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Volvo means safety, right?  Absolutely.  But Volvo is no longer alone atop the safety universe.  Other vehicles have achieved similar safety ratings and prospective buyers need additional reasons to consider a Volvo than its safety reputation.  To solve this conundrum, Volvo Cars of North America turned to Swedish tuner Polestar.

In 1996, Volvo began a long-term relationship with a Swedish performance tuner – Polestar.  Polestar souped up Volvos for the European racing circuit.  And, now, Polestar has come to the USA through the offer of a chip enhancement for Volvo sedans and XSUVs.  Polestar can either be added at the Volvo port or as an accessory by your friendly Volvo dealer.   At the dealer it will set you back $1,295 and Polestar says the chipping should take about ten minutes.  You get a lot of bang for the buck.

If you get your Polestar upgrade when you take delivery of your new Volvo, it can be residualized in a lease or financed with the vehicle.  Volvo’s warranty and maintenance plans remain in place.  It’s pretty seamless.

Horsepower and Torque Upgrade The Polestar enhancement adds 23-horsepower and 29 lb ft of torque to Volvo C30 and C70 models equipped with the T5 5-cylinder engine.  This brings the power up from 227HP to 250HP.  It is also available on the 6-cylinder T6-equipped XC70, XC60, S60 adding 25-horsepower and 30 lb-ft of torque.  This brings the horsepower up from 300HP to 325HP and torque up from 325 lb-ft to 355 lb-ft.  Polestar is standard on the R-Design T6 XC60 and XC70 models.

Volvo Transformed You wouldn’t think that a 10% power and torque bump would do much for the driving performance of the cars, but it does.  The Polestar chipped Volvos are quick, feel more powerful and fun to drive.  These Volvos are not the “boxy, but good” Volvos of old.

About That Rectangle We can’t really figure out the logic of the blue Polestar rectangle.  At a glance it identifies a vehicle as having the Polestar upgrade.  This would be a point of pride for anyone springing for the upgrade.  But Volvo does not put the rectangle on the vehicles where Polestar is standard.  Huh?  For our money we’d spring for the extra $5 is would cost to slap the badge on the rear of the car.  The bragging rights are worth it.