Sector: Estate Price: €23,000–€33,000 (approx.) Fuel: 3.8-4.3l/100km CO2: 99–112g/km

Four-cylinders better than five? It depends how you look at it. Volvo launched its Drive-E engine family at the Frankfurt Show last September, offering some impressively low CO2 emissions figures in the company’s 60-series models. With a manual transmission, both saloon and estate could deliver 99g/km in CO2 emissions, the equivalent of 3.8l/100km – impressive figures in any circumstances. The D4 seems likely to edge out the D5 as Volvo’s five-cylinder engine family, launched back in the 1990s, gives way to the pressures of downsizing.

Volvo announced that it would be producing a new range of engines a year or two back and seems to have brought them to production in a relatively short space of time.

To assess what we thought of the brand new engine, we tried out a UK specification D4 SE Nav model, with Volvo’s eight-speed geartronic automatic transmission. Even with this gearbox, CO2 emissions remain an impressively low 109g/km and EU combined fuel consumption is quoted as 4.2l/100km, figures that would have been inconceivable for a diesel automatic a few years ago.

Our test car came with a long list of options fitted, from the Geartronic transmission to a power driver’s seat, park assist pilot to a heated steering wheel. Most of these added to the enjoyment of the car. The Geartronic eight-speed transmission makes a good case for itself. How many of us would remember which gear we had selected with this many to choose from? The shift is responsive and the high top gear ratio helps to ensure that fuel consumption is kept to a minimum.

Traditional Volvo drivers may feel that the V60 is not a proper Volvo estate car. The squared off lines of traditional Volvo models have been gradually eroded over the years and while this may not result in the load-carrying capacity of earlier Volvo estates, it makes for a fine looking modern estate with good aerodynamic qualities.

The engine may not have the pleasing note of the D5’s five cylinders or the power output – 181hp instead of 215hp. In practice it makes very little difference to the published performance figures. The D4 gives away about 0.1 sec reaching 100km/h from rest. The improvements in tax-friendliness alone will probably be enough to offset any performance loss for most drivers.

But there’s more to it than that. If you haven’t driven a modern Volvo or think there is no alternative to a premium German model, you could be in for a surprise. Most drivers would probably associate comfort with a Volvo, but they may not expect an agile chassis and taut handling to go with it. But that’s what the V60 offers. The driving experience is as good as some German rivals, but at the same time offers something slightly different, in terms of Swedish design and engineering.

Then there are the things that you might expect of a Volvo, such as a long list of standard safety equipment. Then there’s a generous list of standard equipment. It’s an attractive package.

Verdict:

A premium car with impressively low fuel consumption that doesn’t give much else away sounds like a good idea. It’s not just good on paper either. Well worth trying.