Secret Codes and a New Polestar

The Volvo V60 and S60 Polestar has been a wonderful vehicle to drive as a more powerful option. This appears to be an attempt from Volvo to follow in the same footsteps as BMW does with its M cars and Mercedes-Benz has in its AMG versions. While the Polestar from 2011 to 2015 has had a more powerful inline six-cylinder engine for us to enjoy it has been a balancing issue for the car which feels as if it has too much weight over the front axle and not enough balanced toward the rear. The new version of the Polestar promises to make changes to help us handle this challenge.

As we have seen with other vehicles, Volvo asked the question of why you can’t have both supercharging and turbocharging on a vehicle and answered it with an engine that can give us the power we want and use fewer cylinders. The new Polestar will be a beneficiary of this new engine which is an inline four-cylinder model that will make 367 horsepower, an increase of 22 horsepower over the outgoing six-cylinder version. Volvo has announced they will double the production of this car for us for the 2017 model year and will offer 1500 of them for our enjoyment.

This smaller engine does more than prove the benefits of both types of charging, but it decreases the weight of the car where it counts. The outgoing engine was transversely mounted which makes for a balancing issue and a more difficult ride. Shaving 44 pounds off the engine and 53 from the front axle area gives us a car that will have improved balance and handling that makes it much easier to drive and enjoy. Even though the new engine will also be mounted transversely this lower weight will make up for the difference in balance that was felt on the older model.

Other new features of the Polestar include a larger turbo, new connecting rods, a new camshaft, a larger intake and a beefier fuel pump. With all these changes under the skin this is a car that is expected to make the run to sixty mph in less than 4.7 seconds. A new eight-speed automatic transmission will also be used instead of the outgoing six-speed version. This new transmission will continue to send power in AWD fashion to give us the most handling and control we can ask for from this awesome car.

While you will find the typical drive selections there is a secret Sport+ mode on the Polestar. This can be accessed in a way that is a bit of a secret, but has been shared on social media, which means nothing is secret and you just have to search to find the “cheat code” to get to this driving mode. This mode will give you improved throttle mapping, shift points, shift speed, curve hold and wider open exhaust valves for an improved sport driving. Is the new Polestar going to find its way to your driveway; if so you better pay attention and act fast, the 1500 being offered by Volvo will be sold quickly.