Volvo S60 Polestar comes with heaps of Swedish muscle
Volvo claims it to be the fastest road-going Volvo ever.
POLOKWANE – The new Volvo S60 Polestar is now available in South Africa with a limit of just 45 units.
Review joined the personnel of MGM Motors Volvo Polokwane along with their invited clients on Saturday for test drive sessions around the narrow and twisty Polokwane Short Circuit race track.
MGM Motors Volvo Polokwane’s brand manager JP Slement unleashed the beast within the Volvo on the track. He showed off the mind boggling acceleration and braking power of the S60 Polestar. Not to mention the unreal road handling characteristics which creates enough g-forces to make you feel light headed halfway through the lap.
Slement first lined-up for a “warm-up” lap before we descended on a hot lap. Coming out of the last second hand corner, Slement floored the acceleration pedal down the main straight.
The main straight of the circuit which is ultimately designed for cart racing is about 400 to 500m long, and we approached the first corner, a right hander, at 125km/h hour. With me having one eye on the speedometer and the other on a fast approaching corner, my heart raced as Slement slammed a foot on the brake. This was followed by a series of tight left and hand right corners with two hairpins. The twisty nature of this circuit gives you an idea of the all-wheel drive road handling characteristics of the S60 Polestar.
The comfortable yet sporty seats keeps the passenger and driver firm in their seats. Another feature that stands out is the fine balance Volvo achieves with its ride comfort. Labelled as a sports orientated car, Volvo found a way to offer sporty handling without compromising the overall ride comfort.
After another hot lap, I climbed out of the Volvo with wobbly legs, after having to contain the g-forces along each lap.
Engineered by Polestar, the performance arm of Volvo, the new S60 Polestar shares its genes with the company’s racing cars. The new 2.0-litre Drive-E turbocharged and supercharged petrol engine comes with 270 kW at 6 000 rpm and 470 Nm of torque available between 3 100 and 5 000 rpm. The Volvo S60 Polestar accelerates from 0-100 km/h in just 4.7 seconds. The top speed remains electronically limited to 250 km/h. A new eight-speed Geartronic automatic gearbox coupled with a BorgWarner all-wheel drive system manages power output to all four wheels that adds to the extraordinary road handling features.
To find out more about Volvo’s applauded sports performance car, read the full report in this week’s BONUS. For now, you can check out the gallery of the S60 Polestar track day.
