Archive for October, 2014
BTCC 2014 Season Finale: Did Someone Say Night Race?
It is strange to think that as I sit down to write this article , darkness has fallen on the 2014 British Touring Car Championship. The series traveled the length and breadth of the country and in almost poetic fashion, came right back to where it all began to write the closing chapter of the year. However, one slight change from the season opener was the added challenge of the Grand Prix circuit for the drivers to master. Going into the final race weekend, Colin Turkington led by a staggering 50 points over nearest rival Jason Plato. Success was almost certain, but when the only man who can stop you is Jason Plato, truly anything is possible. And just to further add a dash of mystery into the mix, being the final race of the year it had become championship tradition that the weather would be anything but cooperative across the weekend. The stage was set. The weather was preparing its madness. It was time to fire those engines up, one last time.
And so it came down to it. Turkington vs Plato. BMW vs MG. Image Credit: BTCC.net
It took only until the start of qualifying for the famous final race weather to start rearing its beautifully ugly head. Qualifying was a wash of rain and slippery conditions, which in the early stages saw returning ex-champion Alain Menu take firm control. Do remember it was in the rain on the GP circuit in 1995 when a certain Alain Menu took his Renault Laguna to victory while the other competitors slid left right and center. Not to mention, Menu was fighting for victory in the Jack Sears Trophy, which awarded points per overtake; his closest rival remained the ever plucky Dave Newsham in the Ford. However, towards the end of the session the track began to dry and Jason Plato timed his run perfectly to place his MG firmly on pole position, with the added bonus of his team mate Tordoff riding tail gunner in 2nd. Qualifying was however brought to an early conclusion following an incident involving Dave Newsham which saw him lose control at Sheene Curve ending up in a dangerous position. The late surge by Turkington was then brought to an end, and he would line up 4th on the grid for the first race.
Even though Turkington led by 50 points, it was still possible for Jason Plato to win the championship. He would need to win all 3 races; in race one Turkington would have to finish no higher than 4th, and then be outscored by a further 21 in the second race, followed by.. You know what, let’s just say that for Plato to win it would take nothing short of a heavenly miracle from the hypothetical gods themselves.
Jack Goff was one of the early casualties of race one. Image Credit: Adam Johnson (Team Bombersports)
The first race began pretty well for Plato, with him and Tordoff charging off into the lead which Plato took pretty quickly, keeping Turkington behind. What did not go so well however was the start of the race for the rest of the field; an incident between Giovanardi and Shedden started a chain reaction of collisions that rather quickly brought the safety car out. Worst hit was the Volkswagen of Jack Goff who became airborne in the mayhem, and Matt Neal who had to be airlifted to hospital for precautionary checks as a result. The race brought with it further incident and safety cars as one would expect from the final race of the year. The standout driver of the race however could be no one else other than Rob Collard who drove from 23rd to an eventual 6th following a breathtaking overtake of the Ford of Giovanardi. Considering what the Ford driver has been like in the past, I was impressed that he did not decide to shovel Collard off for daring to pass him! As the end of the race came around, Turkington finished 3rd which was enough to make him the 2014 BTCC Champion! The best Plato could ask for now was a tie on points that Turkington would still edge due to his higher number of 1st and 2nd place finishes across the year.
The second championship meant a lot to Colin, as echoed in his words following the race:
“I suppose the main feeling is relief. We were ready to do battle until race three so I really wasn’t expecting to clinch the title so early in the day. I actually thought I was a point short when I crossed the line so I didn’t want to celebrate until I was absolutely sure. To be able to celebrate with the team and my family is a really proud moment. Lewis [son] wasn’t old enough to remember the first one and part of the reason of getting back into the BTCC was to do it for him, so I’m delighted.”
