The V70 is fitted with a Winter Pack – £350 of heated front screen, heated seats and headlight cleaning.

However, in Sweden they take the chilly months even more seriously and Volvos there are often fitted with pre-set heated seats, ones you can set on a timer before you get in the car.

Brilliantly simple. Volvo has offered such a system in the UK but the feature is still a rarity in British cars. It seems a bit odd to me when we are slowly having to learn to cope with ever more extreme weather. I’d love my car to be warm when I get in it.

Instead, the best we can hope for is a heated steering wheel, like that fitted in a lot of top end Jaguars and Range Rover. Surely as battery technology improves it won’t be long before manufacturers are offering central heating too?

Until then, I’m still relying on my trusty leather driving gloves…