It is no secret that I am a fan of both Apple products and Volvo Cars. Whenever either company announces a new product, I can’t help but get excited.

About a year ago, I blogged about the newly announced XC60 concept car. I was crazy about the look and not long ago Volvo announced the actual 2010 XC60. It has morphed from a hatchback/fastback sedan into a proper Crossover, but it’s still very attractive and looks a lot like the show car.

The 2010 Volvo XC60

This weekend my friend who is a Volvo dealer came to visit and brought with him a brand new Volvo XC60. I have to say that I fell instantly in lust with the looks of this car. It is really hot. I’ve driven every Volvo that is in current line up including the XC series, the XC90, XC70 and now XC60.

The XC60 is the smallest of the three and believe it or not my car, the XC70 is the biggest. Without seeing the XC60 next to the XC90, you’d think they were close in size but it’s really not at all. In fact the XC60 is the same length as the current S60 sedan. The styling on the outside is a new direction in the styling of Volvo, one it seems they will stick with if the 2011 XC60 Concept is any indication. The lights are large and bright with a nice set of LED’s stacked on either side of the grille. The tail lights are also all LED and just really make the back of the car look even more sharp and curvy.

The interior is also new but as usual with Volvo, its very familiar. The biggest change over my car for example is the center stack. The LCD display for the radio and climate settings has been moved to the top of the dash, where my navigation system is hidden. The navigation system is now nestled in the center of the center stack, just below eye level, which makes a huge difference.

The car is packed with new tech and those tech goodies grouped nicely in the available packages. For example, the Multimedia Package includes the Dynaudio Stereo, Sat Nav with Real Time Traffic and the Backup Camera all for less than I paid for my stereo on my XC70 last year. Bluetooth Handsfree and an iPod adapter are now standard. Impressive.

All that aside, the car drives fantastic. I’m sure it’s hard to believe but this car has some balls. It’s available as a “T6″ model only which means there is a 3.2 Liter, Turbo-charged Inline, six cylinder engine putting out 281 hp and 295 lb-ft of torque. This car gets up and goes. It also handles impressively and feels a lot more like a sports sedan than a SUV. It’s flat and quick around the corners and really goes when you ask it to.

Of course the car is full of safety features because it is a Volvo. The demo car I drove had an Adaptive Cruise Control System, Lane Departure warning, Blind Spot Information System and a Collision Avoidance package. In addition to this all Volvo XC60’s come standard with something called “City Safety”.

City Safety is a system that is made to keep you from rear-ending a car in front of you. If the car is moving more than 2mph but less than 19mph and you do not apply the brakes and you’re about to hit the car in front of you, the braking system will full brake the car to keep you from having the accident. We set up the test kit and gave it a trial run. It’s a very strange sensation to approach a solid object without braking in the slightest. The system works very well and the braking is not light and easy but rather purposefully hard and abrupt as if to get your attention. I took some videos of the test and also a large number of photos of the XC60. You can find both the videos and the photos here.

My love of Volvos is no secret on this blog and as my previous two Volvos were S60s, I am very interested in what the new S60 will look like. I’ve been following the preview shots of the concept, first of the floating center stack, then of a very shadowy silhouette of the new car, so imagine my surprise and excitement when Volvo flat out announced the Volvo S60 Concept that will be on display at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit.

I love it. It’s very cool and it shows that they are following the XC60’s design trend… here are more photos via Autoblog.

Okay… I’ll admit, most of my friends don’t exactly share my love of Volvos. As I’m sure long time readers know, I loved my 2002 Volvo S60. So much so that I when my lease was up, I bought a 2006 S60. I even talked my parents into buying one. I even sort of planned this purchase so that my lease would be up just before the NEXT S60 was due to come out.

Imagine my surprise then when I’m reading one of my favorite car blogs, Leftlane News today and I see this article. A new S40 in 2009? My sweetie has a 2004 S40, and it was a brand new redesign when he bought it, so it’s strange for Volvo to be redesigning the car already. But that was not all… apparently, Volvo is seriously considering killing off the S60! It appears that since the S60 sort of fits between a BMW 3-Series/Mercedes C-Class and a BMW 5-Series/Mercedes E-Class, that Volvo wants to shake things up and more directly align the models.

Rumors are strong the the brand new redesigned 2008 Volvo S80/V70 are actually the replacements for the S60/V70 and the next S40 will be moved up closer to the S60 and will have a cross over vehicle, the XC60 as it’s wagon counterpart. Where does this leave the high end Volvo, since the S80 was never even close to a 7-Series or S-Class? Hmm maybe a super luxury Volvo. I guess I might be considering an S40 as my next Volvo, or at least I would if it looked like this!