Volvo S60

Big news. Hybrid and electric Volvos, which we'll be seeing very soon, will be designated with an F. I thought the Swedes were sensible people. Fancy a Volvo Fybrid? Or a Flug-in? You can imagine what will happen when they start on the trucks...

There's more, and this is truly revelatory stuff. The new S60 sedan, especially the T6, is beautiful to look at, involving and enjoyable to drive and sensational value as well.
The T6 costs $64,950. Equivalent performance and spec with a German badge costs well north of $100K.

It packs a 3.0-litre turbocharged straight-six with 224kW, just one kilowatt less than BMW's 3.0-litre twin-scroll turbo wunderdonk in the 335i. It's got 40 more torques than the Munchen motor, though, and hooked up to the standard six-speed automatic launches the S60 to 100km/h in a respectably rapid 6.1 seconds.
It could be quicker, but at nearly 1.9 tonnes the S60 isn't exactly at the forefront of lightweight engineering.

The T6 has all-wheel drive, plus suspension that actually delivers decent handling and a complaint ride. Volvo usually can't do both in the one car, but the S60 nails it.
The classy, comfortable cabin includes luxurious seats wrapped in thick, supple cow, a BMW iDrive style multimedia system, and City Safety, which can automatically stop you from rear-ending the car in front.

You can also spend another $4500 to protect idiot pedestrians from being whacked, but you should read Charles Darwin's "The Origin of Species" before you tick this box.
The 151kW 2.4-litre D5 turbodiesel is also a sharp deal at $51,950. In March, when the V60 wagon arrives, there'll be a 177kW 2.4 four-cylinder direct-injection turbo petrol/six-speed robobox/front driver T5, at $57,950.

Since the last Ice Age, Volvo has been trying to convince us it can make a car like the S60. We thought they were kidding themselves. They're not.