How to prove you’re still a contender: take a sedate
car and max it out. Job done...
Volvo. Not a car company synonymous with a
pattering pulse, is it? At least not since the Nineties 850 T5-R.
But that could change, thanks to a little
company called Polestar – Volvo’s global performance and motorsport partner
that’s become, officially, an Alpina-style ‘hot’ branch of Volvo. It has
history, this outfit. Polestar has made a name for itself by producing
Volvo-based championship-winning STCC cars since 1996 and more recently for
becoming the first manufacturer to send shockwaves Down Under by being capable
of breaking Holden and Ford’s dominance in Australian V8 Supercars. Proving its
engineers know a thing or two about how to set up a car – on track, at least.
The company has also fumbled around with
road-going concepts in the shape of the brilliantly mental 400bhp C30 and
500bhp S60. But before you get too excited, this V60 – Polestar’s first official
production road car – isn’t as bonkers as previous showings might suggest.
The
Polestar’s exterior tweaks are subtle, ticking the habitual splitter, diffuser
and spoiler boxes
A new, bigger BorgWarner twin-scroll turbo
and intercooler have been bolted on to the straight-six T6 turbo. Enough to
encourage 350bhp and 369lb ft of torque from the 3.0-litre and propel the
previously sedate V60 to 62mph in 5.0 secs and on to 155mph, via a Haldex 4WD
system – Audi A4 Avant pace. But where the Swedes have really worked magic is
in their gentle fettling of the way this thing goes around corners, a
refreshing mindset of championing chassis control over all-out grunt.
Polestar fitted the same extreme Michelin
pilot sport rubber favoured by Sweden’s other performance name, Koenigsegg, on
20in wheels. Those were hung from mechanically adjustable Öhlins shocks that
are a massive 80 per cent stiffer than a standard S60 R-Design. Sounds like
you’d need to spec a chiropractor with the car, but the ride is great: firm, stable
and well-damped. The steering has got more weight and is more direct than other
V60s, thanks to some electronic tweakery, and a posh carbon-fibre-reinforced
strut brace has been introduced across the engine bay to corset the front end
and help telegraph information from the road straight to your hands.
Handsome
interior is largely unchanged save for sports seats
On a fast and twisty stretch of road, the
V60 feels like a proper point-to-point weapon. With beefy 371mm ventilated
front discs and six-piston Brembo calipers, you can brake late and happily
chuck it into bends at properly un-Volvo pace. Get on the throttle mid-corner,
and the reworked Haldex system sends as much torque to the rear inside wheel as
possible to help rotate the car, mitigating understeer and allowing the
suspension set-up and sticky tyres to provide tons of traction. The horsefly in
the ointment is the six-speed auto ’box. Polestar has recalibrated the
electronics to give the hardest and fastest possible shifts in Sport mode, but compared
with double-clutchers – as in the S4 – it simply can’t keep up. It also has a
tendency to sniff around for gears at constant throttle – massively irritating
when cruising.
And that’s when those pseudo supercar tyres
also have drawbacks. Being 245mm wide and noticeably performance-orientated,
they love to tramline and generate a lot of extra, unlovely decibels. You might
think the 2.5-inch stainless full exhaust system might help drown out the tyre
roar, but unfortunately you don’t get as much noise in the cabin as you’d like.
Noisy and naughty outside, yes, but not so much from the driver’s seat.
Illuminated
gearknob seems a trinket too far
Elsewhere, the sporty aesthetic is subdued
and stylish: cheeky chin and rear spoilers, restrained badging and a rear
diffuser that actively increases stability at higher speeds, apparently. It’s a
similar restrained story inside, with new, bulkier-bolstered sports seats, blue
stitching around the cabin to offset grey Alcantara trim, and a floating centre
console, clad in carbon fibre.
With a list price of $84,065, the Polestar
V60 sits awkwardly between stuff like the Audi S4 and its bigger RS4 brother.
Which is rock/hard place territory. Except for the fact that while you could
end up spending thousands on Audi extras, the Polestar comes with every
possible V60 box ticked.
Massive
371mm front discs and six-piston Brembo calipers are powerful and can take
loads of abuse
Considering that’d cost around $77,690,
$6,755 for the Polestar upgrade seems a bit of a bargain considering how the
package transforms the car’s attitude. This odd Volvo is proof that Polestar’s
expertise can make a sporting Swede worth taking seriously again. Volvo needs
Polestar to show it’s recovered a modicum of go-fast mojo; Polestar needs Volvo
to raise its brand profile. If they keep on like this, it’ll be one happy
marriage. Now get cracking on that V40, chaps.
