Polestar is the race team responsible for Volvo’s Swedish touring car entries. These touring cars are bespoke, mid-engined, rear-wheel drive machines that have very little in common with Volvo’s series production cars. Volvo would love you to believe otherwise, however, with some stunning, one-off prototypes they’ve produced of late. First there was the all-wheel drive Volvo C30 Polestar with over 300 kW that could go toe-to-toe with a Mitsubishi Evo X, and then there was the 400 kW all-wheel drive Volvo S60 Polestar that’s been doing the rounds for the last year or so.
The real, over-the-counter, hot Volvo V60 and S60 Polestar you can actually buy will be available able from the second quarter of 2014 and power comes from the same turbocharged 3.0-litre V6 petrol engine, except now power is significantly lessened at 257 kW, with 500 Nm of torque to get the Swedish car up to speed. Power is sent to all four wheels through a six-speed automatic gearbox featuring paddle shifters. The engine sports a new twin-scroll Borg Warner turbo, an intercooler and a Polestar stainless steel exhaust.
The performance figures for the 1 822 kg machine are pretty sprightly: 0 – 100 km/h in only 4.9 seconds, 0 – 200 km/h in 17.7 seconds and mid-range punch comes in the form of 80 km/h – 120 km/h in 4.7 seconds. The electronically limited top speed is 250 km/h. The Polestar gets 20-inch alloys wrapped in 245/35 R20 tires. The Volvo S60 and V60 Polestars run a recalibrated version of Volvo’s Haldex four-wheel drive system and that should ensure traction is never broken from the normally safe and sensible Volvo. Volvo hasn’t mentioned prices yet, but you can expect it to be priced close to the Audi S4 Quattro with similar specs and performance.
