Think of a Volvo. If you're over the age of 30 you probably have a boxy Swedish barge in your head.If that' the case the 'yes-it's-a-Volvo' XC60 may come as something of a shock. It's a combination of Volvo practicality with the new Volvo design language, which reflects the Swedish manufacturer's link with outdoor pursuits, so you can tow 1800kg of horse box or sail boat in the front-wheel drive T5 model.Go for all-wheel drive - useful in these days of harsh winters and torrid school runs - and you can tow two tonnes.As for practicality and versatility - you can easily transport five adults in comfort while there's 495 litres of luggage space in the back.That extends to 1455 litres with the rear seats, which split in 40:20:40 pattern at the pull of a lever, are folded down. While neither of those figures are enormous, loading and folding of seats is easy - and there are cubby holes and more handy featurs throughout.The XC60 is longer than the likes of the Land Rover Freelander, though, and loading access is easy.All cars are well specified with gadgets, media and styling touches. Base level ES trim brings with it City Safety technology, alloy wheels and cruise control, leather steering wheel with remote audio, while one step up to SE adds rain sensor, rear park assist, powered tailgate and autofolding power door mirrors and Bluetooth handsfree system.By the time you get to SE LUX there's full leather-faced upholstery and powered driver's seats - while a Premium upgrade adds full leather, integrated satnav, multimedia audio system and digital radio.That means the XC60 can be specced with any trim level you can add the bits that matter to you without a lot of expensive stuff you don't.A decidedly 'new' Volvo element on its more recent models is the weight and depth of gadgetry on the range. Entertainment, satnav, connectivity and various driving aids mean it's not just a pretty face.You can pair your phone to the comms and entertainments system; use voice control to change music, dial a number or warm your bottom.And you can rely on the Volvo to warn you if your driving becomes erratic, lock on to the car in front using cruise control or scare the wits out of you should someone walk out in front of the car.Technology like the Parking Assist and Blind Spot Information System is unobstrusive when not required and just annoying enough to be useful when required - tech like this makes it feel like the XC60 gives you another pair of eyes - and the adaptive cruise control means you barely have to drive the car.Occasionally I find technology like pedestrian or collision warning rather intrusive - they rather too twitchy and too ready to go off - but Volvo reckons that if every car on the road had a Pedestrian Warning built into it.What's more, Volvo says the vast majority of collisions take place at speeds of up to 19mph - and in half of those cases the driver did not brake. On that basis, if every car had City Safety fitted we could expect up to a third of all collisions to be eradicated.Gadgetry like this is becoming more and more common on new cars, but Volvo seems to be integrating it into its cars better than most to me - it's useful without being annyoing.Ride and handling is decent in here, but not as smooth as the big Volvo saloons or estates at lower speeds, but the XC60 is relatively nimble - this is a car built with the ability to dodge elk on Swedish roads built into it after all - with not much in the way of body roll, good steering feedback and a keen turn of pace with most engines; the T5 2.0-litre petrol is particularly strong.It develops 240bhp and a decent amount of torque at 320NM between 1800-5000rpm - so it's a very flexible pwoertrain that never feels like running out of puff.It sprints to 60mph in a swift 7.6 seconds, but there's a penalty - fuel consumption is a combined 33.2mpg, which you're unlikely to get in the real world and CO2 is 198g/km, meaning first year road tax of £445 - and £245 in subsequent years.Go for the five-cylinder D5, however, and you get the same all-wheel drive, same towing ability and greatly superior fuel consumption and CO2 emissions for similar prices.Performance on the D5 is a little lower so that's where you need to make a decision about your needs.The silky six-speed auto transmission is the transmission to choose on the XC60; if you're missing manual gearchanges you can switch to Geatronic 'up and down' semi-manual mode should you wish.Prices start in the late £20,000s but can easily rise to over £40,000 on the highly-specced top models.There are four cylinder 2.0-litre and six cylinder 3.0-litre petrol engines and 2.0 and 2.4-litre five cylinder diesel units. There's also a DRIVe low-CO2 model with two wheel drive as standard.My advice is to figure out what's essential, decide which powertrain suits your needs best, and do your maths carefully.There are plenty of crossover SUV on the market so it's increasingly tough for models such as these to stand out.It will lose out to the Freelander where it comes to offroad ability; it will lose out to the Evoque for x-factor; and the likes of the BMW X£ and Audi Q5 are hard to beat, but the XC60 does look excellent and offer typically refined comfort, gadgetry and practicality.
