Volvo S60

New executive saloon takes on the likes of the BMW 3 Series with an eye for comfort and up to 405bhp On sale Now Price from £30,000 (est)

- Richard Lane

THE NEW VOLVO S60 is perhaps the greatest threat yet to the German monopoly over premium saloons. For decades, if you wanted four doors, a plush interior and a posh badge, you went to Audi, BMW or Mercedes-Benz. More recently, the Jaguar XE and Alfa Romeo Giulia have impressed, but neither has broken the stranglehold. So, what makes the S60 different?

Mechanically, the big news is that there will be no diesel version of the S60. Volvo will instead offer two 2.0-litre petrol engines in models badged T4 and T5. There’s also a brace of T8 models with a plug-in hybrid set-up for serious power, low CO 2 emissions and an electric-only range of around 28 miles.

We’ve driven both the flagship T8 Polestar Engineered model and a four-wheel-drive T6. The latter isn’t set to be sold in the UK, but its combination of a cushioned ride and a whisper quiet interior at motorway speeds bodes well for other variants. That said, while there’s little wind and road noise, the petrol engines are rather gruff under hard acceleration.