Volvo V60

Mid-life update makes the Swedish estate one of Volvo's longest-range PHEVs

MODEL TESTED T6 RECHARGE R-DESIGN AWD

Price £47,225 Power 345bhp Torque na 0-60mph 4.9sec 30-70mph in fourth 7.2sec Fuel economy 59.8mpg CO₂ emissions 18-25g/km 70-Omph 46.9m

Three in every 10 new cars sold by Volvo are, as of 2022, electrified Recharge models. Volvo has been investing heavily in fully electric models over the past few years, but its history with plug-in hybrids is now more than a decade old, and has won the company sufficient incremental commercial progress that right now it is selling between three and four times as many PHEVs as EVs.

Quite clearly, Gothenburg still considers petrol-electric motoring a key part of its powertrain strategy, and the powertrain in this week's road test subject proves as much. The Volvo V60 T6 Recharge has, as part of the wider family of 60- and 90-series cars, just received a widely improved hybrid system. While the critical components all package just as they did before, they add significantly to both the car's drive battery capacity and its electric motor output-as we are about to describe.

That, in turn, makes this a V60 PHEV capable of more than 50 miles of electric running on a full charge - nearly a 60% improvement on its direct predecessor, according to WLTP lab testing. For company car drivers, then, the model qualifies for UK benefit-in-kind tax at an eye-catchingly low rate, and yet is priced almost identically to its less powerful, shorter-legged immediate predecessor. For on-paper evidence of the impact made by rapidly maturing electric powertrain technology on the cars we're already driving, look no further than the one we're about to assess. But how big an impact on fuel economy, drivability, performance, practicality, and all-round, Volvotypical maturity and comfort might those sizeable technological gains be worth in real-world testing? Keep reading to find out.