Volvo S90 R-Design review: ‘A pervy Swedish muscle car’ | Martin Love

Volvo has given its all-conquering saloon the beefcake treatment. But brawn is never a match for brains

Price: 41,955
0-62mph: 7 seconds
Top speed: 145mph
MPG: 58.9mpg
CO2: 127g/km

"It's creepy and it looks all wrong," says my American neighbour. "It's kinda pervy, like a Swedish muscle car." I glance at the lipstick-red S90 R-Design. She's right, it seems to be smouldering, but it's certainly not pervy - the Swedes have always been known to have a robust sex drive. Anyway, the car isn't really Swedish. It's now Chinese. A few years ago, a cash-strapped Ford offloaded Volvo to Geely. It gleefully pumped billions into reinventing the brand. For a while all went quiet. Then in 2014, Volvo unveiled its colossal XC90 - part luxury off-roader, part statement of global intent. That was soon followed up with the all-new V90 estate and S90 saloon. Executive motorists didn't know what had hit them.