Volvo S60 Polestar: Fast, stylish and safe

When we speak of Volvo, the first thought that crosses our mind is safety. So what’s a safe car doing on a race track? That’s because the Volvo S60 Polestar is a pure performance car that tears up the asphalt, going from 0 to 100 kmph in just 4.7 seconds. It has the genes inherited from Volvo’s performance division, Polestar.  

The Volvo S60 sedan has always looked good: it carries sharp and elegant style cues that lend to it a voguish appeal. The S60 Polestar brings more racy characteristics to the sedan while being purposeful in its incorporation. The front splitters have been redesigned to look sporty, and at the same time, restrict the amount of airflow under the sedan. The S60 Polestar also features skirting all around and gets a rear spoiler and diffuser that increases the downforce, in turn aiding tyre grip and control over the sedan. 

Volvo has also added Polestar engineered rims. Other aesthetic changes to the exterior come in the form of the Polestar badges on the trunk and the grille. 

Inside the cabin, Volvo has added sport seats that look slick and are also designed to keep you well ensconced. Add to that a racy-looking steering wheel that gets brushed aluminum finish and has identical styling cues to the standard S60. 

Even the start-up image has been tweaked to display the Polestar badge, even as the company has made minor changes under it — modifications that include the door panels, centre stack, carpets, door sill molds, gear knob, gear knob stick cover, arm rest and sport pedals. The cabin feels premium and rich with an exquisite blend of materials adorning the spaces inside the sedan. 

The new Volvo S60 Polestar gets a 2.0 litre, 4-pot, supercharged, turbocharged motor. Despite having a smaller engine capacity, power and torque figures have seen a jump over the previous version. The gentlest tap on the accelerator makes this sedan lunge forward. The engine has been mated to an 8-Speed AWD automatic transmission. The AWD setup is marginally biased to the rear wheels, thus making for a very sporty drive. Volvo has also added a gear hold function to the S60 Polestar, so you can push the engine in a single gear — the way it would be in a manual transmission. 

It also enables you to turn off most driver aides like stability control and traction control; there is minimal intrusion from these control systems, making it truly a driver’s car. The Volvo S60 Polestar gets kits like ABS, advanced stability control and dynamic stability traction control. 

Among other safety features, Volvo has chosen the S60 Polestar to incorporate its collision warning with full auto brake and pedestrian detection system. Other radar-based safety features that have been incorporated include adaptive cruise control, lane departure warning, blind spot detection with cross traffic alert, city safety and park pilot assist. All these features go a long way in making the S60 Polestar one of the safest cars on Indian roads, or for that matter even on a race track. 

Reports: Motown India; www.motownindia.com