Polestar only for the lucky few

Being in a class almost of its own the Polestar S60 doesn’t go up directly against the BMW M3 and Mercedes-AMG C63 in terms of performance and price, but the BMW 340i is probably the closest competitor from the German set, although the new Volvo has the advantage of AWD and extremely generous standard specifications with no option of fancy add-ons, unlike the German threesome’s long lists of pricy optional extras.

The Subaru WRX STI could be considered because of its AWD, but then it is not quite as fast, comfortable or safe as the S60 Polestar. The forthcoming Audi S4 quattro would be another possibility but that’s not available yet.

Power and cling

The S60 T6 AWD Polestar Geartronic (to call it by its full pedigree) is armed with a 3.0-litre twin-turbo engine which produces a hefty 258kW and 500Nm via six-speed auto transmission – a combination which is good enough to propel this Volvo rocket from 0-100km/h in 4.9 seconds and on to a top speed of 250km/h.

But power is no good without cling and here, too, the Swedish flyer excels, thanks to the fact that it puts power down via all four wheels. The result is a solidly bolted to the tarmac feel of utter confidence, even if hard pushed through the corners. Some might find the suspension too taut for comfort on daily commuter trips, particularly as this goes hand in hand with audible tyre noise, but this car is made for performance, so the hard ride and tyre noise are small sacrifices to make for the Polestar’s superior performance delivery.

Performance and protection features include Stability and Traction Control, ABS with EBD, BAS and HAS, Lane Departure Warning, Front Collision Warning with Full Auto Brake, Cross Traffic Alert, six airbags and the rest all adding up to a five-star Euro NCAP safety rating. The nice thing about the Polestar is that although it wears racing overalls it does not lack in the fancies department and tick-offs include front and rear parking sensors, rear view camera, auto dual-zone climate control, 8-speaker Harman/Kardon sound system with Bluetooth, USB, aux, DVD/CD, voice control and radio, plus a sunroof and systems to heat the steering wheel and the front seats.

Parked at the kerbside the T6 Polestar doesn’t shout wild performance but there are obvious pointers such as bright Rebel Blue paintwork (on our test car), 20-inch alloys, sports leather seats, paddle shifters on the steering wheel, double-pipe Polestar exhaust outlets and prominent Brambo callipers front and rear.

Scorching performance

Out of city traffic and at play along twisting country roads the Polestar’s claws-in-the-tar grip and scorching performance (especially in Sport mode) produces a level of driving pleasure not found in many cars in this price range. Steering is sharp and direct and the cog-shifting happens so fast and slick that things happen at pace and performance levels that demand wide-awake driver focus.

With the Polestar, Volvo has created something quite special, sadly, only to be enjoyed by a lucky few because only 25 of these beauties are destined for this country and they were all pre-sold even before they arrived. There are no short-term plans in the pipeline for adding Polestar models to the other Volvo range of models although Polestar performance parts are available to dolly up V40, S/V60 and XC60 variants.

The Polestar is eye-wateringly expensive at R735,000 but it does include a five-year/100,000 km warranty and a five-year/100,000km full maintenance plan plus endless helpings of thrills and smiles that go with piloting this beauty.

The Polestar’s development has been on-going over the past few years with inputs from the Polestar C30 and S60 Concept cars as well as the S60 Australian race car. Volvo says many thousands of development kilometres have also already been driven in vastly different roads and weather conditions to test the Polestar road car.

Volvo has a long history with Polestar and the two companies have been working together in motor sport for the past 10 years. Volvo has now acquired 100% of the Polestar company which remains under the control of Christian Dahl, the former owner of Polestar, and the company has been renamed Polestar Cyan Racing. It is entering two Volvo S60 Polestar race cars in this year’s FIA World Touring Car Championship.