Volvo S60 T5 Inscription Plus Automatic review

The Volvo S60 is a well-built, exquisite executive express that’ll serve you and your family well.

By motoring journalist Tim Barnes-Clay. Follow on Instagram @tbarnesclay.

Buy or lease an S60, and you’ll never go back to any other saloon. Sure, saloons don’t have the practicality of a hatchback or an estate, but the load area in the S60 will take a bunch of suitcases or even a folded pram. It’ll swallow a set of golf clubs, too, if that’s the kind of pastime you enjoy.

The car is big, but it never feels oversized in town, or when parking. There’s a lot of gadgetry in the Volvo to help you with that anyway. The S60 will seat five people comfortably, and it’ll get you and your passengers to places quickly. Zero to 62mph only takes 6.5 seconds, and the top speed is 145mph. That’s hot-hatch territory.

But, because the petrol-propelled Swede is so quiet, you don’t feel you’re going excessively fast – so keep an eye on the speedo. Better still, use the car’s intuitive cruise control. That way you’ll hoover up the miles without fear of the boys in blue sending you a ticket.

The only downside to a vehicle with this kind of performance is a lack of efficiency. It’s by no means a thirsty motor, but it’s not the most frugal, either. You’re looking at getting 35.3-39.8mpg, and CO2 emissions are 152g/km.

Movie star looks

With 250 horses under the bonnet, you’re never going to run out of power for quick overtaking manoeuvres, and yet it’s a car that’s just as easy to pootle around in. In some ways, it’s better that way – all chilled out in those comfy seats listening to your music via Volvo’s awesome sound system.

So, the chiselled-as-a-movie-star’s-jaw S60 will catch the eyes of your colleagues, as well as any parents on the school run. But it won’t seem as though you’re trying too hard. This turbocharged T5 Volvo is just enough to make you look like a self-effacing success story. That makes it right up the street of many family men. After all, you don’t want to appear as though you’re going through a midlife crisis by turning up in a supercar, do you?