Told that wasn't the case, he was dubious. He emerged from the house in bare feet for a closer look. He studied the front of the 2011 S60 T6
AWD and slowly circled the copper-colored car.
"Yeah, it's a Maser No, wait it's a, it's a "
" a Volvo," I finished his sentence.
"Yeah, I see the symbol," Brandon conceded. "But it looks like a Maserati, doesn't it, Dad?"
I'm not sure that it looks like anything other than the sportiest sedan Volvo has ever created. The Swedish automaker has been creating attractive and distinctive vehicles for several years, but Volvo built boxy beasts for so long that it's sometimes hard to shake that image.
The S60 should obliterate it once and for all. The thought of someone -- even an 11-year-old -- mistaking a Volvo for a Maserati would have seemed preposterous 25 years ago. But now it's a reality.
And the S60's sportiness doesn't end with the shape of its sheet metal. The interior is equally sporty, featuring plenty of padding, soft-touch panels and ample applications of what appear to be genuine metal accents and trim.
The most expansive of those forms the face of a 3-D center console stack that resembles a tumbling waterfall with a serene space behind its facade. In addition to looking great, this design enables Volvo to place many of the S60's key controls within easier reach of the pilot.