Tow Car Awards: overall winner 2023
The Tow Car Awards is Britain's biggest and best tow car test programme, with a history stretching back to 2007...
Kerb weight 2064kg 85% match 1764kg Max towing weight 2000kg Towball limit 100kg
In 2023, the Volvo V60 became the first plug-in hybrid to win the Tow Car Awards. Here's what we said at the time:
The Volvo V60 was recently updated, although you’ll struggle to notice from the outside. Climb behind the wheel and you might spot the new Google-embracing infotainment system, but the headline news is the uprated plug-in hybrid technology.
A usable battery capacity increase to 14.9kWh gives the T6 an excellent official electric range of up to 55 miles and CO2 emissions of just 18-25g/km. That means low tax bills for company car drivers, and low running costs if you regularly charge the battery. Volvo has also made the rear motor more powerful; there’s now a total of 345bhp, shared between all four wheels.
Having so much muscle makes the V60 T6 very rapid indeed. The 30-60mph time of 5.8sec allows for confident overtaking, even with a caravan in tow.
As a bonus, being an estate rather than an SUV, the weight of the hefty battery and motors is kept low down. That adds up to excellent stability when travelling at 60mph or in emergency lane changes. In fact, we were happy to tow well beyond the legal limit at the test track; even crosswinds made little difference to the car’s composure.
The V60 pulled away briskly on the hill start; testing took place in dry weather, but given its four-wheel drive set-up, the T6 should cope well in wet conditions too. It’s every bit as impressive without a caravan; while not as agile as a BMW 3 Series Touring, the V60 strikes a fine balance between composed cornering and a comfortable ride.
Build quality is excellent and the interior spacious, with noticeably more rear leg room than in most rivals. Plus, the plug-in hybrid’s boot is just as impressively spacious as that of the regular combustion-engined V60.
Our ratings
Towing 5/5 Solo driving 4/5 Practicality 4/5 Buying and owning 5/5 Overall 5/5
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