What with all the rain, Turkington still decided to add some champagne to the shower to celebrate his championship. Image Credit: BTCC.net
As soon as the dust (and clouds) had settled after race one, it was time for race two to get underway. And just to rub Plato’s face in it what with losing the championship to a RWD car and all, Turkington got a start to rival that of the Big Bang and rocketed off the line into the lead. It was clear however that Plato was having absolutely none of it; he was not going to be beaten by a RWD car yet again. There was only one solution, and of course that was to pull of a clearly impossible move into Paddock up the inside, spinning Turkington and shooting the newly crowned double champion off into the gravel. Strangely enough, for those that were watching at the track this was met with rapturous applause and laughter (the move was so typically Plato it bordered on cliche), yet the online response was one of anger, rage and voracious aggression towards Plato. Understandably so, the move characterised one of the central issues with the modern BTCC; unnecessary collisions to get your way.
Hunter Abbott eventually made it to the grid for race 2, in an unconventional car mind you… Image Credit: Adam Johnson (Team Bombersports)
The second race of the day was somewhat of a historic occasion, for it was the first time a Mercedes ever won a race outright in the history of the championship. That’s right, after storming into the hearts of the masses and putting in stellar performances across the year, Adam Morgan finally got his maiden BTCC win. After a sensational overtake of Jason Plato, Morgan had a convincing lead, until the pressure got to him and he ran wide and Plato slipped back through. However, following the early incident with Turkington, Plato was given a 20 second time penalty as well as being relegated to the back of the grid for race three after receiving his third ‘strike’ as it were.
‘I grow tired of your success Turkington, out of my way’. Image Credit: BTCC.net
Adam Morgan made history by recording the first ever BTCC win for a Mercedes. Image Credit: Adam Johnson (Team Bombersports)
As race day soldiered on, I began to think that the legend of the final race wash out may have finally come to an end, for the weather remained dry. Alas, fate it seemed could not be undone; the raindrops began to fall just minutes before the start of the final race. By the time the race was due to start, the once dry track was transformed into a speedboat raceway. If it was F1 it would be called too dangerous and be called off; but this is true motorsport with true machines. Nothing was going to stop the BTCC. Following the Plato penalty and the reverse grid, it was Jack Clarke who found himself on pole for the final race of the year. And what a race to choose to do it. This was not going to be easy. As the Kentish countryside plunged into darkness, the headlights flicked on and the engines roared for the final time of 2014.
Race 3 became the first unofficial night race in over 10 years! Image Credit: BTCC.net
Jack Clarke lost out to the RWD powered Nick Foster off the line, until masterfully taking back the lead at Graham Hill Bend. A rookie no more is this one. Sadly, it was only a matter of time before Clarke lost out to the hard charging Honda of Gordon Shedden who was trying to salvage a good result from what was a poor weekend for Honda. Shedden comfortably took the final win of the year, followed by the fully graduated Clarke in the Crabbies Ford.
Like tin top terrors tearing through the stormy darkness, the field proved what masterful driving really was. There was slipping, there was sliding, but the rain was conquered. Well, apart maybe from Martin Depper, who had a spin causing yet another safety car period. With Shedden powering ahead at the front, all eyes turned to Jason Plato who had started not only at the back of the grid but in the pit lane. He may not have won the title, but that did not stop him providing what was possibly one of the greatest drives of the year. Starting from the pit lane, he powered through all the way to 7th by the end of the race. That is the mark of a true series great.
The BTCC field put on an excellent power boat display for the final race. Image Credit: Adam Johnson (Team Bombersports)
The chequered flag waved. And in a moment the whole year was done. Due to a shocking weekend from Alain Menu, Dave Newsham performed a last minute steal of the Jack Sears Trophy honours, ending his year on a high. Colin Turkington was the drivers’ champion. MG the constructors champion. But let us not forget those who did not enjoy such sweet success in 2014, like the Proton team of Ollie Jackson and Dan Welch, who struggled with engine development throughout the year and failed to make any real progress. Dan Welch has however confirmed he will be back for 2015, hoping for greater success than 2014. Other standout drives have come from newboy Tom Ingram who has solidly impressed across the year. No one can of course forget ultimate fan favourite Rob Austin who suffered a collision filled end to his 2014 season, but he and Sherman will return to race another day.
