Last issue’s introduction of the XC90 mentioned the £6,000 of options fitted to our test car, so it’s time to assess their worth.

Our test car comes with £6,000 of options fitted

The biggest option is the £2,250 Lounge pack which groups 4-Zone climate control, panoramic glass roof, a 360-degree parking camera, interior air cleaner and automatic parallel and 90-degree parking.

Of the items featured, the two ‘must-haves’ for me are the sunroof and the 360-degree parking camera. As individual options these cost £1,495 and £525 respectively, so the Lounge package appears to offer decent value for money.

The Tech pack (£850) brings Apple CarPlay and Android Auto functionality and an upgraded Harmon Kardon stereo system. If I’m being honest, I could take or leave this option.

Likewise the £500 Driver Assist package – while the Intellisafe crash mitigation system works very well, I simply prefer to be in full control and trust my driving.

The Climate package (headlight cleaning, head-up display, heated rear seats and heated steering wheel) would also not get the box ticked if it was me speccing the car, although in winter conditions the £675 price may well be worth it alone for the heated steering wheel!

Individual options include £250 for wireless phone charging (sadly my iPhone 7 does not support this), the integrated boosted cushion in the rear seats (an essential £175 option for families), third-row air conditioning (that’s a no from me for £600) and metallic paint (pretty much a compulsory £700 option as the only standard colour is white).

Finally, a quick mention of the low fuel economy return so far – national lockdowns are limiting mileage presently. Most of my journeys are now completing the school run – a five-mile round trip in stop-start traffic is not the ideal testing cycle to match Volvo’s claimed figures.

P11d (BiK): £57,915 (37%) MPG/CO2: 41.5mpg/178g/km Test MPG: N/A