"I keep telling them to stop advertising it, because it only brings me grief."

There aren't many car dealers don't want the advertising support of their distributors, but my local Volvo dealer really doesn't want people asking him for an XC90, the company's first SUV and already selling so well worldwide that there's a waiting list only exceeded by the creme de la competition, BMW's X5.

He got seven out of the 150 which have been allocated to Ireland this year, a figure which itself is double what was originally the Irish share of the planned 50,000 total annual capacity of the factory. Because the expectation was so underestimated, Volvo managed to boost total build to 70,000 units this year, and an absolute limit of 80,000 will be available in 2004.

Orders already in place in Ireland won't be completely fulfilled until February of next year. Meantime, the US market will get and sell around 50,000 units this year, followed by the UK with around 10 per cent of that.

As it happened, though I drove it last year in Switzerland prior to launch, I got the chance to have another go at the UK launch recently, the event located nicely in the Cotswolds.

There was a mix of motorway, back road and forest (the last of which I missed because I wanted to avoid a traffic jam, and anyway the XC90 doesn't pretend to be a tough off-roader), and I was reinforced in my original view that this is a very nice car indeed.

(Let's cut back to my dealer, who is not trying to sell me one and who can't even get enough to sell to those who would buy one from him sight unseen: "I think it is one of the best cars I've ever driven." And he doesn't depend on selling just Volvos for a living.)

I drove the two versions currently available - an automatic 3-litre petrol and a 2.5-litre turbodiesel, also with automatic trans. There will be a 6-speed manual available for the diesel at the end of the year. The automatic preference so far is clearly biased towards the massive US sales of the car, but I've no problems about that.

The petrol car took myself and a colleague very painlessly through a variety of driving situations in the region of Gloucester and Cheltenham, not least allowing us to take a diversion or two from the suggested route and finding a couple of Middle England gems of communities off the main drag (truth: getting lost!).

But even though it came fuel full, I'd have a certain conscience about a fuel consumption in the very early 20s, better than a Range Rover of similar specification, but at the same time not absolutely the best for the environment or our natural fuel resources.

Nice to drive, though. And, knowing how Volvo is looking at such things, I am expecting that they're working up technologies which will salve my concerns about the environment and at the same time give me the same driving experience, or even one better.

The shift to, after a coffee stop in a completely atypical restaurant in Stow on the Wold, a D5 turbodiesel, was a little on the noisier side, but not unacceptable, and with an engine whose low-down pulling power made the somewhat twisty journey home a very easy ride indeed.

It was not quiet, compared to the outward trip. But it wasn't intrusive, either, and for those who like myself find the thrrrmmm of a good diesel very encouraging, it is actually pleasant, even relaxing.

All that said, I suggest a question. Leaving aside its success as an SUV, even winning the 'Texan Truck of the Year', a dubious redneck accolade which was probably not sanctioned by warlord Bush, which road exactly is the Volvo XC90 travelling?

They themselves say that, despite the excellent 4WD system they use, it is 'not designed to be a serious off-roader'. Which, for instance, takes it out of contention with the Range Rover luxmobile that is also a supremo in the slush and mud.

And they say too that they're targeting a void in the market left by the non-availability of the BMW X5 to many putative owners.

But, after examining the real cleverness of the interior packaging of the XC90, a full 7-seater that still manages to provide a totally flat load space with all passenger seats folded (NOT removed), I suggest that its real metier is to take the top end of the MPV 'people carrier' market.

Chase the figures, just for the hell of it. Examine the top-of-range Ford Galaxy, and look at the difference between it and the XC90 D5 (Ford won't mind, as they own Volvo anyway).

And think of the quality edge, the difficult-conditions extras, and the luxury upgrade. Not to mention the rarity value that will sweeten your investment.

As my Volvo dealer retreats once again from the barrage of 'I want it' phone calls, I think my friends in BMW should be worrying about the length of their own waiting lists.

They might shorten. For all the wrong reasons.