Welcome to the United States Canadian border in Port Huron, Michigan. Behind me is the Blue Water Bridge. Beside me is a blue Volvo V60 Polestar. This is the last year for this generation of car, and while it is old, this performance wagon is still a blast to drive.
We see how the latest wagon compares to its rivals.
The current Volvo V60 has been on sale since 2010.
Volvo has announced a new diesel plug-in hybrid version of the V60 wagon, set to be offered as a limited edition at the 2015 Geneva Motor Show.
I must have been around Bar Mitzvah age when I was in the back of my parents' car on the highway as we passed a truck full of Volvo 850 T-5R wagons – half of them in black, half in banana yellow. It was one of the coolest things I'd ever seen: a whole gaggle of sleeper power wagons that were infinitely cooler than whatever minivan we were riding in. Hard to believe that was 20 years ago, but it was.
Volvo is bringing a model to the Los Angeles Auto Show that isn't afraid to get a little dirty. The Swedish automaker will finally unveil its V60 Cross Country crossover, and it has confirmed that the model will be available in North American markets shortly.
In the market for a Volvo V60, but can't decide between the Polestar version of the D6 Plug-in Hybrid? Well, chances are, if you're reading these tree-hugging pages, you've already made up your mind, but allow us to make the decision a little easier for you.
You know what we haven't posted in a long time? A very weird, car-related video. It's high time we address this failing.
We've got it all wrong. See, here in the United States, we take our children to school in minivans and crossovers, many of which have DVD players that allow each party inside the vehicle to completely ignore the others. For lack of a built-in DVD player, there are iPads, iPhones, iPods, Playstation Vitas, Nintendo 3DS and whatever other electronic device is gripping the youths of America.
With the rise in popularity of first the minivan and later the crossover as the default family vehicle, there have been about 20 years of children who have missed out on the joy of rear-facing jump seats in station wagons. It means kids today don't know the pleasure to be found in making faces or lewd gestures at other drivers while their parents can't see. Plus, they don't know the slightly nauseous feeling of watching the world pass by in reverse. However, a group of filmmakers look back with
Polestar Performance has been around since 1996, but until recently, it only did two things: manage Volvo motorsports operations and run a specialist consumer-facing side that built concept cars and boosted Volvo's turbocharged production cars by 15 to 60 horsepower. Five years ago, it fulfilled its long-held desire to engineer an actual production car, first creating theJonathon Ramsey
Lest anyone think Volvo's V60 Diesel Plug-in Hybrid is strictly for the leisurely, gas-sipping green-driver variety, the Swedish automaker is adding a sporty wrinkle. The R-Design package that Volvo added to some other models last year will now be an option for the V60 PHEV. Drag-racing surely awaits.
Whether we're talking XC90, S60 or V60, if Volvo sells it in the US, there is a decent chance that you will some day soon-ish be able to buy it with a plug-in hybrid powertrain. That's the message from Dean Shaw, VP Corporate Communications at Volvo Cars of North America, who spoke with AutoblogGr
When it comes to its plug-in hybrid SUVs, Volvo is willing to sacrifice a bit of range to go a lot further, in the global sense. The Swedish automaker started producing a diesel plug-in hybrid version of the V60 late last year but doesn't plan to make that model available around the world. Instead, Volvo Danny King
Turns out, people want a highly efficient Volvo. The Swedish automaker originally was going to offer only 1,000 of its first production diesel plug-in hybrid (PHEV), the V60 PHEV, but now it is apparently having trouble keeping up with demand.
For the 2014 model year, the Volvo product line is shrinking to just five models in the United States: the S60, S80, XC60, XC70 and XC90. This comes following the death of the Steven J. Ewing
Sometimes it takes smaller automakers a bit longer than the industry average to rotate and freshen their product lineups. Volvo has taken a big swing for the 2014 model year in that regard, and has brought along a full product portfolio of new cars.
