SEDANS IN A NEW LIGHT

Sporty and sparky premium four-doors add some lustre to the segment

the various infotainment menus, which is far less distracting than fiddling with a touchscreen.

The heavily bolstered leather seats grip you tightly through the corners while the thickrimmed leather steering wheel with M-badge proudly displayed makes you feel as if you’re in a sports car.

That impression doesn’t fade when you point the 330i at a string of corners. There’s a lovely howl from the exhaust when you explore the upper limits of the rev range, the steering is razor sharp, the brakes bite hard and the BMW turns into bends and hairpins with more precision than its two rivals here.

On paper, it’s the least powerful and slowest to 100km/h but by the seat of the pants it feels as if it would drive out of sight of the others on a mountain pass.

It’s not all good news. The stiffer suspension means a less than cushy ride over potholes and corrugations around town.

Fuel use will creep into the teens if you’re not careful in the city — when its two rivals can do the commute without using a drop of petrol, it becomes an issue.

Rear seat accommodation is tighter than the others, too, although the separate temperature controls for the rear aircon are a deft touch. The numbers for Volvo’s plug-in hybrid sedan defy logic. The power output of the turbocharged and supercharged four-cylinder, supplemented by an electric motor, is 311kW. Volvo claims a 0-100km/h time of 4.3 seconds but fuel use is just 2.0L/100km.

The fuel number is misleading, as it’s based on a short test cycle that places extra emphasis on the car’s 50km electric-only range. We drove it for a couple of hundred kilometres and returned about 8L/100km.

It’s a case of horses for courses — if your commute round trip is 50km or less, you could theoretically use no fuel during the week.

There’s no doubt the car is quick but it doesn’t really feel as quick as claimed — or much quicker than the 330i.