2016 VolvoS60 Polestar

By: Alex Forrest

Vehicle safety is undoubtedly Volvo’s calling card, but it does have another side.

Like its now-defunct fellow Swedish manufacturer Saab, Volvo’s interest in sports and competitive driving goes back decades.

Today, Volvo’s performance arm is Polestar, a Swedish vehicle tuning company Volvo has been working with since 1996. In July this year, Volvo bought 100 per cent of the Polestar business. 

For now, we have the V40 Polestar and this, the S60 Polestar. 

Of all markets outside Sweden, Australia has the longest history with Polestar Volvos. Australia took the first 50 of the limited edition production S60 Polestar cars in 2013 as a test, ahead of the model being introduced to other markets worldwide.

What we have here now is the third generation of those cars, the 2015 S60, which is also available in wagon form as the V60 Polestar.

For the 2015 model, the brakes have undergone significant upgrades and now include six-piston Brembo callipers and 371mm front ventilated discs.

This increased braking capacity is exerted on larger 20-inch wheels (19-inches previously) wrapped with wider 245mm tyres (235mm previously).

The stainless steel active exhaust system has also been thoroughly revised.

When sports mode is selected, the already free-flowing system opens up even further, increasing the growl of the transversely-mounted, 3.0-litre turbocharged straight six-cylinder engine.