Here's a riddle: When is a Volvo not a Volvo? When it's tuned by Polestar.
OK, I'll admit that's a pretty lame riddle. That said, it's nonetheless true. Because, once the Polestar engineers get their hands on the Volvo V60, it loses all sense of Swedish sanity. But it's never felt so good to be so mental.
Polestar
Polestar has been the company in charge of Volvo racing efforts around the world for nearly 20 years. Most notably, the racing team recently made a splash when it entered — and excelled in — Australia's V8 Supercar series. If you don't know what that is, think NASCAR on a road circuit, rather than an oval. While that might not sound so impressive, trust me, it is.
In the last few years, with Volvo's blessing, Polestar has turned some of its attention to the safety-obsessed Swedish automaker's road cars. The result of which, as the video below boasts, are the cars Polestar engineers drive to work.
Though I am not much of a racing fan, I am a lifelong Volvo devotee. This, as you might imagine, has stood in direct opposition with my equally fervent passion for sports cars and high-speed automotive performance. Volvo has notoriously shied away from such exploits and pioneered safety systems instead.
Accordingly, making the V60 into a vehicle race-car engineers would want to drive daily was quite an undertaking.
Transformation
When transforming the V60 from Swedish mommy-mobile into BMW M3-fighter, Polestar engineers had to make many changes. First, they started with the Volvo T6 turbocharged 3.0-liter inline six-cylinder engine and bolted up a bigger turbocharger.
IMAGE: POLESTAR
The result is a horsepower bump from 325 to 345 and a torque increase of 15 to 369 pound-feet. Arguably, this doesn't seem like much of an increase. Somehow, it is. The 0 to 60 mph time is slashed by more than half a second, down to 4.8 seconds flat. If that weren't enough, 0 to 120 mph is cut to an impressive 16.7 seconds on the way to the wagon's electronically limited 155 mph top speed.
Then Polestar bolts on bigger wheels, bigger brakes, suspension that is 80% stiffer than stock, and a 2.5-inch stainless steel full-flow exhaust system with twin 3.5-inch tail pipes. The result is a car that accelerates like a Mercedes-AMG, brakes like a BMW, spits and crackles like a Jaguar F-Type, but looks like a safe family hauler.
Transformation complete.
On the road
More often than not, making a sports sedan or wagon from a car designed for family hauling effectively ruins it. Such a shift is akin to using a blender to mow your lawn. It will do the job, sort of, but it'll wear you out in the process and make you wish you'd bought the properly designed tool in the first place. Thankfully, Polestar engineers have avoided this, but just barely.
Going full throttle in the V60 Polestar is like having the first sip of a thick, frosty milkshake after a lengthy diet. It sends every one of your senses into full-on pleasure mode while also feeling so very, very wrong. It not only goes like stink, but it makes a noise that I am quite certain could be used as auditory therapy for the chronically depressed. It's that good.
IMAGE: POLESTAR
Best of all the, the Polestar engineers essentially solved my biggest issue with the standard V60: its brakes. Although Volvo is obsessed with safety, the brakes on the S60 and V60 are woefully inadequate. The squishy-from-the-factory brakes are overwhelmed easily and quickly succumb to brake fade. The 6-piston Brembo brake calipers on the Polestar do not. They are grabby at first touch and remain strong, even after prolonged hard braking.
The bit about the V60 Polestar I can't decide whether I like or not is the new suspension. The new springs, shocks and struts keep the body well planted in hard cornering. However, in urban driving, they can be a bit annoying. If you've ever ridden in a car in which someone has callously cut a coil or two out of the car's springs in order to lower the car or stiffen the ride without, you know, actually buying new suspension, you already know how the Polestar feels over, say, speed bumps and potholes.
Over bumps, the suspension is hard and there's not much cushioning to the spring. It just didn't feel right. I applaud Polestar for not making the suspension so stiff as to fuse vertebrae over speed bumps. That said, the ride did make me constantly aware that the car had been tuned aftermarket, rather than designed sportily from the get-go.
IMAGE: POLESTAR
When not driving the V60 Polestar like I'd stolen it, and, honestly, this wasn't often, I was constantly impressed with the car's comfort. In true Volvo fashion, the seats were incredibly comfortable. The navigation, though slightly out-dated was responsive and intuitive to use and — in the Polestar model — flanked by a long, carbon fiber panel. In the backseat and wagon hatch area, there was plenty of room for 2.3 kids and a labrador.
In this way, Polestar was wise not to ruin an already good thing. So, if you wanted to, you could still use the V60 as the Swedes intended: as a stylish and safe people-mover.
Performance ... for a price
When people heard the V60 Polestar roaring down the road and looked to see a Volvo go by, they made a face as if a stranger had just asked to smell their hair. They were taken aback and mildly creeped-out. My press demonstrator carried with it a price tag of just over $62,000. For that money, you can get a well-optioned Mercedes-Benz C450 4MATIC AMG, a base BMW M3, or a mid-level Cadillac ATS-V. And the essence of those cars isn't antithetical to sporty driving, as they were designed with performance in mind. The Volvo was not.Admittedly, it's strange to see a Volvo behaving like a BMW while making a sound like a Ducati motorcycle. And, oddly, it's not a sight people appeared to be exceedingly pleased to witness.
The misgivings of passersby or the aftermarket-y suspension aren't the biggest issues with the V60 Polestar; it's the price.
IMAGE: POLESTAR
By no means does this mean those cars are better than the V60. For my money, they're not, but I'm a Volvo weirdo. So, if you're going to consider the V60 Polestar, realize you're going to have to suffer the ridiculous looks of strangers and a suspension that feels like it's not quiet yet sorted. Aside from that, though, you'll have the time of your life.
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