RE: Driven: Volvo S60 Polestar concept
Discussion
I love the idea of someone coming in and kicking over the apple cart of the established order. Competition making things better and all that. Good stuff.
Mind you, I would like to know what a production version of this car would cost, because its not that hard to get other turbo cars to 500 bhp. An STI with some mods could easily get 500bhp, for less than 40k total, and this is the price of the DONOR volvo, before the upgrade to this level.
I love it, for sure, but it needs to be realistically priced. No point building something if the business case fails. That would make it a non starter, which would be a shame.
Mind you, I would like to know what a production version of this car would cost, because its not that hard to get other turbo cars to 500 bhp. An STI with some mods could easily get 500bhp, for less than 40k total, and this is the price of the DONOR volvo, before the upgrade to this level.
I love it, for sure, but it needs to be realistically priced. No point building something if the business case fails. That would make it a non starter, which would be a shame.
k-ink said:
Next!
Seems to work appropriately in a range of VAG offerings with good praise across many segments; the Golf R, Veyron and Aventador all use Haldex, and they can engage a full lock if required so with my knowledge of it theres little against it now. And the review speaks fondly of it's work.Love the car, but as much as I do I cant really get worked up about it until I see what they really propose for a more credible model sales wise. The Polestar colour is brilliant but I cant imagine those in the market for one would largely agree, on the other hand the styling almost certainly needs to be more aggressive. And of course at the moment theres no real indication as to what the specifications will be. That aside really hope this one pops up on the newsfeed soon with some answers!
Great to see this getting such a positive response - it really is an impressive piece of kit.
Couple of things to note though, firstly ref. the 'dreaded' Haldex differential some seem dismissive of - the system in this car is a completely new active, computer controlled centre and rear diff (the 'Haldex 5' mentioned in the copy) with variable lock-up as configurable by our mythical Sven with the laptop. So, as I understand it, more 'proactive' than the 'reactive' type of system most of us associate with the VAG Haldex 4WD systems. Their race driver Robert said that 'Sven' could - and has during devlopment - played around with different settings and torque splits, the massive grin on his face as he described this suggesting a considerably more rear-drive feel is within the scope of the system.
The price is a bit of a red herring too. As some have correctly identified, it's a one-off prototype and someone just happened to like it enough to be willing to pay what they were asking for it. Fair play - they deserve a hearty round of applause!
Finally, we had a quick scoot around with the 329hp Polestar S60 and though obviously not as focused as the full beans one it isn't half bad and maintains some of the playful character. And is somewhat more attainable!
Couple of things to note though, firstly ref. the 'dreaded' Haldex differential some seem dismissive of - the system in this car is a completely new active, computer controlled centre and rear diff (the 'Haldex 5' mentioned in the copy) with variable lock-up as configurable by our mythical Sven with the laptop. So, as I understand it, more 'proactive' than the 'reactive' type of system most of us associate with the VAG Haldex 4WD systems. Their race driver Robert said that 'Sven' could - and has during devlopment - played around with different settings and torque splits, the massive grin on his face as he described this suggesting a considerably more rear-drive feel is within the scope of the system.
The price is a bit of a red herring too. As some have correctly identified, it's a one-off prototype and someone just happened to like it enough to be willing to pay what they were asking for it. Fair play - they deserve a hearty round of applause!
Finally, we had a quick scoot around with the 329hp Polestar S60 and though obviously not as focused as the full beans one it isn't half bad and maintains some of the playful character. And is somewhat more attainable!
Mike Gill said:
My mate works at Volvo and says it could well be produced as the C30 was too similar to the RS500 which is of course owned by Ford, the S60 Polestar doesn't have a Ford equivalent. I think it looks awsome! Nice to see some different M3 C Class RS4 rivals! Happy Days! 
So Geely don't have a S60 equivalent then? 
Dan Trent said:
Great to see this getting such a positive response - it really is an impressive piece of kit.
Couple of things to note though, firstly ref. the 'dreaded' Haldex differential some seem dismissive of - the system in this car is a completely new active, computer controlled centre and rear diff (the 'Haldex 5' mentioned in the copy) with variable lock-up as configurable by our mythical Sven with the laptop. So, as I understand it, more 'proactive' than the 'reactive' type of system most of us associate with the VAG Haldex 4WD systems. Their race driver Robert said that 'Sven' could - and has during devlopment - played around with different settings and torque splits, the massive grin on his face as he described this suggesting a considerably more rear-drive feel is within the scope of the system.
