Been driving one of these this week. Nowhere near as quick as the Octavia vRS DSG that I drive but not bad. More later.

http://www.topgear.com/uk/volvo/v40/gallery

In the car world, it’s intended to compete with the BMW 1 Series and Audi’s A3.

The new V40 model is a five door hatch with more rounded edges than an IKEA table, which is completely different from the Volvo of old. A rounded nose with almost oval headlamps creates a bit of a stir at first, drawing attention to the range’s more expensive S60 model, and then the rising chrome strip past the B pillar and onto the back of the car creates a stylish look hinting at a Volvo of old. The almost anthracite coloured 17” alloys looked good too, against the flamenco red metallic paint.

The V40 range has over thirty variants in its sector starting at the D2 Cross Country Lux model to the range topping T5 R Design Lux Geartronic. Prices range from £19,900 and rise to £33,800 for the T5 Cross Country Lux model.

This SE Lux Geartronic model is well equipped in standard spec featuring cream leather, climate and cruise control, with only metallic paint, parking sensors and satnav being extras that I’d want and would have had to pay for. The 9 inch colour screen upon which the maps are displayed comes as standard and doubles as the car’s information point.

The cream leather interior is a “love it or hate it” factor, and not one I’d seek out, but the seats themselves are really comfortable. These seats are heated which makes a journey much more comfortable. On the plus side, the colour lightens the interior and makes it a much more airy and bright place to sit. Adding to the light and airy feel is a retractable electric sun blind that runs the entire length of the car and is a nice addition on those sunny days. If we ever have any…

The steering wheel is the common place multi function device featuring cruise and audio functions and is very thick being bound in leather and nice to grip. The interior has splashes of chrome across the dash and doors which breaks up the rather less than tactile rubberised plastic interior and by each door mirror on the inside of the car it has a feature called BLIS – blind spot information systems - very small cameras that monitor actual and potential blind spots that the driver may encounter on the road. They only seemed to work at low speed, curiously.

The Volvo floating panel is carried over to the new model – the centre console is millimetres thick but carries all the functions of the car from audio and heating to telephone operation but is so thin, there’s even space behind it to store a few small items out of sight. And, down by the pedals, the car has courtesy lights so if any of those items do go astray, it’s easy to find them.

Electric seats in this model meant getting comfortable was easy and the forward view is good. Not so great is the view out of the rear of the car as the rear seats have two enormous headrests and the tapered styling of the car means that the rear window is quite small. Add the two together and rear vision is quite poor.

Rear seated passengers fair quite badly for leg space with the seat set to my liking, but headroom is plentiful. It can easily accommodate three people across the rear bench in relative comfort but there are more spacious cars out there.

Boot space is good despite the tapered lines of the rear of the car. It provides 335–1032 Litres of space (with the seats down) and is relatively square and flat.

The parcel shelf is irritating though, as it doesn’t rise high enough to be able to get stuff in without it getting in the way, and there’s nowhere to store it if you choose to take it out.

It’s keyless too. As long as you’re carrying the key, the doors open unaided. Simply press the start button, and you’ll find that the car’s diesel engine is quiet and unobtrusive and doesn’t interfere with in car conversation when travelling at speed.

There’s a high-tech TFT instrument cluster, and a large speedometer so there’s little chance of “error”. Essentially, if you’ve ever been in a newish Jaguar, it’s a lot like that and appears to be very “virtual”. It doesn’t have the novelty factor of the Jaguar though, with its rising gear lever but its clever all the same.

The six speed auto is smooth through the gears and the torque arrives low down, resulting in a car that is quick off the mark and easy to drive. The steering weights up nicely around the corners and crucially provides plenty of feedback. The tyres are quiet and do not result in much road noise entering into the cabin. All good. During my time with the car the on board computer suggested that the MPG was in the 40’s which is good, but nothing like the high 50's I get in the vRS.