2016 Volvo V60 Polestar first drive

Since Volvo bought tuning firm Polestar last year, it has decided to set its new team to work changing the fundamentals of the Volvo V60 Polestar wagon.

So what’s new? Well, the biggest change is the engine. Polestar has ousted the heavy six-cylinder engine and instead, dropped in the lighter 2.0-litre four-cylinder engine from the XC90 T8 hybrid – minus the electric motor, that is. That has taken 24kg off the front axle, helping to balance the Polestar’s weight more evenly, and has reduced the overall weight by 20kg. Tick.

If an engine from a hybrid SUV sounds dull, it needn’t. It’s double-whooshed with both turbocharging and supercharging, and pumping in all that air and fuel means it now produces a worthy 362bhp. That’s 17bhp more than before, although there’s a bit less torque. Still, another tick.

But simply adding boost is for amateurs, so there are new internals to consolidate the performance gains and stop the engine from detonating prematurely the minute you hit the 7000rpm limiter. The standard conrods and camshafts have been binned for trickier items, plus a less suffocating air intake, filter, and a 3.0in stainless exhaust help it to breathe. Yet more ticks.

It doesn’t stop there, either. The same Borg Warner four-wheel drive system now defaults to 50/50 torque distribution in its sportier settings, which give the new eight-speed automatic gearbox edgier settings for quicker shifts.

The steering is now electrically assisted with unique calibration, and while the stiffer springs and manually adjustable Öhlins shocks are a carryover from the old car, at the front the settings are tweaked to reflect the slim-line engine. If you include the carbonfibre strut brace, bigger six-pot brakes and Michelin Pilot Super Sport tyres, that’s now many, many more ticks.

You might think that with that little lot, this would be a track-day marvel, but Polestar's engineers don’t consider it so. Instead, they want us to view it as a quick but very usable road car, which is the philosophy Polestar will embody from now on.

In Comfort mode, the engine is pretty muted and the gearbox slurs through its ratios with no great sense of urgency. But select Sport mode - or Sport +, which aims to keep the engine above 4000rpm when using the gearbox as a full auto for better response and engine braking – and the throttle and gearbox react faster, accompanied by an additional bark from the exhaust as the baffles open up. You certainly feel the sharper shifts, but they still aren’t dual-clutch quick, and using the paddles is the best method if you really want to crack on.

When you do, the Polestar is quick, but it won’t make you blasphemous the first time you gun it off the line. Despite the supercharger, it’s a little laggy to begin with and doesn’t do much below 2000rpm. You need to add another 1000rpm before it's properly into its stride, after which it builds pace exponentially as the revs climb, with a pleasant rasp at full chat.

There are three steering modes – which require delving into the settings to change - but if you dislike artificially heavy helms, the Comfort setting is the best judged. It loads up nicely as you pile on the lock, but it’s not particularly feelsome.