This may come as a shock, but Volvo wagons
were not always seen as cool. Over the past decade, the Internet has built a
sort of cult around the brand’s brickish five-doors of the Eighties and
Nineties. But when the cars were new and shaped like the refrigerators that
preserved the groceries they carried, most people thought they were dull as
toast.
Except when they were turbocharged. We
loved those cars, and we miss them now. Call them family supercars.
The
Polestar’s exterior tweaks are subtle, ticking the habitual splitter, diffuser
and spoiler boxes
Volvo’s last hot-rod wagon, the V70 R, left
in 2007. Where we come from, the arrival of two new high-performance Volvo
grocery-getters is a big deal. You won’t have a problem tracking down a 325-hp
V60 R-Design wagon—just visit your local Volvo dealer. But you’re more likely
to stumble across a Ferrari 458 Speciale on the street than one of the brand’s
hot new V60 Polestar wagons. Volvo North America will import just 80 of them
this year, along with 40 mechanically similar S60 Polestar sedans.
Polestar is Volvo’s factory racing outfit,
a Sweden-based partner for the firm’s touring-car racing and production-car
development. It squeezed more power from the V60’s 3.0-liter straight-six with
the help of an upgraded turbocharger compressor, refined engine-management
tuning, and a larger intercooler. The changes make for a mere 20-hp bump over
the V60 R-Design, but 345 hp is enough to suck the smug smile right off the
face of the BMW driver in the next lane. You’d need an E63 AMG, at nearly twice
the price, to out-wagon-drag this car.
Handsome
interior is largely unchanged save for sports seats
Polestar also tweaked the car’s six-speed
automatic and all-wheel-drive system. The changes are subtle — leave the car in
drive, it’s as docile as most people think wagons should be. But slide the
shift lever to Sport, switch off stability control, and things go nutty. The
shifts are quick, the transmission is programmed to hold the right gear through
a corner, and more torque is sent to the rear wheels. Best of all, the computer
instructs valves to bypass the silencers, essentially dumping unmuffled exhaust
into the atmosphere — and your ears. It’s a raspy, throaty, and downright
nasty-good growl.
The powertrain is only part of the fun.
Polestar specified firmer springs and trick 20-way, manually adjustable Öhlins
dampers. No changes are visible under the hood save a beautifully thin and
delicate carbon-fiber strut-tower brace. But from behind the wheel, the wagon
feels natural, predictable, and never harsh.
Massive
371mm front discs and six-piston Brembo calipers are powerful and can take
loads of abuse
During this V60’s media launch, Polestar
repeatedly insisted that the wagon isn’t a track car. Then the company’s reps
turned us loose on the tight, 1.3-mile Ring Knutstorp circuit, roughly 90
minutes from Copenhagen.
The Swedes are so humble. The V60’s
suspension is magic—Polestar tuned it on the track, and it shows. There’s a lot
of grip, plenty of bite from the six-piston Brembo front brakes, and precise
steering. Don’t expect volumes of intel from the front tires, as the steering
is electrically assisted, but it’s good enough. As we touched 120 mph on the
short straight, a glance in the mirror revealed something missing: two car
seats and a wayback full of Costco. Cool.
