As this is a Volvo, I think its best to start with the safety aspect, as this is what volvo do best. The lights always stay on, like every other volvo, and this is highly annoying. Especially when your driving on a motorway at 1pm in the middle of the summer. This car also boasts about 2 million airbags, which means you have more chance in having a fatal accident whilst watching TV, then you do driving this car. The one thing I do love about the safety on this car is a little button on the dashboard with the letters DSTC on. Flick this switch and suddenly you feel like your on a broken roller coaster, but this is great, this is what makes you appreciate the design of cars because we like to feel unsafe, we like to experiance adrenaline.
On to the car itself, the version I drove was actually a 2.4 D5 (turbo diesel). It has a very slow acceleration at low speeds, but stick it on a motorway and 60-100 mph will seem quicker than the average handgun firing a bullet at a wall 2 inches away.
The build quality is amazing, and for a base price of around 30k, the leather interior and stylish dash makes you feel like youve just bought a bargain bentley.
The Sat-nav is cool but extremely annoying. It comes out the dash in a very slick way, but try programming it and you suddenly feel like Bill Gates working on the original IBM computers.
The car looks good on the outside, the wheels are big (18 inch) and the front looks fierce.

Overall performance is great.