Are you in search of something truly special in the realm of luxury performance vehicles? Look no further because we’ve got just the car for you – the 2024 Volvo V60 Recharge Polestar Engineered. But before we delve into the details of this all-wheel-drive, full-on performance wagon, let’s take a moment to appreciate Volvo’s journey.
Remember those iconic boxy wagons of the 1980s? Volvo has come a long way since then. While the wagon may have seemed to fade into obscurity, Volvo has redefined it with a touch of luxury and a dash of performance. And with the Volvo V60 Recharge Polestar Engineered, Volvo has truly outdone itself.
In a market dominated by SUVs, Volvo stands out by offering not just any wagon, but a performance wagon. While other brands may have their own high-performance wagons, such as the Audi RS6 Avant and the Mercedes-AMG E63S Wagon, there’s something uniquely captivating about the Polestar Engineered Volvo V60.
Table of Contents
Volvo V60 Exterior Design:
Let’s start with the exterior design. The familiar Volvo shape has been given a contemporary twist, with sleek lines and a bold presence. At the front, the signature Thor’s hammer-style LED headlights command attention, while the gloss black grille exudes elegance. Functional aerodynamic elements, such as the vents and intercooler, hint at the performance prowess within.
Beneath the hood lies a powertrain that combines turbocharged and electric power to deliver an exhilarating driving experience. The 455 horsepower and 523 lb-ft of torque propel the Volvo V60 from 0 to 60 mph in just 3.8 seconds, while the 18.8 kWh batteries pack offers up to 44 miles of pure electric range. And with an impressive 74 MPGe combined, efficiency is never compromised.
Step inside, and you’re greeted by a luxurious interior that blends Scandinavian design with cutting-edge technology. The Bowers & Wilkins premium sound system fills the cabin with crystal-clear audio, while the integrated 9-inch infotainment display puts all your essential controls at your fingertips. And with features like heated seats, panoramic sunroof, and advanced safety systems, every journey is a pleasure.
But where the V60 truly shines is on the road. Whether you’re navigating city streets or carving through winding mountain roads, the Polestar Engineered V60 delivers a driving experience like no other. With its precise handling, powerful brakes, and adaptive suspension, it’s a joy to drive in any situation.
And let’s not forget about practicality. With over 26 cubic feet of cargo space, expandable to 61 cubic feet with the rear seats folded, the V60 is as versatile as it is exhilarating. Whether you’re hauling groceries or luggage for a weekend getaway, there’s plenty of room for everything you need.
The 2024 Volvo V60 Recharge Polestar Engineered is more than just a luxury performance vehicle – it’s a statement of Scandinavian craftsmanship, innovation, and passion for driving. So why settle for ordinary when you can experience the extraordinary? Take the wheel of the V60 today and elevate your driving experience to new heights.
The Volvo V60 has stood the test of time, aging gracefully like a fine wine. But can this elegant contender hold its own against the German competition, including the BMW 3 Series estate and Audi A4 Avant? Let’s delve into its features to find out.
Under the bonnet lies a powerful yet efficient two-liter four-cylinder turbocharged petrol engine, complemented by mild hybrid technology. With 177 horsepower and 265 newton meters of torque, it offers a smooth and responsive drive, whether you’re cruising on the highway or tackling city streets.
Step into the spacious cabin, and you’ll find ample legroom, headroom, and luxurious seating for a comfortable journey. The interior exudes elegance with driftwood panels and premium materials that elevate the driving experience.
Volvo V60 Features:
Practicality is a key feature of the Volvo V60, with a generous 529-liter boot space that can accommodate all your cargo needs. Fold down the back seats, and you’ll have even more room for larger items, making it perfect for long road trips or everyday errands.
The intuitive infotainment system, featuring a portrait-style touchscreen, provides easy access to essential functions, including navigation and entertainment. While the absence of physical climate control buttons may take some getting used to, the system’s simplicity and responsiveness are commendable.
On the road, the V60 impresses with its smooth and refined driving dynamics. The suspension absorbs bumps effortlessly, ensuring a comfortable ride even on rough terrain. With precise steering and minimal body roll, it offers a sense of confidence and stability, making it an ideal choice for both daily commutes and weekend getaways.
In terms of performance, the Volvo V60 delivers a balanced blend of power and efficiency. While it may not match the sportiness of its German counterparts, its focus on comfort and serenity sets it apart in its own right. Plus, with improved fuel economy thanks to its mild hybrid technology, it strikes a compelling balance between performance and sustainability.
With a starting price of £42,000 in the UK, the Volvo V60 offers excellent value for money in the premium estate segment. Its combination of style, practicality, and comfort makes it a worthy contender against its German rivals, proving that luxury doesn’t have to come at a premium.
In conclusion, if you’re in the market for a stylish and versatile estate car that prioritizes comfort and refinement, the Volvo V60 is certainly worth considering. Embrace the timeless elegance of Swedish design and experience the joy of driving a true classic.
Volvo V60 review: Station wagon to rule station wagons?
