Volvo S60 Polestar

When was the last time you drove a fast Volvo?

A FAST VOLVO?

I have no memories of the S80 V8. It was a rare car and I hear it was fast, but going by how the non-V8 S80 handled from my memories of a few years ago, you couldn’t call it a driver’s car. Eight cylinders became six and I’ll give you a cookie if you find me an S60 T6. That was a rare breed too. When the T6 faded out, came the Drive-E four cylinder engines. New powertrains that were cutting edge, smooth and refined but far from fast. Every new Volvo has them, and in the peak of their performance, they can be found in the XC90 T8 with a supercharger and a turbocharger bolted on. It’s a heavy breather and also gets an electric motor to push out about 400 horsepower. This beautifully blue S60 Polestar houses a close relative of this engine. And we had a few hot laps in the ‘mad’ Volvo at the Kari Speedway. How did it all go?

Get the gear selector into Drive, yank it left to engage Sport mode and turn the ESC off. Good lord, in a Volvo! I’m already starting to like the influence of Polestar on the guys who always play safe, not fast. So ESC off is important because Volvos are famously electronically restrained cars. Once you get that done, you can engage Sport Plus too with a long procedure that involves a sequence of paddle shift movements, but it’s best to avoid it. Sport is good. Once there, drive the S60 Polestar out of the pits and a long nice supercharger whine will surprise you as you get on the gas. The S60 Polestar comes across instantly as a quick car. It builds speed well and just as you are through with the first gear into turn one, you have got to brake for the next sequence of corners.