So we got a 2011 Volvo S60 T6

Most of you people aren’t even interested in Volvo. Neither were we. The only Volvo we drove previously was the XC60, which was technically advanced but dynamically underwhelming. Then we drove the all-new S60 2.0T recently. Stuck behind a slow Gulf News journalist on a track convoy, we didn’t get much out of that event. Now we got the S60 T6 for five days. And the car is phenomenal, hot damnit.

The redesigned Volvo S60 is an extremely attractive sedan that manages to look good without calling itself a “four-door coupe” wannabe.

That silver-grey body kit is optional, and possibly the cool 18-inch wheels and rear lip spoiler as well.

What surprised us was that we always figured the S60 to be a midsize sedan, given its sweepy styling. But it turns out the S60 is more of a compact, being only 4 inches longer than a BMW 3-Series. Again, the swoopy styling is superb.

The dashboard styling isn’t the most attractive, but is more than made up for with good soft-touch materials and pretty silvery trim. That knob-controlled nav screen is recessed so it is always visible, while the graphics are nicely done.

The front seats are powered and leather-clad, although if we were buying this car, we’d choose the awesome orange-tan interior trim option. The “floating” centre console makes a return.

The rear has as much legroom as can be expected from a compact car. The space is adequate but there is no space advantage over the smaller BMW 3-Series, although it is definitely spacious compared to the Lexus IS sedan’s useless rear legroom. The a/c vents are mounted on the B-pillars. There are no hidden baby seats any more, as was the old Volvo tradition that is still carried on by the XC60.

The luggage boot is of a good size, with split-folding rear seats too. A bit surprising are the basic hinges instead of hydraulic struts that would’ve saved space. But an interesting feature is that pop-up board to keep a few grocery bags in place, with a rubber band on it to hold down even smaller items from rolling away.

The Volvo S60 has a charm that can be found in many other premium European brands, but the real revelation is the driving experience. There are very few cars that we can jump into and drive fast thanks to superior controls and response. In that respect, even the shiny new Infiniti M56 sucked. But the S60 is amazingly good. While that 300 hp 3.0-litre turbo engine under the bonnet wasn’t spectacular in the XC60, fitted in our lighter S60 T6 AWD, it made our test car fly quicker than the Challenger SRT8 in our acceleration tests, while being as frugal as a Toyota Camry. Now that’s saying something.

More in the full review.