VOLVO used to build their cars like tanks. It was one thing to make them solidly safe like them, but to look like and feel like you were driving one was rather off putting. Safety, reliability and practicality, all good factors, but they are not the values that put them on top of buyers’ shopping lists.

Thankfully, Volvo eventually put their top designers to work and in the past few years we have seen a complete transformation… the emergence of stylish, sporty and utterly desirable cars.

Two have come my way in the past two weeks – the S60 saloon, the curviest Volvo yet, and a strong newcomeer to the busy compact executive sector, and the cavernous V70 estate.

First the S60… Volvo’s strikingly new rival to the Mercedes C-Class and BMW 3-Series and the creation of a British designer, Peter Horbury. The design brief was to match a sporty front with and equally sporty rear.

Outside it looks like a real sporty coupe with its sharply raked rear profile, broad shoulders, pronounced bonnet and large rear lamps. Yet inside this four-door saloon is roomy and very inviting.

Like the Volvo S80, the V70, which we also tested, and the Cross Country, the S60, which is nine inches shorter, was developed and built on the large Volvo platform. It is yet another example that underscores how smart the platform concept can be: how different cars can be built on the same basic structure: how components from the different sections in the platform box can be combined to create cars with the same basis but with different character and aimed at different customers.

Size-wise, the S60 slots in between the S40 and the S8 and is 70 per cent stiffer than its S70 predecessor. Inside the generously equipped cabin cabin is wide and spacious. Headroom is excellent, even in the rear beneath the raked roof. The boot, too, is large, and offers extra space with the split/fold rear seat.

Seats – which come in two types, depending on spec selected, Comfort or Dynamic - are supportive and very comfortable with the driver’s multi-adjustable. This combined with the rake and reach adjustable steering ensures a comfortable driving position.

The uncluttered dashboard shares many of its fixtures and fittings with the V70 and S80. The central binnacle is angled sportily towards the driver and the reintroduction of a three-spoke steering wheel harks back to sporty Volvos of decades ago. Another optional sporty feature on our test car, the S60 2.4T (for turbo) is a ‘Spaceball’ gearshift, which is set in a curvy piece of alloy in place of a gaiter. Big knobs and easy-to-read dials also feature strongly.

Safety, of course, is strongly represented with a full set of airbags including an inflatable side curtain and anti-whiplash head restraints.

Equipment includes air conditioning, four electric windows and one of the best audio systems I have come across in a car. The CD sound quality was pure heaven.

Lots of power from our five-cylinder 200bhp 2.4 litre light pressure turbo, which is characterised by rapid response and bags of power from low revs. It also ensures excellent mid-range pull. This gives it an impressive 0 to 62mph in 7.6 seconds and a top speed of 144mph. I returned slightly over 30mpg.

On the road it’s a driver’s dream. Ride somewhat firm maybe, but it all performs remarkably well and smoothly. The power steering wasn’t so fluent and lacked sportiness but otherwise the rest of this voluptuous Volvo was a handsome success.

From its stylish sweeping curves, interior charms to its strong performance the S60 is the car to be seen in.