Used Volvo V60 long-term test: report 2

The car 2019 Volvo V60 D4 R-Design Plus Run by Mark Pearson, used cars editor

Why it’s here To find out if this recently replaced version of the V60 with the non-hybrid, diesel-only engine option makes for a good used purchase

Needs to Prove that it can match a number of its fine executive estate car rivals for practicality and efficiency and cope with the daily grind of work and family life

Mileage 6392 List price new (2019) £39,215 Price new with options £45,085 Value now £28,550 Test economy 34.1mpg 

13 January – The key to a happy life

One month in with my used Volvo V60 and I’m getting used to its sheer opulence. It was well equipped off the shelf, but luckily its first owner had the good sense to add, among other things, a Winter Pack with a heated steering wheel, which is a boon on a cold winter morning, especially when combined with the fast-working heated seats.

There’s also an optional rear-view camera to supplement the standard rear parking sensors. The camera is especially useful because the V60 is a longer car than you realise from within, and such is the admirable quest in the modern car for safety and stiffness in the body that its pillars are also quite thick, making visibility, especially to the rear, more limited than is ideal when manoeuvring.

Actually, one of my favourite features was a standard one on my R-Design Plus car, and it’s so humble that it’s one of the most overlooked: keyless entry. Given that I always seem to have both hands and all pockets full, it’s a boon to be able to do no more than touch the door handle to unlock the car and also automatically fold out the electric door mirrors.

Alas, in the V60, it doesn’t always work for me as it should. It sometimes seems to start working, with a clunk from deep within indicating the doors are about to unlock, and a brief flash of light on the rear-view mirrors, but then the doors remain stubbornly locked and the mirrors folded in.

The reason for these failures could be that the key fob is too deeply ensconced in my pocket, or maybe it’s just my over-washed hands, frightened into scrupulous cleanliness by our present circumstances. I think it more likely that I’m not exerting enough pressure on the handle in the right place at the right time for the message to get through, so, in fairness, the fault is probably mine.

Aside from this first-world problem, the rest of the V60 works splendidly, although the electric tailgate works with all the speed of glacial drift.  At least there’s plenty of room in that splendid boot when you get there, plus a flip-up divider on the boot floor that’s ideal for propping up a weekly supermarket shop and stopping it from spilling its contents all over the floor the first time you brake or corner with anything approaching vigour. Not an opulent touch, maybe, but a really useful one.

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