Rapid…very rapid; subtle (non-‘boy-racer’) looks; lots of kit
Interior not as upscale as the Germans; also needs paddle-shifters
There will be Swedish flags flying in Aussie V8 Supercars this year when Volvo joins the battle with a Polestar-developed S60 sedan. But what about the regular S60 Polestar? Well after a week behind the wheel, we reckon the turbocharged V6 muscles-up rather well.
Some argue the problem with V8 Supercars is the repetition – no V8 means no race. This year Nissan and next year Volvo both need to scavenge V8s from other models – and get them driving the rear wheels rather than the front - to propel the Altima and S60 racers.
The argument goes a parity formula which would allow manufacturers to race cars with their own engines would provide much needed variety. That’s an argument for another time, but what we’re saying is the regular turbocharged six-cylinder Volvo S60 Polestar is a weapon which has a lot to entice fans of high-performance European sedans.
Volvo S60 Polestar Overview
‘Polestar’ – if you’re a Swedish motorsport fan the name needs no introduction. Viewers of Foxtel will probably be familiar too from watching the excellent World Touring Car Championship races.
And it’s a familiar story – get the crew over at the factory race team to weave their magic on some road cars.
Boom! Here’s the Volvo S60 Polestar, at $109,950 somewhat of a bargain in the rarified air of high-performance European sedans.
And you won’t have to go too far to find some direct motorsport lineage – just put your head underneath and check-out those Ohlins dampers.
Polestar also fits its own engine management system for extra performance, modifies the Haldex all-wheel-drive system and delivers some interior and exterior enhancements.
Volvo S60 Polestar Engine
Volvo S60 Polestar runs the T6 turbocharged 3.0-litre six-cylinder engine. Polestar fits its own engine management system and a sportier exhaust.
The results are 15kW extra power (now 257kW) and 20Nm more torque (now 500Nm).
Drive is to all four wheels via a Haldex all-wheel-drive system (which also benefits from Polestar tuning) and Aisin six-speed automatic transmission with sequential manual mode.
Add all that together and you get zero to 100km/h in 4.9 seconds (that’s only one-tenth slower than the Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG).
Fuel consumption is rated at 10.2l/100kms.
Volvo S60 Polestar The Interior
You get the picture straight away. Right there on the door sill is the Polestar logo.
And it’s on the hallmark clear gear lever as well.
But otherwise this is pretty much your regular T6 R-Design Volvo S60.
So that means quality leather seats, rather impressive rear seat accommodation and obvious quality. And a word about instrument lighting – the Volvo S60 is at the top of the totem pole in that department with a clever illumination in blue (details count you know).
Volvo S60 Polestar Exterior & Styling
Some may disagree, but we reckon a big plus point for the Volvo S60 Polestar is its subtle looks (even though our test car was painted bright blue). Well with the good-looking S60 as a starting point you don’t want to tamper too much and with all those nasty ‘Boy Racers’ out there you don’t want to overtly promote your 257kW/500Nm of turbocharged six-cylinder grunt.
So Polestar adds a deeper front spoiler, a small bootlid spoiler and 19-ich alloy wheels with meaty Bridgestone Potenza tyres.
That’s it. So much for hundreds of hours in the wind-tunnel trying to get the back-end glued-down – Volvo has done all the hard yards in developing the regular S60 so no need to get carried-away.
Volvo S60 Polestar On The Road
Gee 257kW/500Nm counts for a lot in a Polestar-modified Volvo S60. We always thought the regular S60 T6 was quick, but this thing is a weapon.
The 257kW/500Nm turbocharged six-cylinder engine is a blast although we wouldn’t have minded a bit more ‘sizzle’ from the exhaust (as shown with the A45 AMG ‘Benz we love all those whines, pops and bangs – they remind you you’re driving something a lot more sophisticated than an old-fashioned V8).
And Volvo’s all-wheel-drive system extracts the maximum engine performance with a very impressive display even when pushed (it’s smartly biased towards all-wheel-drive). We should also praise the Polestar-sourced Ohlins shock absorbers (part of the suspension tweaking) – unlike its German rivals, this racy S60 isn’t overly jarring on crook, pot-holed roads (as common in Sweden as they are in Australia in our experience).
That said, when pressing-on hard in the S60 Polestar, the six-speed Aisin automatic transmission even in Sport mode struggles to keep pace and the lack of steering wheel paddle-shifters is a set-back (Volvo needs to follow Mercedes-Benz and Nissan with their seven-speed/downshift throttle-blip autos). On the plus side, launch control is impressive.
But really we’re talking minutia here – by any measure the Volvo S60 Polestar is a very good, very fast and very safe high-performance European sedan.
Volvo S60 Polestar Challenges
Our only points deduction for the Volvo S60 was the interior. It’s pleasant enough but lacks some ‘go-fast’ kit – the odd Recaro seat would be nice and maybe a thick, flat-bottom steering wheel.
Volvo S60 Polestar Verdict
We admire Volvo Australia for getting behind Polestar. Previously pretty much limited to motorsport work at home in Sweden, success of Polestar-modified Volvo road cars in this market has actually catapulted Polestar to further non-racing projects in Europe.
And it’s a gallant initiative to tackle the cut-and-thrust of V8 Supercar racing in a Volvo (the Polestar-developed V8 engine was displayed recently at the Sydney 500 event). Bet the meetings between those dapper Swedish racing engineers and tough-as-nails Aussie team boss Garry Rogers have been – and continue to be – interesting! But if there’s one bloke in Australia with the doggedness to get the Racing Volvo S60 to the chequered flag it’s Garry (just ask any of his harness racing horses – if they could speak).
Many Volvo enthusiasts have been waiting patiently for the local management to do something like this so they’ll be dusting-off the race team jackets in preparation for the Australian Grand Prix and Clipsal 500.
Putting all that in context, the Polestar S60 and the V8 Supercar program are designed to break out of the Volvo mold. To get more people thinking about Volvos.
We can’t think of one car developed by a factory racing team which we haven’t liked. Liked a lot in fact.
And the Volvo S60 Polestar is no exception. Very fast, nicely equipped, making the right noises and bristling with Swedish style and technology.
Happily it doesn’t look too garish so you won’t have ‘Boy Racers’ revving their V8s next to you at the traffic lights.
Volvo S60 Polestar The Competition
As we write, BMW’s latest M3 has just been announced in Germany – 80kgs lighter than the outgoing model (carbon fibre roof etc) and a 322kW/480Nm twin-turbocharged powerplant. Interestingly while the Volvo S60 Polestar offers more torque (500Nm), the M3 has 65kW more power. Obviously the price isn’t known at this point, but you can expect it to be significantly north of the S60 Polestar.
Mercedes-Benz’ C63 AMG is the Car Showroom favourite in this league. Hard to beat that sonorous 336kW/600Nm 6.2-litre V8 in a C-class. And it’s hard to beat the C63’s AMG-tweaked chassis and ridiculously good AMG interior and exterior mods. But you’ll need to write a cheque for $154,900. And the all-new C-Class has just been unveiled in Europe – although as per normal ‘Benz procedures, the AMG versions haven’t been revealed just yet.
