Volvo XC90
Big families spent the 1990s gravitating towards MPVs, but these family buses weren’t exactly stylish. In fact, they rather represented a resigned acceptance that any sense of fun or adventure was long gone.
Volvo hit the jackpot in 2003 with the release of the XC90, which offered the seven-seat versatility of a people carrier with the go-anywhere ambition of an SUV – even if that ambition was seldom ever realised. Even Jeremy Clarkson is said to have owned three of the original models, so enamoured was he with its practicality and comfort.
The XC90 also concentrated heavily on safety, which has resulted in it achieving rather a unique record. In 2018, the UK’s independent safety experts Thatcham Research announced that not one single person in the UK has died in an XC90 since its 2003 launch.
That’s a big deal for a kid-carrier that has sold more than 70,000 units in this country, and one that’s cemented the XC90 as a popular choice for the safety-conscious.
