The Volvo S60 is one of those cars that's easily and unfairly dismissed by many, on
the grounds that it's been around a while.
The thing is, that's not entirely fair, because Volvo have been quietly and constantly fiddling
with their small saloon to keep it current, and it was only a couple of years ago that
it had something of a restyle.
Those visual tweaks were most successful on the R-Design models, where you get a chunkier
bumper with honeycomb grille that runs into the LED running lights, plus a tasty set of
18-inch alloys.
The S60 is equally chunky from the rear, and we think it's one of most well-resolved designs
in its segment, with its high-wasted look that flows neatly into the rear light clusters,
a subtle lip spoiler on the boot-lid, and a rather tasteful rear diffuser and twin exhaust
pipes.
The cabin continues Volvo's now perfected use of tasteful materials, complete with part-leather
sports seats for the R-Design model which offer an incredibly wide range of adjustment,
plus Volvo's now familiar floating centre stack.
Overall, its simplicity is a welcome relief from the endless onslaught of iDrive-style
controllers, and while the button-count might be higher than in the German competition,
the advantage is that's easy to operate most of the car's systems without having to delve
into a menu.
The instruments are now entirely digital and are a model of clarity, with a choice of three
different styles - Performance, Eco and Elegance - to suit your mood, with new displays sweeping
in via a series of tasteful animations.
All models have Volvo's Sensus infotainment system, and this gives the ability to play
music from a variety of sources and with a new, beefier amplifier, plus the option of
navigation that includes lifetime map updates.
The system also incorporates a bewildering array of customisation options and integrates
with the car's various electronic systems, such as the optional rear and front view cameras.
An added neat touch is that the owners handbook is built into the system so it's easy to look-up
how something works if you're not sure.
Space for back seat passengers is respectable, although the sloping roof-line can eat into
headroom for some people, and the S60's modest proportions mean that legroom takes a hit
if you're sat behind a tall driver.
Saloon cars aren't generally known for their practicality and the S60 isn't much different.
Boot space is a little less than some of its competition, largely because of the raised
floor underneath which lives the spare wheel, but by releasing the rear seat-backs you can
at least increase the available space to carry longer loads, something not all saloon cars
can do.
The S60 comes with a healthy range of engines, although the tyre-shredding T5 and T6 petrol
models are no longer mentioned in the UK price list, leaving the 150hp T3 as the sole petrol
choice.
Diesel engines are rapidly becoming a Volvo strong-point, and the range starts with a
115hp D2, followed by a five-cylinder D3 with 136hp.
Pick of the bunch is likely to be the new four-cylinder D4 which knocks out 181hp yet
has emissions of just 99g/km and economy up to 74.3mpg.
Powering our car, though, is the five-cylinder D5 which normally has 215hp, but can be specified
with an optional Polestar upgrade like ours to bring that figure to 230.
The result is pretty rapid.
It sounds good, too, its five-cylinder layout giving it a definite warble.
Of course, being front wheel drive, all that torque can make it feel a little wayward,
and the Polestar upgrade makes it easy to spin the wheels even in third gear.
While that might sound like a recipe for disaster, and there's certainly plenty of on-boost torque-steer,
in reality it makes the S60 feel just a little bit naughty, even slightly rebellious.
And we like that.
Luckily the stiffer R-Design chassis does a decent job of keeping it all pointing the
right way.
In fact, the S60 corners flatter and with more enthusiasm than you might imagine.
And although we wouldn't mind a little extra feedback through the wheel, the steering is
remarkably precise making the car easy to place.
What Volvo's engineers have done well is strike a balance between body control and compliance.
While the R-Design models have enough stiffness in their ride to let you know you're in the
sporty version, this hasn't arrived at the expense of comfort.
Find yourself on a motorway for any length of time and the S60 will make the miles positively
fly by.
It helps that the Volvo's cabin is an extremely calm place to spend time, with both wind and
road noise incredibly well suppressed.
So, while we'd say a BMW 3 Series is perhaps a more engaging drive, the Volvo isn't far
behind in dynamic terms, yet thoroughly beats the German competition for its long-distance
ability.
Prices for the S60 start at £21,745 for the D2, with something like the new D4 R-Design
coming it at just over thirty thousand.
Our D5 Polestar test car is a fairly chunky £42,260 but it does wear nearly seven grand's
worth of options.
Our favourite among these are the active headlights which allow you to keep main beam on permanently,
with the system using cameras to detect other road users and shade out a corresponding part
of the beam pattern to avoid dazzling them, and during our testing the system worked flawlessly,
even detecting motorbikes and cars waiting to turn out of side roads.
Also worth a mention is Volvo's excellent adaptive cruise control which maintains a
set distance between you and the car in front, even applying the brakes if someone pulls
in front of you, and what makes the Volvo system clever is that on manual cars it allows
you to change gear without disengaging.
On automatic cars, the system will follow stop/start traffic without you having to do
anything.
Of course, safety continues to be a Volvo strong-point, and all S60s are fitted with
the company's City Safety system that can apply the brakes automatically at speeds of
up to 31mph to avoid an accident, and the system remains the only one we haven't experienced
a false activation with.
All of this adds up to a car that is immensely capable.
While some of the German competition might have a slightly more engaging edge to them,
the Volvo is much easier to live with.
And in the aptly-named Rebel Blue of our test car, the D5 Polestar made the S60 not just
comfortable, but also a bit of a riot to drive.