Here's what the 2014 Volvo V60 wagon will cost

The Volvo V60 has been a moderate hit in Europe, and this month it's finally set to go on sale in the U.S. The five-door station wagon will offer one engine from the automaker's new Drive-E family of powerplants, gasoline engines that will use turbocharging and direction injection, in a package slightly smaller than the existing XC70 station wagon.

All-wheel drive and front-wheel drive will both be on the menu, with the the base version of the V60 T5 front-wheel drive station wagon starting at $36,215. The V60 T5 FWD will use a 2.0-liter four-cylinder turbocharged engine good for 240-hp and 258-lb-ft of torque.

The V60 T5 FWD in Premier trim will start at $38,015 -- ticking that box will get buyers leather seats, an auto-dimming mirror, silver roof rails, an adaptive digital display, and keyless drive, among other options. Above that trim level, buyers can opt for the V60 T5 FWD in Premier Plus or Platinum trim which offer a bit more stuff, and will start at $38,765 and $41,365 respectively. The Platinum package will offer such features as a navigation system with real time traffic, accent lighting, and a premium sound system.

Pricing for the front-wheel drive version will overlap heavily with the AWD model, which is sure to be more popular in some local markets. The all-wheel drive version will start at $37,715, and will be powered by a 2.5-liter turbocharged five-cylinder engine good for 250-hp and 266 lb-ft of torque, just a modest gain of 10-hp over the four-cylinder front-wheel drive model. As with the front-wheel drive model, the V60 T5 AWD will be offered in Premier, Premier Plus, and Platinum trim, with the top version topping out at $42,865

Volvo
The V60 wagon will start just about $3,000 north of the S60 sedan.

Above that, Volvo will also offer the V60 T6 AWD R-design, which will be powered by a 3.0-liter turbocharged six-cylinder engine makig 325-hp and 354 lb-ft of torque. R-Design is back as a performance trim, after a few years of Volvo positioning R-Design packages merely as appearance upgrades. The R-Design version of the V60 will start at $45,215, and combined with Platinum trim will start at $48,215.

"This is an exciting time of transformation for Volvo and shows our Swedish heart is beating strongly," said John Maloney, Volvo Cars of North America President and CEO. "The V60 signifies our first step in a gradual move toward powerful, highly efficient, four-cylinder engines across the entire portfolio of our vehicles."

The V60 will simultaneously fill a niche vacated by the departed V70 and V50 station wagons, which have been gone for a few years now, but it remains to be seen whether the U.S. market still has an appetite for moderately-sized premium priced station wagons.

By Jay Ramey