New styling lifts S40

"Volvo's customers have come to expect style along with their safety and the company's new small sedan, the S40, adopts the design themes that have turned the company around."

The floating console's ergonomics are superb, the telephone-dial pad and the four knobs really allow you to do all you need to do with a minimum of distractions and all of the controls and display graphics are typically Volvo: large, readable and informative at just a glance.

The storage area "liberated" by the floating console may have a lot of apparent volume, but in practical terms, it's not much more usable than a bin.