Volvo S60 Polestar 2013 review

Is Australia ready for its first $100 grand plus Volvo? It's a tricky one soon to be answered when Volvo introduces a high performance, limited edition, 50 unit run of its striking S60 sedan called the T6 Polestar.

Volvo Australia has already had a crack at a Polestar special edition a locally fettled hot-rod wagon back a year or two. It ignited a latent fire of performance car passion at head office in Sweden which quickly decided to go ahead with a pilot program of factory-built, production Polestar S60 sedans. They want to use Australia as a test case for future plans involving high performance models.

And Volvo is ideally positioned to build them thanks to heavy involvement in the Swedish Touring Car Championship and other European race series through the compact Polestar operation. It's similar to Renault's RS outfit and others such as Opel OPC.

So, what they've done is take a top of the range S60 T6 off the production line, rolled it into a special workshop at Volvo's factory in Gothenburg and replaced numerous standard parts with high performance items.

VALUE

The Volvo S60 Polestar is estimated to retail for $115,000, and is equipped to luxury standard with all that brings but the interior is understated.

Inside is pretty much standard T6 with a few changes and additional garnishes Sports seats are possibly going to be fitted but the standard re-trimmed pews were fine for everyday driving.

TECHNOLOGY

The 3.0-litre engine is a transverse straight six with a new Borg-Warner twin scroll turbo achieving a healthy 257kW/500Nm output.

It's sufficient to propel the 1684kg sedan from 0-100kmh in a rapid 4.8 seconds. The launch control system aids acceleration off the mark awhile the revised all-wheel drive system has a rear axle bias for a sportier feel and better acceleration.

Fuel economy and emissions remain the same as for the standard T6 S60. The 2.5-inch exhaust system offers a slightly sportier note than the standard model.

But there's no paddle shift and the manual shift mode goes the wrong way (on the pre-production cars driven). It's your standard performance re-engineering effort possibly a bit more advanced with a sporty suspension and brakes, more power from a new, bigger twin scroll turbo and ECU changes together with a sports exhaust. They changed the camshafts and tweaked other engine components.

Bigger brakes and better tyres form part of the package as well as interior upgrades to the seats and other trim items. It has improved aerodynamics along with a revised all-wheel drive system and six speed auto transmissions.

Polestar tested their engineering for the S60 on a couple of concept cars from two years back, the C30 and S60 which were hyper-performance models, boned out and ready for the track.

Such is not the case with the TS60 Polestar which retains its luxury flavour enhanced by the extremely well calibrated performance upgrades. The sleek looking sedan retains everyday driveability while delivering blistering performance.

DRIVING

On the road the Polestar is a treat - quick, controlled easy to drive and with a distinctive flavour not found in other Volvo cars.

We drove the fastest and quickest road Volvo ever on a variety of roads all of which posed no problem for the sleek Swede.

Both Volvo and Polestar point out that the S60 Limited Edition is an everyday car and not a track car though it's very capable on a closed circuit as we found out.

Though stiffer than the standard car by a longshot, the Ohlins suspension retains a high comfort level while delivering the sort of ride and feed-back you need for fast motoring.

The defining feature of the Polestar S60 is its Ohlins suspension which ushers in the latest technology including multi damper settings and a clever blow off valve for big impacts. It limits the amount of bump thump transmitted into the car while retaining a sporty drive feel and impressive ride control.

It can be manually set up simply by turning a dial on each damper unit for harder or softer ride qualities.

VERDICT

Volvo Australia is still to finalise spec' on the S60 Polestar but we reckon the cars we drove were just right.

Volvo S60 Polestar

Price: $115,000 (estimate)
Warranty: 3 years/unlimited km
Service interval: 12 months/15,000km
Capped price servicing: No
Crash rating: 5 stars
Engine: turbo 3.0-litre six-cylinder, 257kW/500+Nm
Transmission: 6-speed auto, AWD
Thirst: 10.2L/100km, 243g/km CO2
Dimension: 4.63m (L), 1.82m (W), 1.48m (H)
Weight: 1648kg
Spare: Repair kit/space-saver