Volvo is on somewhat of a roll right now. Under Chinese ownership since 2010, the Swedish car maker has invested $11 billion in all-new vehicle and engine architectures, and the results have been impressive. First out of the gate was the XC90 SUV, one of the best in class, complete with an extremely good infotainment system and plenty of semi-autonomous driver assists. Now, Volvo has followed it up with the S90, a low-slung sedan built on the same Scalable Product Architecture. After spending some time with the S90 on the traffic-filled lanes of Long Island, we can report that the Swedes offer an intriguing alternative to the mid-range luxury offerings from BMW or Mercedes.

Under the skin, the S90 shares a lot with its high-riding SUV sibling. The chassis makes use of lots of high-strength boron steel. The four-cylinder engines are carried over, from the 250hp (187kW) turbocharged T5 to the 316hp (236kW) turbo- and supercharged T6, with a plug-in hybrid T8 version due later this year. You get the same (excellent) Sensus infotainment system and an interior that shares a lot with the SUV, but for a few welcome improvements.

As befits a company investing heavily in autonomous and semi-autonomous driving, the 2017 S90 comes with Volvo’s very latest consumer-ready system, called Pilot Assist II. It’s installed as standard across the range, and it’s extremely good, even compared to the version found in the 2016 XC90s we drove earlier this year. The limitations of the previous iteration are gone—you no longer need a car in front of you for the system to work, and it no longer shuts off at 37mph (60km/h). Combined with a lane keeping assist that no longer bounces you from one side of your lane to the other, this is a Volvo that drives with you.