If I was to pick my two standout teams from 2014, honours would have to go to United Autosports and Team BMR. United Autosports were consistently improving throughout the year and by next year may well be a force to be reckoned with. Team BMR have the potential to win not only races but championships. With their intimidating line up of Jack Goff, Warren Scott, Aron Smith and the great Alain Menu they exploded from the blocks like a greyhound on steroids. For both these teams, 2015 will most definitely see greater successes.
And so with that, the 2014 British Touring Car Championship comes to an end. The series has risen from strength to strength across the year and is fast returning to its former glory days of the 90s. In addition to this, there is already exciting murmurs from across the paddock regarding the 2015 season. Will Jason Plato remain in the BTCC? Does the appeal by WSR regarding the severity of his penalty suggest a Plato move to WSR? Are we going to see the return of old manufacturers? Will new makes enter the series? Will there be a new champion to rise from the mayhem?
It now leaves only for me to say, congratulations to Colin Turkington and thank you for reading my 2014 BTCC season reviews. I hope you have enjoyed reading them. I have definitely enjoyed writing them. But do not despair, I will return soon with all the updates of the upcoming 2015 season.
Remember, keep driving people!
Continue the touring car talk on Twitter! Follow me @lewisglynn69!
Peace and Love!
Image Credit: Adam Johnson (Team Bombersports)
A Cruel Mountain: 2014 Bathurst 1000
It’s now history that Chaz Mostert and Paul Morris won the Supercheap Autos Bathurst 1000 for 2014.
It’s now history that they did so by, as silly as it may sound, leading on the last lap. Why that point is important is because it was the ONLY lap the car had been in the lead in the 161 laps the event has. However, the preceding near eight hours had seen scenes unprecedented in the history of V8 Supercars. In fact, the days leading up to The Great Race witnessed just how cruel “The Mountain” can be to drivers, both veterans and inexperienced.
On most days of the year, the road is a tourist drive, limited to 60 kilometres per hour. It’s six thousand, two hundred and thirteen metres in length and has an elevation change of 171 metres from Pit Straight to the section called Skyline. It leads into a tight, twisty, steeply downhill inclined part of the circuit called The Dipper, which itself becomes the world famous Conrod Straight. However, this year, it was Griffins Bend or, innocuously, Turn 2, that saw most of the incidents that will entrench this year’s race in folklore. Practice on Saturady saw a mighty coming together of two cars, two drivers, two former team mates; Warren Luff had a brake system failure and, in an effort to wash of speed coming into the 120 degree uphill right hand turn, saw the rear of his car snap left, collecting the car of Lowndes and forcing both into the tyre barrier. The impact left the Luff vehicle on its side and the crowd witnessed the sportsmanship that we expect, with Lowndes sprinting back to his stricken friend, helping to extricate him from the car. Luff’s co-driver, Garth Tander, a previous Bathurst 1000 winner, could only watch on and lament that the crash had left the car too badly damaged to be repaired in time. Lowndes, however, would go on to race the 888 Commodore with co-driver Steven Richards.
The Porsche Carrera Cup saw their own share of carnage, with Michael Patrizi finding the wall on the second last lap of arace, with Nick Foster then having what could only be described as a brain explosion on the final lap, again at what would become the infamous Griffins Bend over the weekend. Diving down the inside of David Russell, Foster succeeded in taking out Russell, Warren Luff (suffering no ill effects from the V8 crash) and Steven Richards. Russell was able to continue, albeit at the end of the field.
