Is the Volvo V60 Polestar Engineered the perfect car for enthusiasts?

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Be careful what you wish for. It’s a lesson at least as old as Aesop’s Fables but it holds as true today as ever.

Consider the Chizza, an American fast-food item seemingly made for TikTok that combines two all-time greats – fried chicken and pizza. A perfect pairing? According to many critics brave enough to stomach it, the Chizza is somehow less than the sum of its highly processed parts.

With the 2024 Volvo V60 Polestar Engineered, the Swedes have tried to make a Chizza-like combination of practicality and performance with a dash of ecofriendliness all wrapped up in a station wagon. It’s the sort of niche product that should be pure catnip for car critics and enthusiasts alike.

The mid-size V60 wagon has been warmed up by the good people at Polestar Engineered, Volvo’s house-brand hot-rodders, in the vein of BMW M or Mercedes-AMG. On paper at least, their machine ticks most of the car-enthusiast boxes: it’s a station wagon; it’s practical; it’s understated; it has a pointless overabundance of power; it’s a bit of an oddball; and did I mention it’s a wagon? They’re few and far between these days. While the Volvo lacks a manual gearbox (no surprise there), it makes up for it with a plug-in hybrid system to assuage any nagging climate guilt. Thanks to that hybrid-electric boost, this car is quick. Nobody would guess such a sleepy-looking Volvo can sprint to 100 kilometres an hour in 4.6 seconds.

The high-speed family hauler is certainly expensive at $80,939, but the only vaguely similar alternatives – an Audi RS6 Avant, AMG E63 wagon or Porsche Taycan Cross Turismo — are all nearly twice the price.

Compared to the previous Polestar tweaked V60, the 2024 model has a larger (14.7 kilowatt-hour net capacity) battery and a more powerful electric motor that can whip up 143 horsepower. It works the rear wheels while a two-litre turbocharged engine turns the front ones for a total of 455 horsepower and 523 lb-ft of torque. (The previous model made 415 horsepower and 494 lb-ft of torque.)

The more robust hybrid system now affords 64 kilometres of driving range under battery power alone. For some commuters, that’s enough juice to cover the daily grind without burning any gas. Fast and frugal.

But is it, like Chizza, somehow less than the sum of its sporty, crispy, crunchy, wagony, hybrid parts?

This speedy Swede is certainly good, but the flavours don’t quite go together. It never quite feels like a cohesive package.

That’s no fault of the complex plug-in hybrid powertrain, which is refined while delivering near-instant response and surprisingly enthusiastic acceleration.

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The main culprit is the rubbery and numb-feeling steering paired with a ride that is unnecessarily stiff for everyday driving. The ride is never jarring, but there’s simply no reason to make a family car, even a fast one, so stiffly sprung, especially when the steering feel is so subpar. Potential salvation lies with the manually adjustable Ohlins dampers. I drove the car in their default setting. Adjusting the dampers may be enough to relax the ride, but doing so isn’t as simple as pushing a button on the dashboard; it requires getting under the car, or, more likely, a trip to your local dealership.

Speaking of buttons, the V60 Polestar also lacks one for switching between EV, hybrid and high-power Polestar driving modes. Accomplishing that simple task takes three prods of the central touch screen.

I feel for the engineers in Gothenburg. On paper, they’ve given the gearheads everything we could want, and yet here we are nitpicking about a lack of buttons, steering feel and the final whisp of ride comfort.

To be clear, this speedy Swedish meatball is rather tasty, but it is not quite as delicious as diehard wagon enthusiasts might’ve hoped. Still, the Volvo’s flaws shouldn’t amount to deal-breakers for the small group of drivers who would even consider a fast and expensive station wagon from Volvo in the first place. And it will surely garner appreciative nods from automotive-literate onlookers wherever it goes.

If (and this is admittedly a big “if”) you have a parking spot to charge the Volvo overnight, it could even be considered eco-friendly. There’s nothing else like it for the money.

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Tech specs

2024 Volvo V60 Polestar Engineered

• Base price/as tested: $80,939/$80,939
• Motor/drive: Two-litre turbocharged plug-in hybrid/All-wheel drive
• Battery: 14.7 kilowatt-hour (net)
• Horsepower/torque (lb-ft): 455 / 523
• Power consumption (litres-equivalent per 100 kilometres): 3.0 in hybrid mode; or 7.6 litres per 100 kilometres
• Charging capacity: 3.7 kilowatts
• Curb weight: 2,041 kilograms
• Range: 64 kilometres
• Alternatives: Sporty station wagons are rare, let alone plug-in hybrid ones. At this price, there’s nothing else like it.

Looks

Still handsome, despite the design dating back to 2018.

Interior

The larger V90 has more useful interior storage. Here you can have any interior colour, so long as it’s black, with too much shiny black plastic. Other V60s come in an array of alternative colour choices, all of which make the cabin brighter and more luxurious.

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Performance

One of the smoother and more refined plug-in hybrid systems, offering instant EV-like response and (optional) one-pedal driving mode.

Technology

As with all plug-in hybrids, you’ll want a place to recharge it overnight. Enjoying the full benefits of the Volvo’s speed and electric power requires starting most days with a full battery. Charging on the go will be slow because the on-board charger is still the meagre 3.7-kilowatt unit, and not the faster 6.4-kilowatt on-board charger available outside North America, a representative for the company confirmed.

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Cargo

The plug-in hybrid system means there’s 471 litres of cargo space behind the second row versus 519 in the non-plug-in V60 Cross Country, but it shouldn’t matter for most drivers.

The verdict

It’s a minor miracle such a niche product exists. Long live fast, freaky station wagons. Total catnip for car enthusiasts. Quibbles aside, it’s an excellent jack-of-all-trades if you have a place to recharge it overnight.

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