I still remember the first time a car offered me a massage. It was March 2005 and the car in question was a long, silver Mercedes CLS 500. I felt a little inhibited at first. But, hey, there was no one else around, so I flicked the switch and let the car become intimate with my lumbar regions.

The back of the driver's seat began to pulse, as if a pair of guinea-pigs had just awoken beneath the leather and were yawning and stretching. It was mildly ticklesome at first, but ultimately unspectacular. Still, it was nice to be asked.

Since then, I've been massaged by quite a number of cars, including an Audi A8, which took a light roller to my kidneys, and a Lexus 600h L, which actually offered a choice of styles of massage, from “Shiatsu” to “lower back acupressure”. The Lexus wanted around £84,000 for this level of pampering, although, to be fair, they were throwing in the rest of the car for that price as well.

Overall, in fact, I am not short these days of opportunities to be mechanically palpated. At my dentist, I can, if I wish, while away my time in the waiting room by inserting my feet into a rubberised box and having my soles squeezed. At my local cinema, I can pause in the foyer and sit myself on one of a pair of gently throbbing, coin-operated thrones.

Nevertheless, I can categorically state that until I met the Citroën C5 Tourer I had never been offered a massage in an estate car. Because that's a massive contradiction in terms, isn't it? Whatever we associate with estate cars, it is not the restorative power of touch - particularly not an estate car by Citroën.

Let's face it, in a Citroën estate, you'll be driving around with at least six bags of garden clippings and a ladder. There will probably be children on board, and their bikes. You'll have a tool box, or a dog, sliding around in the boot. And yet, of course, you will probably be more in need of tactile de-stressing than any business executive in his high-end Japanese toy box. So, that the massaging seat facility is available on the C5 Tourer means that this model represents a fearless act of democratisation.

Altogether, the Tourer seems to specialise in the turning around of received ideas. Perhaps you have seen the adverts for the impeccable saloon version, which play up the car's flawless impression of a German luxury vehicle before springing the surprise that it is made cheaply in France. The estate model happily continues that car's adventures in unlikely prestige. It could almost convince you that an estate was a style choice, rather than a decision forced upon you by the increasingly cumbersome nature of your life.

The quality of the massage? In all honesty, I've had better muscular work-overs, inadvertently, at busy bus queues. But again, that's not the point. It's the thought that counts.

From £16,695.

Top speed: 138 mph

Acceleration: 0-62 in 9.9 seconds