The price is a bit of a red herring too. As some have correctly identified, it's a one-off prototype and someone just happened to like it enough to be willing to pay what they were asking for it. Fair play - they deserve a hearty round of applause!
Finally, we had a quick scoot around with the 329hp Polestar S60 and though obviously not as focused as the full beans one it isn't half bad and maintains some of the playful character. And is somewhat more attainable!
A bit like the Japs were doing 10 years ago with ACD/AYC and ATTESA Couple of things to note though, firstly ref. the 'dreaded' Haldex differential some seem dismissive of - the system in this car is a completely new active, computer controlled centre and rear diff (the 'Haldex 5' mentioned in the copy) with variable lock-up as configurable by our mythical Sven with the laptop. So, as I understand it, more 'proactive' than the 'reactive' type of system most of us associate with the VAG Haldex 4WD systems. Their race driver Robert said that 'Sven' could - and has during devlopment - played around with different settings and torque splits, the massive grin on his face as he described this suggesting a considerably more rear-drive feel is within the scope of the system.
The price is a bit of a red herring too. As some have correctly identified, it's a one-off prototype and someone just happened to like it enough to be willing to pay what they were asking for it. Fair play - they deserve a hearty round of applause!
Finally, we had a quick scoot around with the 329hp Polestar S60 and though obviously not as focused as the full beans one it isn't half bad and maintains some of the playful character. And is somewhat more attainable!
rhinochopig said:
Dan Trent said:
Great to see this getting such a positive response - it really is an impressive piece of kit.
Couple of things to note though, firstly ref. the 'dreaded' Haldex differential some seem dismissive of - the system in this car is a completely new active, computer controlled centre and rear diff (the 'Haldex 5' mentioned in the copy) with variable lock-up as configurable by our mythical Sven with the laptop. So, as I understand it, more 'proactive' than the 'reactive' type of system most of us associate with the VAG Haldex 4WD systems. Their race driver Robert said that 'Sven' could - and has during devlopment - played around with different settings and torque splits, the massive grin on his face as he described this suggesting a considerably more rear-drive feel is within the scope of the system.
The price is a bit of a red herring too. As some have correctly identified, it's a one-off prototype and someone just happened to like it enough to be willing to pay what they were asking for it. Fair play - they deserve a hearty round of applause!
Finally, we had a quick scoot around with the 329hp Polestar S60 and though obviously not as focused as the full beans one it isn't half bad and maintains some of the playful character. And is somewhat more attainable!
A bit like the Japs were doing 10 years ago with ACD/AYC and ATTESA Couple of things to note though, firstly ref. the 'dreaded' Haldex differential some seem dismissive of - the system in this car is a completely new active, computer controlled centre and rear diff (the 'Haldex 5' mentioned in the copy) with variable lock-up as configurable by our mythical Sven with the laptop. So, as I understand it, more 'proactive' than the 'reactive' type of system most of us associate with the VAG Haldex 4WD systems. Their race driver Robert said that 'Sven' could - and has during devlopment - played around with different settings and torque splits, the massive grin on his face as he described this suggesting a considerably more rear-drive feel is within the scope of the system.
The price is a bit of a red herring too. As some have correctly identified, it's a one-off prototype and someone just happened to like it enough to be willing to pay what they were asking for it. Fair play - they deserve a hearty round of applause!
Finally, we had a quick scoot around with the 329hp Polestar S60 and though obviously not as focused as the full beans one it isn't half bad and maintains some of the playful character. And is somewhat more attainable!
Kawasicki said:
anybody?
Haldex type transmissions should be 50%, i dont know specificly about strenght, you seldom see them blowing up. But maybe you could overheat the clutches. About paying a lot for a Haldex car, dont forget the veyron have haldex to 
But the cost of the car cant be compared to a production car, thats just stupid.
I really hope volvo makes some good decisions and use this opportunity this time..
Edited by CedricN on Thursday 21st June 06:37
CedricN said:
Kawasicki said:
anybody?
Haldex type transmissions should be 50%, i dont know specificly about strenght, you seldom see them blowing up. But maybe you could overheat the clutches. About paying a lot for a Haldex car, dont forget the veyron have haldex to But the cost of the car cant be compared to a production car, thats just stupid.
I really hope volvo makes some good decisions and use this opportunity this time..
Edited by CedricN on Thursday 21st June 06:37
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