Blimey
A transverse straight 6? Must be the only car on sale with that engine layout.
If it weren’t for the colour it would be something of a Q-car – a pragmatic small estate with lots of toys and a badge that says “I like quality, but I don’t want a German car”. But the colour, best described by Sniffpetrol as “Smurf Blue”, is the giveaway. Volvo call it “Rebel Blue” and my son thinks it's Manga Blue, but I …
You don't have to look far for more transverse straight 6s - there are at least two other Volvos with them (S80 and XC90)
Prefer the 5 cylinder exhaust note myself, though sadly the glorious symphony of the 850 exhaust note has been muted to a slightly rough sounding blandness in later cars :(
I found myself nodding in agreement with this article.
I don't have the V60, Polestar or otherwise, but I have what the article describes as its putative parent, the XC60. Great seats and a feeling of general solidity have always been a feature of Volvos for as long as I can recall. However the overall build quality seems to have taken a slow glide downwards since the Chinese took over. Driving around town last weekend, part of my sunroof spontaneously fell off and hit my wife on the head. Depending on your personal matrimonial situation, that may or may not be seen as a bad thing.
The LCD dash is kind of cool but it's more a gimmick than anything; you have 3 "themes" to choose from, but tbh I picked one and then stuck with it. Rarely do I find myself thinking "hmm, it's Tuesday, today I will go with the Eco theme for my dashboard".
Volvo engines are good but, as the article alludes, tend to be quite thirsty; mine has a 3.0L I-6 which pushes out 300bhp to the accompaniment of a giant sucking sound from the fuel tank. Meh, petrol's 49p/litre here so I don't care. I hear Volvo are moving to I-4 engines with various degrees of turbo/supercharging up and down their range, which will help.
Same Haldex system as the V60 in the review (AWD not "true" 4WD - maybe the article needs a tweak?); it's good inasmuch as it keeps the car planted solidly.
In terms of other common Volvo traits - yes, the bluetooth syncs quickly and works well, but the mass of buttons on the "floating" centre console are small, fiddly, and tricky to find whilst driving. Reach out for the heated-rear-screen button without looking and you might find yourself changing radio channel or turning off the parking sensors.
Not sure about this Polestar V60 specifically, but estate/SUV Volvos have one optional feature that appeals to my malicious side - a button on the console to automatically flip the rear seat head-rests downwards. To improve visibility, but it takes no account of whether the seats are occupied. Known in my family as the "if y'all don't shut up back there I will whack you on the back of the head" button. *grin*
"Meh, petrol's 49p/litre here so I don't care"
Where is this??? I want to move.
'Murrica. The Pacific Northwest - less kooky than California, less icy than Alaska. Better craft beer than just about anywhere outside a CAMRA convention. No sales tax. Friendly natives.
I did the $/US Gallon conversion just to blend in here. And probably screwed it up - if anyone cares to double-check my working, we're paying $2.80 per (US) gallon here for Premium right now. Was down as low as $2 earlier this year, muhahahaha!!1!
Flat six, transverse, still missing some wheels: BMW K1600GT
We had a 2008 Vulva and to say the DSG gearboxes are shit is a terrible understatement. The car is pleasant enough to drive if you're over 50 and happy wearing your flat cap but has NO street credibility.
When the gearbox started acting up our local Vulva dealer in M'head said "That'll be £5,500 please". I spit my fucking dummy out, and he explained "The DSG gearbox only have 1 failure mode due to them being chain driven continuously and that is completely replace the entire gearbox".
Search t'web and you'll find plenty of message boards with complaints -- Vulva knows all about this and laughs all the way to the bank with every sucker who buys one.
++++++
Pleased to say we were able to sell it and replaced it with a absolutely reliable Subaru Forester that's the bees knees without all the stupid bells & whistles. No hassle, no mess, no fuss and NO £5,500 bills!
If your Volvo dealer thinks you have a DSG gearbox with chain in it then I'd take it somewhere else.
Street credibility???? I thought it was only tards in poverty spec Audis that gave a shit about that.
It'll be a cold day in hell before I spend a vast amount of my hard-earned cash on ensuring the approval of random strangers.
Nope, not true. There's a white Polestar V60 sat in my local Volvo dealership. And very nice it looks too.
Although to be honest, if I was going to spend 50K of my own money I'd go for the D5, get all the specification goodies and have ~10K left over. Also, there's a Cross Country AWD variant of the V60 coming out soon...
I remember watching the first BTTC race on the telly and one of the wag commentators saying words to the effect of "Do they know this is the Touring car race, not the TOWING car race?"
Anyways, I was so impressed the next year I bought a 850 with the 2.5 20V engine, the T5 did not come out till 96 (I think).
So 20 years later, I still have the 850, still going strong.