Aside from a possibly hybrid variant, one of S60′s best selling points is the Pedestrian Detection System, which can detect pedestrians and apply brakes automatically, should the driver fail to do so quickly enough. It looks good, sounds good – but what will the final product look like? And will it sell?

Volvo Press Release: “The all-new Volvo S60 is sculpted to move you. It looks and drives like no other Volvo before and the car’s technology will help you to be safer and more confident behind the wheel,” says Stephen Odell, President and CEO of Volvo Cars.

“Customers in this segment want emotional appeal, sporty design and dynamic driving properties. The S60 has it all. We are convinced that it will be one of the strongest contenders around,” says Stephen Odell.

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A manual gearbox comes standard, with a 0-62mph dash is down by 1.2sec to 9.6sec compared with the four-by-four, plus mpg rises by a worthwhile 7mpg to 47.1mpg and C02 drops from 186g/km to a highly respectable 159g/km. Here’s the rest from Car Mag:

The auto figures are less appealing: there’s only 2mpg and 11g/km between the two, despite the four-driver’s extra weight and power. In fact, Volvo’s own figures reveal the XC70 torque converter auto to be spectacularly inefficient in front-wheel drive configuration – it covers 7.3 fewer miles than the manual car for every gallon of diesel. Yet when you compare the same figures for automatic and manual four-wheel drive XC70s, the gap suddenly shrinks to 2.7mpg between the two.

The ride quality is still excellent (far better than the XC60), and it’s still refined in here, but that only makes the rampant torque steer seem more out of place. Strangely, neither the similarly powerful front-drive XC60 nor the S80 were similarly afflicted, but the XC70 torque steers in first, second, third and sometimes even fourth gear. Even if you’re a pootler, you will notice the wheel tugging, especially the unholy mess that unravels when you need to getaway from a junction fairly quickly. First there’s wheelspin, then the traction control cuts power, then power comes back in again and, finally, you torque steer down the road. And we drove it in the dry!

Clearly, this isn’t a positive review, but it’s important to remember this is a variant-specific – not model – failing. The four-wheel drive XC70 is a smooth-riding, luxurious-feeling, highly practical estate car that holds much appeal. Removing the front driveshafts has spoiled it and, somehow, ruined the mpg and emissions when combined with the automatic gearbox too – surely the most fitting transmission. No, the only way to go with an XC70 is four-wheel drive combined with, ideally, an auto ’box. It’s worth spending the extra for what is a far superior car.