The man in the service station in Halifax was talking to me as if we had known each other for years, though I'd never seen him in my life. It would be nice to be able to report that this had something to do with my fondly-imagined celebrity status, but no - he'd never seen me in his life either.
Our interaction was based entirely on the fact that he had seen me arrive in the Volvo V50, and he wanted to talk about it. Having driven the best part of a thousand miles in this example during the previous week, and found it so far to be a useful and enjoyable companion, I felt both able and happy to be part of the discussion.
This was the second time we had visited the two-litre turbo diesel SE version of the V50, and there was a good reason for that. Our original short test (which I invite you to read since it contains information I won't be repeating in detail here) was based on a brief drive during the launch event in Caithness.
This test was a marathon by comparison. There would be less emphasis on the V50's cornering ability - though on that subject the car is more nimble than it at first feels - and more on its long-range behaviour as it acted as a workhorse for two people and their luggage.
It was precisely the right size for the job, but if we had had another passenger we would have been struggling. The very odd piece of luggage compartment packaging noted in the earlier test (a large amount of space is devoted to housing the space-saver spare wheel) meant that we could not fit everything we needed to in there unless we left the luggage cover open, which we were not prepared to do.
Instead, we had to bring the rear seat into service as a sort of annexe for items we would take with us every time we left the car, plus about five hundredweight of trashy celebrity magazines which any thief was welcome to as far as I was concerned. Hitchhikers beware: if you are approached by a V50 with two holidaymakers on board, and one of them looks as if they are prepared to read everything that has ever been written about Kerry Katona, forget it - the car is already full.
There were compensations, though. My companion liked the curvy shape, still a relatively recent development in Volvo design history, and found the car very comfortable even after we had travelled for seven hours in a single day. I liked the strong mid-range performance, the relaxed cruising and the fact that fuel stops were pleasantly infrequent; I don't think I ever quite managed 500 miles on a single tank, but I'm sure it's possible.
My only gripe was that when driving solo you're aware of more engine noise than might be expected of a car costing, in this high level of specification, just over £20,000. In-car conversation and radio/CD playing make this less noticeable, and I dare say the celebrity magazines had a damping effect too.
I reported most of this to the man in the service station in Halifax, and he seemed impressed. In fact, he said he might buy one, which - since his current car was a 3.2-litre Volkswagen Touareg - I found mildly startling.
