Volvo V60 Polestar

Polestar is a Swedish race team that is not part of Volvo but has worked with nobody else since it was founded in 1996. The manufacturer quite rightly holds it in very high esteem, and has commissioned it to build several concept cars and a modified version of the S60 which was sold only in Australia.The association has become stronger with the introduction of the V60 Polestar, which is being offered only here and in Sweden, the USA, Canada, the Netherlands, Japan and Switzerland. There's also an S60 saloon, which is mechanically identical though fractionally quicker, but Volvo's UK operation reckoned that its customers would be far more interested in the estate, so that's all we're getting.Despite this restriction, a disproportionately high 125 cars are being imported here from a total production run (unless plans are revised due to high demand) of 750.The donor car, if that's not too dismissive a term for it, is the high-specification V60 R-Design Lux Nav, fitted in this case with a large number of what would normally be optional extras including Driver Support, a sunroof, Volvo's On Call system and a Harman Kardon premium sound system.At 1843kg it's pretty heavy, but that's partly compensated for by the fact that the three-litre six-cylinder twin-turbo T6 petrol engine has been uprated to produce a maximum of 345bhp. That's achieved at 5250rpm, and although the rev limiter kicks in at 6500 the six-speed automatic transmission makes upshifts at around 6000, and 211bhp is already available at half that speed.This is not a peaky engine, then. It's a very nice sounding one, though, thanks to an exhaust system which is already quite rorty (though not unbearably loud) at most speeds and becomes rortier when the engine goes above 4000rpm and the transmission is in Sport mode.The hardware of the automatic box, supplied by Japanese company Aisin, is untouched (so it's obviously quite sturdy) but Polestar has worked on its management, making faster shifts possible and preventing shifts from happening at all, unless the driver asks for one, when the car is in a corner, the idea there being to limit the possibility of the car becoming unstable.The brakes are by Brembo and are golly-gosh good - certainly better than you need them to be unless you're trying to lower your time on a test track by another couple of tenths. Polestar has also worked on the aerodynamics, reporting that there is actual downforce rather than lift at both ends. The four-wheel drive system has been modified so that there's a rear-axle bias at speeds of right up to 106mph.There has also been some jazzing-up of the interior, but I hope you'll forgive me if I gloss over that and get on to the really interesting bit, which is the suspension. Now, perhaps you think that a race team, given the opportunity to convert a standard road car into something a bit more sporty, would make it almost undriveable and certainly close to unbearable for anyone other than the most ardent speed freak.Well, it doesn't work that way. What race teams actually want to do, in the context of chassis work, is present as much of all four tyres to the ground as they can in all conditions. They will alter this policy only if constrained by regulations, or if a lack of grip from one or more of the tyres contributes to the greater good of the overalls set-up. On a four-wheel drive road car, this is unlikely to be the case.What Polestar has attempted to do is make the V60 grip well in a very wide range of road conditions - far wider than the team would ever have to deal with on a race circuit. And, on the whole, it has done a superb job.On public highways there is no sense that the engine producing more power than the chassis can deal with, and although Volvo has taken pains to assure people that this is not meant to be a track car, it actually felt very impressive on a damp surface at Dunsfold Aerodrome (where cars, reasonably priced and otherwise, are filmed for the TV programme). The previously mentioned bias of power to the back tyres was particularly noticeable, and welcome, here.Better still, the V60 Polestar rides very well most of the time, even though it runs on 20" wheels with 35 section tyres, and has springs that are on average 80% stiffer than those of the regular T6. Which just goes to show that it can be done, and that manufacturers who don't do it are not trying hard enough.However, as you're probably realised by now, there's a problem. In developing the car, Polestar drove it up and down western Europe, from the top of Sweden to the bottom of Spain, and it seems clear that at no point did they ever encounter roads as bad as the ones in Surrey and Oxfordshire where the UK media launch was held.It coped well with most of them, but it fell apart whenever it was asked to go over a long serious of small bumps, as it frequently did. As both a driver and a passenger, I felt quite ill on sections like this.What the car needed here was to have its damping uprated very slightly so that the front end wouldn't bounce up and down unchecked on its springs. And it turns out that there is a way of doing this, though it's not one Volvo talks about much.Those dampers - which are made by Öhlins and, I think you'll be intrigued to hear, are developed from the ones used on the Lamborghini Aventador - are adjustable, though not, as is often the case, by means of a button inside the car. Polestar doesn't like that method because it isn't very precise.The adjustment is done on the dampers themselves, and there are twenty settings, the one you get when you buy the car being roughly in the middle. You could choose another one yourself, though Polestar recommends that you get a Volvo dealer to do it because it's a bit of a faff and involves removing and replacing panels. I'd definitely ask for this to be done, because on UK roads I think the V60 would be a lot better if it were a couple of clicks stiffer at the front.The other thing about this car which gives me pause for thought is the price. The V60 Polestar costs £49,775, and while Volvo describes this as "great value for money" it's uncomfortably close to £50,000 when you consider what's available for around twenty grand less. Yes, you get plenty of equipment, and there must have been quite some investment to bring the engine, suspension, brakes and so on up to such a high standard, but the interior just doesn't feel like that of a £49,775 car.It's still a very special machine, though, and, I'm sure there are 125 people in the country willing and able to buy it. And there may even be another 125 hoping that Volvo commissions another batch to that they can share the experience. Engine 2953cc, 6 cylinders Power 345bhp Transmission 6-speed automatic Fuel/CO2 27.7mpg / 237g/km Acceleration 0-62mph: 5.0 seconds Top speed 155mph Price £49,775 Details correct at publication date