 comes with 345bhp and covers the 60 benchmark in just 5.2 seconds, while also being rated at 314 miles per gallon!

The T8 boosts available power to 390 or 450bhp and these get to 60 in 4.9 and 4.6 seconds respectively, while both being capable of 166mpg.

All apart from some early cars have an eight speed automatic gearbox helping to give good to superb urge in the mid-range. This helps make overtaking safe, sure and very swift.

When I drove one last over awful country road surfaces, it wasn't fazed at all, simply soaking up everything I threw at it.

And the roadholding was also brilliant, with hardly any roll despite the supple ride, and positive steering that was full of feedback.

Refinement is superb with little intrusion even from tar and chipping surfaces, and very little wind noise.

The car's response can be altered to suit the driver, with four different settings for Comfort, Eco, Dynamic and Individual.

And even lowest Momentum trim includes most of the kit anyone would want. It has cruise control, an electric parking brake with auto hold and auto off, keyless entry and starting, auto lights and wipers and folding heated mirrors.

There's an electric tailgate, climate, parking sensors, a 12.3-inch digital instrument binnacle, a nine-inch touchscreen for media and sat nav and voice control.

It even has Volvo's On Call three year safety and security package, which includes stolen vehicle tracking.

The Volvo V60 is right up there with the big Mercedes and Audi estates in every way.

Pay about £19,000 for an '18 18-reg Inscription D4 diesel auto, or £37,500 for a ‘21 21-reg R-Design T6 plug-in hybrid 4x4 auto.