Anyone agonising over whether to choose a sophisticated, upmarket luxury coupe or a big tough 4x4 can relax -- Volvo’s XC60 smoothly combines the best of both worlds.

Sitting beneath the seven-seat XC90 in the Swedish car maker’s range, the lower and sportier all-wheel-drive XC60 looks like nothing else on the road and is packed, I mean packed, with safety features.

Top of the list of features is the so-called City Safety system, which uses a windscreen-mounted laser to help avoid, or lessen the impact of the most common of all accidents - shunts in low-speed city traffic or tailbacks.

Volvo says that surveys show that 75 per cent of all collisions take place at speeds of up to 19 mph and in half those cases the driver has not braked at all before the collision, mainly due to distraction.

What the City Safety system does, in a nutshell, is that if the car is about to drive into the vehicle in front, the XC60 brakes itself.

At higher speeds, a separate system cuts in to give automatic braking assistance.

As well as City Safety, which is standard on all Volvo XC60s, there are three other safety systems that make their debut in the XC60: pre-prepared restraints uses laser sensors to detect accidents and then adjusts the seat belt and airbags to suit the severity of the collision; Volvo's dynamic stability and traction control has been enhanced to detect roll rate and further improve stability; and new trailer stability assist improves control when towing. Add to that radar-controlled cruise control and a system which flashes an orange warning light, if a vehicle is detected in the driver’s blind spot and you feel cocooned in a Star Wars-style cage of safety.

The good news is that none of the technology intrudes on the driving experience.

Behind the wheel you feel totally in control of a vehicle that is both sporty to drive yet delivers an excellent level of comfort.

The high ground clearance and large alloy wheels mean the XC60 can travel into places where a conventional car would struggle, but it is unashamedly designed as a road car.

With prices starting from under £25,000, the XC60 competes against vehicles such as the BMW X3 and Land Rover Freelander.

Engine choice includes diesels which can offer 37.7mpg economy and sub-200 g/km CO2 performance and British-built six-cylinder petrol engines topped by the T6 that produces 285 horsepower.

The British links with the XC60 are stronger than you might think, as the car is the first production Volvo designed, from scratch, by the company's British design director Steve Mattin, who joined Volvo in 2005 from Mercedes-Benz, where he was responsible for the design of cars such as the iconic SL.

As well as being arguably the most stylish Volvo yet, the makers say it is also the safest Volvo yet. That is a pretty reassuring claim.

Auto facts Volvo XC60 D5 SE Lux (auto)

  • Price: £29,050
  • Insurance group: 14
  • Fuel consumption (Combined): 34mpg
  • Top speed: 124mph
  • Length: 462.8cm/182.2in
  • Width: 189.1cm/74.4in
  • Luggage capacity: 17.4 cu ft
  • Fuel tank capacity: 15.4 gallons/70 litres
  • CO2 emissions: 219g/km
  • Warranty: 3 years/60,000 miles