Volvo S60 R-Design Polestar 2012 Review

Price Guide (recommended price before statutory & delivery charges): $82,990
Options fitted to test car (not included in above price): Nil?
Crash rating: Five-star?Fuel: 98 RON PULP
Claimed fuel economy (L/100km): 10.2
CO2 emissions (g/km): 243?
Also consider:  BMW 335i (from $91,900); FPV F6 (from $64,890); Lexus IS 350 (from $64,800); Volkswagen Passat V6 FSI (from $64,990)

The ‘regular’ Volvo S60 R-Design is hardly what you’d call slow. Recalling the local launch of its wagon sibling this time last year, this scribe was impressed with the R-enhanced model’s capability when viewed against dearer German rivals -- while at the same time observing clear benefits from its all-paw grip, and decidedly non-German attitude.

Add then a computer reflash from local performance partner Polestar -- and a little extra bling -- we find S60 now brimming with bully. ??The turbocharged 3.0-litre six is tweaked to output 242kW/480Nm (up from 224kW/440Nm), propelling the curvy sedan to triple figures in just 5.8 seconds (down from 6.1). ??Impressive? Quite.

Enough to trounce a Commodore SS at the lights? Definitely. But it’s not nearly the best part of the story…

Selecting Sport mode and sinking the boot in its quickly obvious how S60’s recalibrated throttle and fuel settings have sharpened response. The torque curve is brutal, and completely accessible, releasing palpable in-gear acceleration and an inextinguishable grin. The speedo surges rapidly into loss-of-licence territory as the cabin fills with the sound of exhaust gasses rushing from a Heico quad-outlet exhaust.

Forged 19-inch alloys (also from Heico) shod with liquorice-strip-thin Pirelli rubber grapple with Volvo’s factory suspension to maintain direction, gripping the road with adequate tenacity but sacrificing little in the way of ride comfort. ??It’s a best-of-both worlds scenario played out beneath what’s otherwise a rather ordinary looking, albeit classy package. A subtle blue badge on the boot lid and a numbered build plate inside the only other tell tales.

Volvo’s adaptive six-speed Geartronic auto shifts capably for the most part, but elicits answers more fittingly when directed manually via the stick’s +/- inputs. It’s a shame there’s no steering wheel-mounted paddles, then.

If we had one other criticism of all this bolstered bravado it would be that the stoppers haven’t been upgraded to cope with the extra mumbo. The factory brakes, whilst adequate, lack the bite and endurance necessary to repeatedly stop the near-1700kg sedan with the same ferocity with which it accelerates.

The S60’s legacy flaws, few as they are, remain in the Polestar-enhanced model. The electrically-assisted steering requires minor adjustments to maintain 12 o’clock, and is initially light off-centre, meaning it tends to follow road camber considerably. ??The all-wheel-drive system demonstrates significant front-bias under duress, but at thousands less than a similarly spec’ed Audi quattro, you can forgive the lack of polish.

Polestar’s hyperactive augmentations are now available across a
range of Volvo models and are fully covered by the factory warranty. And at least in the case of the S60 Polestar, they use little more fuel than the vehicle on which they’re based (we managed 10.6L/100km) and in day-to-day driving are easy to live with.

Despite the hefty $10K slog on top of the ‘stock’ S60 T6 R-Design this Swedish sleeper should attract those chasing a Euro sports sedan with a difference, and one whose standout performance belies its looks.

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