The second generation Volvo V60 is a competitor to the BMW 3 Series Touring and Audi A4 Avant. It has better proportions and technology and is more modern than before.
Think Volvo and what do you think? We bet that the top three words include safety, Sweden and station wagon. Volvo’s history is full of combi models (and safe ones at that). The first one came to the UK back in 1953, and since then a third of all Volvo cars sold have been station wagons.
But station wagons are no longer fashionable. In recent years, it has been SUVs – or XCs in Volvo’s parlance – that has driven the Swedish brand’s revival. Undeterred, Volvo unveiled the stunning V90 in 2016, but now Volvo is kicking the hatchbacks up a gear and returning to its heart with the new Volvo V60.
Our quick assessment
If you read a lot about cars, you may have heard people say that Volvo is on a roll right now. And the Volvo V60 offers no reason to change that claim. It’s everything a Volvo really should be – sophisticated, safe, a little different – and adds a stunning exterior, a brilliant cabin, a decent ride and impressive technology to its list of attributes.
Maybe it’s overexposed, but with the exception of a new seat interior, we wish Volvo had added something a little different to the Volvo V60. Because it feels very much like the XC/S/V90 and the XC60 model in combi form. Blindfolded, you could sit in any of these cars and not know the difference. Many will like it – in some ways the V60 gets you a £50,000 car for £30,000 – but it would have been nice to get some different options for trim, rims and finish.
The biggest disappointment is that the Volvo V60- despite class-leading space – doesn’t actually make the hatchback any better than an Audi, BMW or Mercedes today. But that doesn’t make it a bad car, and if you’re looking for the opposite of German sporty aggressiveness and are primarily looking for a good-looking space in which to plow the highways or transport your family, look no further. Since there is no hatchback version of the Alfa Giulia, Lexus IS or Jag XE, Volvo has the German alternative market for small hatchbacks to itself.
What is a Volvo V60?
The V60 is Volvo’s new mid-size model, occupying what a car dealer might call the “junior executive” segment. Yuk. However, this Volvo is far too elegant for that kind of talk.
The easier way to classify it is to say it is the direct competitor to the BMW 3 Series Touring, Audi A4 Avant and Mercedes C-Class Estate. These competitors dominate this market across Europe and are firm favorites with those climbing the corporate ladder or well-to-do middle-class families who want the right brand of car (and the right carriage to move Henry and Olivia and the dog to the South of France in August).
Volvo V60 Best SUV:
The new V60 is a direct replacement for the previous Volvo V60- a car that never quite got it right, as it was a little too small (a Volvo station wagon with less space than other station wagons, dammit!) and a little too normal in the way it drives, look and be equipped. The new Volvo V60 is bigger with what Volvo says is class-leading headroom and rear legroom, plus the largest boot in the category (529 liters with the seats up, 1,444 liters with the seats down).
Momentum or Inscription?
The V60 is being launched in the UK in a piecemeal fashion. First of all, you will only be able to get the diesel versions D3 (150 hp) or D4 (190 hp) or the petrol version T5 (247 hp). And only in Momentum (entry-level version) or Inscription (luxury version). In addition to the first deliveries in the fall of 2018, Volvo will add R-Design trim (sporty) and a CC version (quasi-off road), probably additional gasoline engines with lower power and definitely at least one plug-in hybrid model (T6).
All is not lost if you have set your heart on something sporty, powerful and efficient. Volvo’s D4 diesel – which is the one we’re reviewing here – is nothing to write home about, but it matches BMW’s ’20d’ variants and Audi’s 2.0 TDi. The Volvo V60 gives basically the same effect and is a little quieter than any of these German models.
In addition, all Volvo V60 models are well equipped: there is a 9-inch screen, LED headlights with “Thor’s hammer” and drive mode variability as standard. Inscription models have leather seats, 18-inch wheels and front/rear parking sensors.
And there are Pro versions of every trim level, which add a lot of extras for less than it would cost if you ticked a bunch of boxes on the options list yourself. Prices start at £31,810 for the D3 Momentum with manual transmission. A D4 Inscription Pro auto, like the one we drove, costs £40,600. Finance deals are available for £279 per month. The V60 has the best predicted residual value after three years of any car in its class, so it’s a solid resale investment.
Emotions in the real world
The press release is over, how is it actually?
Overall extremely nice. Built on the same scalable architecture as the XC90 , V/S90 and XC60 , the Volvo V60 follows in the footsteps of its bigger brothers, with a highly sophisticated exterior and interior design that looks super smart but avoids the aggressiveness of the aforementioned German models.
The V60 also drives with real quality. It’s focused primarily on refinement and a laid-back, laid-back feel, which may not deliver the same sporty thrills as a BMW, but it’s still appealing and easy to get along with.
However, our 19-inch wheel-equipped Inscription Pro test car gave it a hectic ride. Despite being fitted with adaptive suspension, it never quite settled down on the fragmented roads of Northumberland and North Yorkshire, which is a shame as the car is otherwise an exceptional mileage eater and, unlike Volvos of previous generations, it doesn’t fall to pieces on a country road. You can row the Volvo V60 at a decent pace, it drives straight and correct, turns well, has plenty of grip and generally inspires confidence.
