We drove a $55,000 Volvo S60 sports sedan on a road trip to see if it's ready to challenge Audi, BMW, and Mercedes. Here's the verdict.

Benjamin Zhang/Business Insider

Our 2019 Volvo S60 T6 AWD R-Design test car.

• The third-generation Volvo S60 is all-new for the 2019 model year.
• In the marketplace, the S60 will take on a slew of highly capable European compact luxury sport sedans such as the Audi A4, BMW 3 Series, Mercedes-Benz C-Class, and the Alfa Romeo Giulia.
• The new S60 is the first Volvo to be made in the US at the automaker's new factory near Charleston, South Carolina.
• We were impressed by the S60's stylish looks, comfortable cabin, and available safety tech. On the downside, we found our experience with Volvo's Sensus infotainment system to be less-than-ideal.
• The base Volvo S60 T5 Momentum starts at $35,000. With options and fees, our S60 T6 AWD R-Design carried an as-tested price of $55,490
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Volvo is perhaps most famous for its boxy, no-nonsense station wagons that conquered America's suburbs during the 1980s.

Things have changed over the past couple of decades. The box on wheels is long gone. In its place is a stylish, eye-catching European sports sedan with a decidedly Swedish flair.

The first-generation S60 debuted for the 2001 model year as the heir to the successful S70 sedan, itself a slightly curvy update of the straight-edge Volvo 850.

Volvo debuted an all-new third-generation S60 for the 2019 model year. It's built on the company's modular Scalable Product Architecture (SPA) platform that also underpins the XC60 and XC90 SUVs as well as the S90 sedan and V90 wagon.

Read more: We drove a $50,000 Infiniti QX50 luxury SUV to see if it's ready to take on Audi, Acura, and BMW. Here's the verdict.

In the marketplace, the S60 will take on a slew of highly capable European compact luxury/sport sedans such as the Audi A4, BMW 3 Series, Mercedes-Benz C-Class, and the Alfa Romeo Giulia.

The S60 is the first Volvo to be made in the US at the company's new factory near Charleston, South Carolina.

Earlier this year, Business Insider had the chance to spend a week with the new 2019 Volvo S60 T6 AWD R-Design clad in a stunning Fusion Red Metallic paint job.

The base Volvo S60 T5 Momentum starts at $35,000 while the sporty R-Design starts at $41,900. The luxury-focused S60 Inscription starts at $42,900. The top-of-the-line S60 T8 Polestar-engineered performance hybrid is available only as part of a subscription deal.

With options and fees, our S60 T6 AWD R-Design carried an as-tested price of $55,490.

Here's a closer look at the 2019 V0lvo S60: