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-   -   Driven: Volvo S60 Polestar (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-drives-initial-ownership-reports/186758-driven-volvo-s60-polestar-2.html)

The perfect young millionaire's car.

• F-A-S-T
• Extremely safe
• Exclusive
• Practical

And the best part >>
Millionaire: Does it come in black?

Well, you know the answer to that..

Brilliant review Suhaas. It's so well written with subtle humor. You might as well charge money for this ;)

Excellent review of perhaps the most honest and vfm performance car on sale in India currently. :thumbs up

The S60 AWD, including the one in this Polestar variant is utilising a Haldex based system, similar to the AWD setup in most of the front-transverse-engine cars from VAG. Most likely it would be a Haldex gen 5 system, and thus the hardware involved will be quite similar to the one in current Yeti, Audi TT, upcoming Kodiaq / Tiguan etc.

I am not sure whether Volvo is utilising any mechanical limited-slip/torque-vectoring differentials at the front or rear. I suppose the torque vectoring is achieved with brakes and clever algorithms, and likely the front and rear diffs themselves are of the 'open' type.

The clutch-based Haldex system doesn't let the front axles to dis-engage nor transfer more power to the rear than the front, at any given time. Hence, unlike the trick setup used in the likes of Ford Focus RS (supplied by GKN drivelines and a derivative of it coming in upcoming Jeep compass), it can't dance on three wheels (Focus RS) or let the rear slide significantly (S5, C43 AMG). So it is more like a Golf-R in terms of power-transfer between front and rear axles. Nevertheless the system is more than adequate for joyful, safe driving under varied traction conditions, and the only limitation is in pulling long slides.

Good photographs. My wallpaper now is this :

Suhaas, those rotors seem like slotted ones rather than drilled.

A heck of a review of a heck of a car, Suhaas. I've told you this several times before and will do so again - you truly have a flair for writing! Thoroughly enjoyed reading your review (even had to Google the meaning of 3 - 4 words :)).

There's no better example of a halo car than this. Certainly helps give Volvo a sexier image. Cars like these, and their stunning new designs, are taking the 'boring' out of brand Volvo.

I can only imagine what a monster this car is, having enjoyed the 304 BHP S60 T6 on my favourite mountain roads. Me & Stratos actually went up & down the Igatpuri ghat a couple of times rl:. We just couldn't get enough:

Loved the writeup, Suhaas! An afternoon well-spent.
Now to find that dictionary I've neglected for so long...

Brilliant review of a brilliant machine. Love the car to bits, and the language used in the review did it complete justice.

Coming back to the Polestar, I still cannot believe the pricing. The sticker price in the US starts at $60,000. That makes it an absolute steal over here!

Suhaas, did you get a chance to drive the car on comfort setup on the track? I don't think so, but wanted to confirm. Hope it will be supple enough. Those 20" wheels look too perfect for a swap.

Just wish you got the Polestar for review on the open roads as well. That would have given the complete picture. Hopefully, we will have some lucky Bhpians picking this one up and with some ownership logs to boot.

If I were that lucky, I would pick one in black. Love the unpretentious look.


^That's the car of Håkan Samuelsson, the CEO of Volvo cars. We just need to take a look at the current Volvo product line to know what sort of a man he is. Need not look at his daily driver to know more about the man himself. But I cannot help but notice that, this news is a cherry atop that delicious little cake.

Hope Volvo gets its due from the Indian market. I think of the brand and some of its cars as a good balance between the exorbitant, boring and reliable Japs and the amazing but extravagant Germans. Sort of like a 'Ford' for the premium segment. Maybe not much of a surprise given the brand' lineage. :D

And they have an outstanding job after the split. Full marks to Geely! I wasn't very confident when the brand got sold. Great for us!

Thank you all! :thumbs up

In many ways, it's like a muscle car from the other side of the pond! That's not to say it's not fun! I managed to slide it around a few times, but it tucks in very quickly. And it under-steers like nobody's business! It feels nose-heavy! The overall 'heft' of the car is quite apparent.

The macro-shots were provided to us by Volvo, but some of the detail-shots like the brakes, aluminium paddles, etc were taken by moi. :)

Nailed it.

Summed it up! Yes, it's a Haldex based system and is restrictive, as you've mentioned.

You are correct. Made the change. Thanks!

Thank you Sir!

