Road test: 2015 Volvo S60 Polestar

We take Volvo’s fastest road car for a blast in its native Sweden.

The 2015 Volvo S60 Polestar has a 3.0L, six-cylinder turbo engine that will propel it from 0 to 100kph in 4.9 seconds. Courtesy Volvo

What comes to mind when you hear the name Volvo? Depending on where you hail from, you might be visualising a boxy 240 GL wagon with its battering-ram front and rear bumpers. Behind the wheel would be a hat-wearing pensioner puffing on a pipe while dressed in a tweed jacket with elbow patches.

But times have moved on since then – Volvo is no longer associated solely with fuddy-duddy drivers who have been enticed by the cars’ vault-like occupant protection levels. The Swedish marque now has an element of stylishness – and, dare I say it, even funkiness – about it. And despite the fact that China’s Geely has owned the company since 2010, its products still have a distinctly Scandinavian flavour.

But the Volvo I’m sampling today is a little extra-special. It’s the S60 Polestar, which is the fastest road car to date from the Gothenburg-based ­manufacturer.

Who or what is Polestar, I hear you ask? The quick answer is that it’s a motorsport specialist that has prepared all of Volvo’s race cars since 1996 (Volvo is highly active in motor racing across the globe).

The two firms extended their partnership from 2009 onwards as Polestar started carrying out engine optimisations on Volvo road cars, and the relationship was further strengthened in 2013 with the launch of the S60 Polestar – a go-faster offering that’s been given the full treatment. It has a tricked-up engine, suspension, brakes, wheels/tyres and interior.

So is Polestar Volvo’s answer to Mercedes-AMG and BMW’s M Division? Volvo and Polestar ­execs are quick to pour cold water on this notion, saying their offering was conceived to unleash its full performance envelope – which is sizeable – in all weather conditions. This was obviously a key criterion, given the climate in its home country.

The good news for us – and I promise you it is good news – is the S60 Polestar will launch in the Middle East in September, priced at a remarkably competitive Dh220,000, and that’s with all the trimmings.

So what do you get for the money? For starters, the 3.0L, six-cylinder turbo engine has been upgraded to eke out 344bhp and 500Nm, with a deep, throaty soundtrack provided by a pair of 3.5-inch tailpipes. The S60 Polestar isn’t bullet-fast, but 0 to 100kph in 4.9 seconds is pretty darn quick all the same, especially for a Volvo.

But it’s not just the magnitude of performance that counts, it’s the ease with which it can be laid down, even on a damp Ring Knutstorp, a twisty, gnarly little racetrack in the south of Sweden. Although only just over two kilometres long, there’s numerous elevation changes, blind crests and off-camber corners. Just the sort of place where a car with flaccid dynamics would be sorely exposed.

I expect the S60 Polestar to not fare particularly well here, especially as it weighs a lardy 1.8 tonnes and is derived from a donor car that’s hardly a class leader in terms of chassis excellence. But a hat tip is due to the Polestar crew here, because what they’ve achieved is little short of magic.

The addition of 80 per cent stiffer springs, race-derived Öhlins shock absorbers and 20-inch Polestar wheels has transformed the chassis into something that’s unrecognisable from the original. Chasing down the multiple Scandinavian touring car champion Thed Björk (who is piloting an identical car), I’m frankly quite alarmed at how resolutely the Polestar sticks to the damp tarmac, and how quickly we manage to circulate the perilous little track.

The S60 feels beautifully tied down, and the generous torque quota means there’s enough punch to scoot out of tight corners, with the Haldex all-wheel-drive system providing ample traction to ensure there isn’t any wheelspin or excessive stability-­control intervention (I turned it off in any case).

Repeatedly hauling up the 1.8-tonne beast isn’t an issue either, because the six-piston Brembo callipers clamp down hard on the 371-millimetre ventilated discs, even after sustained hot laps.

Among the other tweaks the Polestar gets are a bespoke front spoiler/splitter, along with a new rear spoiler and diffuser, all designed to help the car stay planted at high speed.

All told, the S60 Polestar is a far more capable car than I ­imagined. And the price tag seems almost impossibly cheap for a vehicle with this level of performance, not to mention its generous interior space.

The only real gripes are an ­interior that looks a tad low-rent, and an annoyingly fiddly and time-consuming interface for controlling the infotainment system and car settings.

However, the biggest problem the company’s Middle East suits will encounter is getting the message out that this is a Volvo with the ability to put a sizeable grin on your face – if you take the opportunity to actually get behind the wheel and give it the beans. I suggest you do exactly that.

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