2011 Volvo S60

The S60 is handsome, expressive, and organic all at once from the outside, with smooth contours and swooping lines matched up with a low, wedgy front and pert tail, and framed with large flashy alloy wheels. Inside the S60 has has an ultra-cool floating center stack of controls that pushes the Swedish design ethos into a hipper direction. Textures and design themes inside are far from the ordinary for luxury sedans.

All 2011 Volvo S60 models come in top-of-the-line T6 form—with a 300-hp, 3.0-liter turbocharged in-line six-cylinder engine, all-wheel drive, and a six-speed automatic transmission. On the safety front, Volvo's Pedestrian Detection safety system can automatically stop the car if it detects a pedestrian and the driver fails to react.

Feline headlamps take the place of square ones. The car’s shoulders are defined by a curvy, flowing line that carries over from the concept; it replaces the simple arc of the previous car and brings modernity to the overall look. Expect the design cue to migrate across the entire lineup. Other features of the S60 concept that are candidates to make it to the real car are a second-gen radar cruise-control system, lightweight composite body panels, and a grille shutter than can close to reduce aero drag.

Volvo is promising “dynamic driving properties,” and we hope it delivers. The 2011 S60 will debut at the Geneva auto show next March and begin production at Volvo’s plant in Ghent, Belgium, in early summer.

Naturally, Volvo continues to capitalize on that reputation with the all-new 2011 S60, which integrates more active and passive safety systems than ever before, including a groundbreaking new pedestrian-protection system.

Peter Horbury, Volvo’s former design director who returned to Volvo last year after a stint at parent Ford, led Volvo design in a new direction back in the 1990s with the S80 sedan. Safety comes naturally, even for pedestrians. Volvo’s all-new pedestrian-detection system is part of the $2100 Technology Package, which also includes adaptive cruise control, collision warning with full automatic braking, and warnings for maintaining distance and staying in your lane. But pedestrian detection is the unique offering here. Volvo’s radar- and camera-based system can detect pedestrians in front of the car, warn the driver if anyone walks out into its path – and then automatically activate the S60’s full braking power if the driver fails to respond in time.

Pedestrian Detection with Full Auto Brake can avoid a collision with a pedestrian at speeds up to 22 mph if the driver does not react in time. In a test that Volvo set up for us during our first drive of the S60 in Portugal, we drove at about 15-20 mph toward a stationary dummy, to mimic low-speed driving in a crowded urban area. “Just keep driving steadily toward the dummy,” advised Tomas Andersson, senior manager for active safety electronics at Volvo. Volvo also offers its blind-spot detection system as a $700 stand-alone option. At launch, standard six-cylinder and all-wheel drive. All-wheel drive is standard.