Unfortunately, Volvo did not tweak the chassis from track to comfort setup. But the Kari's surface is quite bumpy and undulated, so it did give me a fair idea of how the car may behave on typical Indian roads.

Whilst it certainly does not lack the compliance that's essential for the car and its driver to 'flow' down the road, it's on the stiffer side and perhaps much too stiff for a regular commute or even a ghat-road-hoon. I would have it set up in comfort for all occasions and maybe consider tweaking it for track driving, should I decide to track it.

The Black does look stunning, and on second thought, that would be my colour of choice! *grins*

I know at least one BHPian who was genuinely interested in it, but decided against it because he got a deal on a nice used Bimmer. *wink*

Wow! I did not expect this car to make it on Team-BHP.

I have the 2016 V60 Polestar and love it. This car hauls ass and some.

I am glad I got the straight-6 before they moved to the 4-cylinder.

There is no replacement for displacement.

Brilliant review there… An extremely enjoyable read!
The S60 maybe a 7-year old car, but Volvo has come a long way from boring breadboxes to cars that epitomize graceful ageing. It looks even more bewitching in this beautiful blue shade.
Different story with the interiors though – especially with the dashboard; it looks a couple of generations old, especially after Volvo came up with the beautiful portrait screen in the S90/XC90.

Great pricing and 30/1500 units! Not bad for a market with such miniscule presence for the brand; feels like they are on the right path with the Indian market.

What are the odds of this car ever showing up on the used car market in India? If any, how long would it take for it to get there?

I wouldn't hold my breath, you could get a media car but those are abused like hell.

As someone who has 18" Low Profile run flats and is extremely careful but still suffer from tire bubbles every few months I agree completely. 20" is overkill for this car.

Source: https://www.motor1.com/news/146566/v...rgring-record/

Volvo S60 Polestar Nurburgring Record Kept Secret For A Year

Cyan Racing's time with a road-legal Volvo S60 Polestar has since been beaten.

Nürburgring lap records continue to be all the rage among car manufacturers from all over the world and it comes to our surprise Volvo also joined the Green Hell time attack game back in 2016 without telling us — until now. The story goes like this:

Cyan Racing remained at the demanding Nordschleife last year after the FIA World Touring Car Championship round to perform what they describe as being a “secret test.” The main purpose of the evaluation was to gain knowledge and discover ways to improve the road-going S60 Polestar by squeezing more performance from the powered-up sedan putting to good use the team’s motorsport expertise.

At one point during the testing phase, Cyan Racing decided to have a go at taking down the Nürburgring record for the fastest production car with four doors. 7 minutes, 51 seconds, and 73 corners later, the Volvo S60 Polestar established a new record. The Swedes ultimately decided to keep things low key and not make a big deal about what at that time was a record-breaking attempt.

As of September 2016, the Alfa Romeo Giulia in the top-spec Quadrifoglio became the fastest four-door, road-legal production car around the ‘Ring with an impressive lap of 7 minutes and 32 seconds, thus besting the S60’s time by a whopping 19 seconds. It should be pointed out we’re not taking into account the Porsche Panamera Turbo (7:38) and the Honda Civic Type R (7:43) since they’re both technically five-door cars.

Even though the Volvo S60 Polestar has been dethroned by the Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio, the result posted by the Polestar-tweaked sedan is still pretty impressive when you have a look at the technical specifications of the two. Updated in 2016, the S60 only has a 367-hp four-cylinder gasoline engine, albeit both supercharged and turbocharged. As for the Alfa, it’s propelled by a meaty biturbo 2.9-liter V6 engine using Ferrari knowhow to develop a monstrous 505 hp, so it’s not exactly what you would call a fair fight between the two.

Let’s keep in mind the S60 has been around since 2010 whereas the Giulia was launched only last year. Volvo will revamp its sedan in the years to come and surely Polestar will get its hand on it for a faster version that will be able to take on the four-leaf clover.

What a car! I loved the first T6 we got and I love this new S60 Polestar even more. I love Volvo for considering India as a potential market for this car. Car companies are finally acknowledging that there is a small enthusiast crowd out there and bringing in the best.

There's just one small thing that Volvo need to do. Upgrade that interior. It was dated when we got the first T6 and it feels even more today. I don't believe a simple swap of interior bits will do for a car like this. You can't plonk the XC90 or S90's interior here as they don't fit with the theme of the car. This needs to be special. I hope that the next iteration of the S60 addresses this.

Excellent report.