Volvo S60

New S60 is shockingly good

• Comfort

  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.

  

• Performance

  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.

  

• Cool

  The new S60 sedan, especially the T6, is beautiful to look at, involving and enjoyable to drive and sensational value as well.

  

• Quality

  Nothing to report here - the new car is more rigid than the old one, though you do get a bit of tyre roar back into the cabin.

  

• Handling

  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.

  

• Practicality

  The S60 has a biggish boot but a slightly cramped rear seat. Volvo makes more practical sedans, and far more practical wagons.

  

• Running costs

  For the petrol especially, costs are pretty high, mainly hit by fuel and depreciation. 3 year unlimited km warranty. Service intervals are a surprising 30,000km apart for all versions.