From the forward thrust of its fish mouth grill back across its sleek flanks and raffish roofline, the new Volvo V50’s function-chasing form generates emotion by scorning emotionalism. First, it’s a station wagon – that is, a two-box vehicle designed for the optimal use of its space. Now there’s a quaint concept in a world in which “town homes” are built on the scale of old insurance company headquarters and television ads hawk soda by showing mile-high Gen-Zs diving over mountain ranges in a pickup game of rivervalley volleyball. But there are no such McDisproportions for the V50. It does what it does reasonably, and without recourse to the bloat, vulgarity, and design excess that other utes use to build market share.

And that brings me to my second point – that the Belgian-made V50 is a beautiful looking machine. See it here, an all-new station wagon built to supplement Volvo’s entry-level S40 sedan, its V70-like architecture unwilling to in dulge the rococo fantasies of those seeking some four-wheeled Xanadu in which to fling themselves mall-ward.

The V50 does this in two trim levels – the base 2.4i and sport-oriented T5 models. The T5’s version of the V50’s five-cylinder engine produces 218 turbocharged horses to drive the wagon’s front- or all-wheel-drive configurations by means of either a five-speed automatic or six-speed manual transmission. All-wheel T5s come with a sport suspension, 17-inch wheels, and a dynamic stability and traction-control system that are available on other models as part of an option package. These help the sporty wagon to generate emotion with precision and speed.

Safety, too. Under the V50’s sleek sheet metal ,Volvo’s Intelligent Vehicle Architecture System (VIVA) uses different grades of steel to create four crumple zones with which to maximize driver and passenger security. Then, continuing its historic mission to employ new methods of keeping occupants intact, Volvo has also built the V50 wagon with upper side members designed to protect them in case a truck or other high-riding vehicle collides with it.

The tester was a high-line T5 equipped with the six-speed manual but lacking AWD. That meant that the upgraded athleticism of its sport package came as an option, as did the premium sound system and stability control unit that brought its price up to nearly $31,000.

The flint-gray metallic T5 wasn’t leather-lined, either. Rather, its interior was clean, modern, and as evidently high-quality as the rest of the car. Controls were fairly user-friendly and came mounted, in part, on the same ultra-slim center console that debuted in the redesigned 2004 S40.

Volvo had covered the test car’s shapely seats in a ribbed and rugged textile claiming the globally sourced name of “Dala.” These filled an area that felt slightly narrow, albeit with lots of leg- and headroom. Rear-seat legroom, on the other hand, was tight with the front seat moved more than halfway back. While that’s a car fact I can paste into nearly every review from Microsoft memory, here’s one that I can’t: Relative to its competitors, the V50 was wanting in cargo space.

Early in the morning I got lost in the T5, charging with admirable accuracy through a country lane’s fog-bound dips and blind crests. Right along, I wondered if a wagon burning its remaining eighth of a tank of gas at an average rate of 26 miles a gallon would be able to stretch its resources long enough to return me to civilization and its ample reserves of premium. The alternative would be to cough to a stop beyond the ken of anyone other than some indifferent-looking livestock. It was worrisome, but not so much so that I couldn’t get lost as well in the V50’s amazingly turbo-lag-free zip, precise steering, and generally nimble confidence. Here is a small, sporty wagon with the refinement and performance to almost match that of competing Audi Avant and BMW 3-Series wagons, while surpassing them in safety. That’s saying quite a lot – so much, in fact, that you might actually prefer the Volvo. I say if you’re wise enough to be in the market for one of these cars, look at them all.