This Straight-Six Powered Volvo V60 Polestar Is A Quirky Gem

With Ohlins dampers, upgraded brakes, over 400bhp on tap and a smattering of surprisingly cool gold bits, we like the look of the new S60 Polestar Engineered very much. We like the idea of the incoming V60 PE even more, but power output aside, what’s under the bonnet will be a bit of a downgrade compared to the car’s predecessor.

We’re talking about the old V60 Polestar’s 345bhp inline-six (used until a late update saw it switched for a newer and vastly less interesting twin-charged inline-four). What made this hottest V60 so odd was how the engine was mounted: this long six-cylinder engine was installed transversely.

Pop the bonnet on one of these things, and you’ll wonder how the engineers managed such a feat: it looks a hell of a squeeze in there. But we’re glad it was possible - the surprisingly aggressive turbo six is arguably the car’s defining feature.

The suspension - where again, Ohlins dampers are employed - was a little on the firm side, but that’s half the reason we liked it so much when testing it a few years ago. We were worried it was going to be a bit soft and a bit meh, and yet it delivered a satisfyingly visceral driving experience.

At nearly £50,000 a pop these shouty Swedes seemed expensive next to the likes of the Audi S4 Avant and BMW 335i/340i Touring, but for that sum Volvo would fit pretty much everything you could ever need. You know, just to further hammer home that is this was a different proposition to the more obvious German fast estates and their terrifyingly long options lists.

The good news is you won’t have to pay anything like £50,000 for one of these now: the cheapest are now less than half that figure. This 2015 example is up for £25,998, and has done just 26,000 miles in its three years on Planet Earth. Sure, in an ideal world we’d want one in Rebel Blue, but it looks smartly understated in silver.

Tempted?