A short ride in a smaller Momentum car with 17-inch wheels revealed a much better ride. But in our opinion, the smaller wheels ruin the Volvo V60 good looks, so we’d accept a worse ride for the sake of aesthetics (disgusting, yes, we know).
The D4 diesel engine is refined and fast. Easy overtaking is a given, while it managed 44mpg on our test route. The CO2 figure is 117g/km, which doesn’t sound too good until you realize it’s the new WLTP test (which has to be certified this autumn). And in combination with the 8-speed automatic transmission, it is smooth and quiet. We tried a manual D3 and found it better than expected, but beware the lack of a proper clutch pedal support, which is a serious omission for a car with premium ambitions.
Other Volvo features are standard: there’s plenty of space, the refinement and lack of wind noise is fantastic; the seats are very comfortable and highly adjustable with an extendable thigh pad on the Inscription model; the dials are easy to see, the things you touch in the cabin feel of good quality; and there are three levels of stereo options (including the £3,000 Bowers and Wilkins system fitted to our test car, which sounds absolutely fantastic).
Skills for estate cars
While the Volvo has both space and looks – which isn’t always a given these days, unless you’re a hatchback connoisseur – you probably need some convincing as to why you should buy a hatchback like the Volvo V60 over an equivalent SUV, like the XC60.
The big headline is the price: the Volvo V60 is as big inside as the XC60 (and actually longer), but starts almost £6,000 less than the SUV. It’s a little unfair considering the XC60 doesn’t have a D3 engine, but even comparing engine-to-engine comparisons, the difference is roughly 4.5k pounds. And for that you can buy some really nice extras, like the Pro package or the fantastic stereo.
Volvo V60 review:
However, it is when it comes to practical aspects that the station wagons are really the best. BMW and Audi both have some really clever extras to entice you into a Touring or Avant. Split-opening window glass, smart netting and storage functions, rear parcel shelves (which automatically open and move out of the way and then retract into place) are just some of the benefits you get in a 3 Series or A4.
All V60s have an electric tailgate, which is a nice feature to have. You can get a net and fold up the floor of the tailgate to bungee backpacks against. These are optional features, though, and while there are a couple of molded-in hooks on the side of the boot for bags, there’s no Skoda bling here like a pull-out flashlight or Velcro divider.
And while the Volvo V60 parcel shelf folds up out of the way like a 3 Series Touring, it doesn’t fold back down when you close the trunk like it does in an Audi A4 Avant. We lost count of the number of times we got back in the driver’s seat and saw that the rearview mirror was black – blocked by the shelf that was still up.
These are small things, but having lived with a few estates and families of various ages, we know how much easier they make life. And as the self-proclaimed kings of hatchbacks, we think Volvo should be beating the competition in this kind of game, not lagging behind.
Volvo V60 Scandinavian details
A characteristic of all newer Volvo cars is the quality of the cabin. It’s a lovely place to sit in the V60 too – and we’d recommend checking out the City Weave/Charcoal Blonde textile upholstery found on Momentum models, as it’ll make you forget you ever wanted leather. The dashboard is also appropriately Scandinavian, with, among other things, a fine trim in driftwood.
The leather steering wheel feels high quality and everything closes, moves and clicks with the precision you expect from a German car, but which is actually missing from some of the lower spec BMWs and Mercs.
Go Sweden! The Inscription models, which have leather, give you a choice of black, amber (blonde), dark brown and oyster gray leather, so the message is that you don’t have to stick to the German-language color options of black on black with a touch of black.
As on all new Volvos, Senses, the 9-inch color portrait touch screen, is the primary interface. For being a touch screen system, it works pretty well. You have to use it to do pretty much everything – from setting up the navigation to heating the seat and selecting music tracks. But thankfully it’s fast and responsive, and the menu structures are fairly simple until you get into the third level of the menu layers.
It’s also well equipped: navigation is standard, as is DAB, a couple of USB ports and a Bluetooth connection (which paired instantly and provided crystal clear sound). Volvo will let you pay £300 for Android Auto/Apple CarPlay connectivity , but at least you can get both (that’s a note to you, in case you’re wondering, BMW).
Volvo now really considers itself a full-fledged premium brand (not without reason, we should add), and with that comes an options list as long as your arm and easy to have a field day with (read: end up with a V60 for 55 000 pounds).
We’d recommend trying to avoid excessive options, although there are important things to look at, such as the £2,000 Xenium pack (surround cameras, panoramic roof), Volvo’s £1,625 upgraded Intellisafe Pro pack (which adds dead-end detection angle, cross-traffic alert and Pilot Assist – an adaptive cruise control system that can also steer the car for short periods and in traffic jams), and the £525 Winter Pack (Momentum only) for heated seats, washer jets and a headlight cleaning system.