Volvo V60 Polestar 2014 Review

Nearly 500km of development engineers’ favourite backroads gives you the ability to really get to grips with a car. And when those engineers have racetrack-cred, a mischievous glint in their eyes and the backroads are Swedish, it’s a recipe made in test drive heaven.

Alas that’s not what we got for our first drive of Volvo’s MY15 V60 Polestar and S60 counterpart this week.

Instead, our first tastes of the muscular, capable and very polished go-fast Ovlovs was a multi-lane highway drone from Gothenburg in Sweden’s southwest to the capital of Stockholm. Granted, it was a fast drone, but it was a drone nonetheless.

So while I’d like to tell you all about the new model-year cars — especially the hot-hauler V60 wagon, which will be new to Oz and looks the business — all I can really do is praise Volvo’s excellent adaptive cruise control and the Polestar’s prodigious, infectious (and potentially licence-evaporating) midrange stomp. They both work a treat…

The lack of almost anything resembling a corner on the 480km drive is all the more disappointing given the fact the main changes to the MY2015 models is a step up to 20x8.0-inch wheels (with wider Michelin 265-section rubber) and tweaks to the Ohlins damped suspension to suit.

The Polestar guys reckon the changes “significantly” improve lateral grip as well as benefit turn-in and steering response. We’ll have to take their word for it — at least until the 2015 model cars arrive Down Under in October.

There are other tweaks to the S/V60 packaging. A new active exhaust is fitted to augment the aural characteristics of the turbocharged 3.0-litre which is the star of the show. Polestar has also further tweaked the gearbox software for faster shifts, while Alcantara-style quasi-suede finishes replace leather on the already excellent Polestar sport seats and some other cabin details.

Regular readers will note yours truly tested the existing MY2014 (dubbed E51 in Polstar internal code) S60 Polestar just a week or so ago and was pretty taken with the execution. The good news (I suppose) is that from a seat of the pants impression there was very little difference to be felt in the new (E15 series) cars.

The exhaust, while fruiter on bypass mode, is still civilised and the ride handling balance impressive in the S60 Polestar already offered in Oz, and it doesn’t seem to have deteriorated with the step up from 19- to 20-inch wheels and correspondingly lower-profile rubber.

In fact, the only noticeable difference was more tyre roar. It’s hard to categorically lay this at the feet of the Michelin rubber. Given, too, that we’re talking impressions on Aussie tarmac versus Swedish, we’ll need to wait to drive the car at home before we can deliver a verdict.

Alas we couldn’t easily detect a significant reduction in shift times for the automatic transmission. Perhaps that too will take a back-to-back experience to best illustrate.

Under the bonnet there are no changes. Polestar still claims 257kW and over 500Nm as the turbo six’s output. Performance claims for the S60 are unchanged with the 0-100km/h sprint gazetted at 4.9 seconds and the double ton coming up in a very respectable 17.7 seconds.

Our V60 test car is officially 0.1 seconds slower to both increments, though I challenge any of you to pick the difference or offer a real reason why it makes any difference. This is a fast wagon and that’s that.

Unique to the V60 Polestar is a larger rear hatch spoiler.

That the S60 gets and larger and more aggressive new decklid wing is not enough reason for yours truly to forsake the cobby wagon looks and extra amenity. Anyone who can remember the Volvo 850 wagons that stole the show in BTCC racing will already be sold anyhow…

It’s the first time the wagon version of the Polestar mid-sizer has been produced and MY2015 will also see the Polestar-fettled S/V60 pair sold in Canada, the Netherlands, Japan, Sweden, Switzerland, the UK and USA. Australia is no longer unique.

Volvo Cars Australia believes the V60 will account for around 35 cars in the first batch of 100 Polestars to which it's committed. I reckon they may be pleasantly surprised. But then I did rally a Skoda RS wagon, so I admit I’m two-box afflicted…

No pricing has been announced for the V60 version yet. The MY2015 S60 Polestar is, however, expected to stay at the $99,950 MRLP introduced in the current/outgoing car.