It was the Sunday, the race day, however, that showed just how cruel a mountain Mount Panorama can be. Chief amongst the moments that will be talked about is the red flag that put a pause on racing for an hour. The road surface had been relaid some months before and at Griffin’s Ben, yes, the very same, the surface was lifting, tearing and eventually seen to be potentially dangerous enough that it needed to be resealed. Controversy reigned as cars were worked on, out on the main straight, with the question being: “should this not have been a parc ferme’ situation?” Unfortunately for a member of the local wildlife, the Lockwood Racing entry of Fabian Coulthard and Luke Youlden happened to occupy the same space it wanted to be on, triggering a safety car. This led to the Dale Wood and Chris Pither Commodore ramming the rear of the Brad Jones Racing entry of Jason Bright and Andrew Jones. Crowd favourite Scott McLaughlin, in one of the two Garry Rogers Motorsport Volvos, took himself out of contention late in the race after clouting the wall at The Cutting on the way to Skyline, in almost exactly the same spot as team mate, Robert Dahlgren. Fellow Kiwi, Shane van Gisbergen, suffered heartbreak in pit lane 
after the car stalled in a refuelling stop. Russell Ingall also had a brain explosion, trying the same inside move as Foster, coming into Griffins and having to brake late, hit the Erebus Mercedes of Lee Holdsworth, with both cars hitting the tyre barrier and Holdsworth’s car being lifted up and on its side before rolling onto the roof. The yellow Nissan of James Moffat and Taz Douglas had also hit the wall in the same spot earlier in the day, reentering the race with kilometres of race tape holding the front of the car together.
Craig Lowndes was in the wars late in the race; coming into Hell Corner, turn one, Lowndes turned in and hit the rear of the 2013 champion, Mark Winterbottom. Somehow, miraculously, Frosty managed to hold the car on the track and, in a cloud of shredded rubber, continued although a few places down whilst Lowndes would be pinged and givin a drive through penalty. With just a couple of laps to go, the Red Bull Racing team were on the radio to Jamie Whincup, as he lead the race, telling him to nurse the car, watch the fuel. Whincup admitted after the race that he though he could do it. It’s history now that Whincup was wrong and the Mostert/Morris duo would win, coming from rear of grid and after their car had hit the tyre barrier with reasonable panel damage, to hold up, triumphantly, the coveted Peter Brock trophy. Douglas and Moffat would slide by Whincup for second position, as would Nick Percat and British driver, Oliver Gavin, for third.
The Great Race lived up to its reputation on Sunday, October 12th, 2014, cruel in its majesty.
http://www.v8supercars.com.au/news/championship/the-biggest-bathurst-moments
Making Your Own Biodiesel
When I came across an article in a magazine about making your own biodiesel, my first reaction was “Yeah, right – get out of here!” However, as I read on, I discovered that it isn’t too hard to do. It looks to be on about the same level of difficulty as making your own beer, soap, jam or toffee. In fact, I think making homebrewed beer and wine might be harder. So I thought that this was such a handy thing to know about that I just had to find out more and pass the knowledge on.
However, before I get onto the recipe, please bear in mind that: (A) I haven’t tried this myself (yet), (B) you need to be really, really careful with all of the ingredients because a lot of them are very corrosive and (C) don’t put straight home-made biodiesel in your engine but mix it with regular stuff from the pump or the result may do something nasty to bits of your engine. Obviously, you need a diesel-powered vehicle!
Although you could do this project in your kitchen, it’s probably best to do it where you’re not going to be interrupted by cats, dogs or small children, or where idiots are going to mistake your project for something edible. Caustic soda is seriously nasty stuff. However, it is used as a drain cleaner and in that horrible spray used for cleaning inside ovens, so it’s not completely incompatible with kitchens. Gloves are an absolute must and I wouldn’t turn down a mask and goggles if they’re available.
First of all, you need a good source of waste vegetable oil. If you do your own deep frying, save the oil. Otherwise, try cafés, restaurants, tuck shops, canteens and takeaway outlets to see if they’ll give or sell you their waste vegetable oil. If you’re not a heavy user of veggie oil, you could try saving all the little dribbles of oil from your breakfast fried eggs but it’s going to take you ages to build up enough to be useful. Saturated fat doesn’t work too well, so skimming the fat off the soup or seeing what you can do with fat from a roast isn’t a smart idea.
Two fish and one scoop of chips for me, and the leftover oil for my car, thanks.
Ingredients:
- 1 litre of filtered vegetable oil plus 1 mL for titration
- 200 mL of methanol (this is the hardest ingredient to get hold of)
- 10 mL isopropyl alcohol (for titration)
- sodium hydroxide (caustic soda – try a hardware store)
- water (for the titration)
First comes the titration. Mix up the caustic soda: 1 gram to 1 litre of water. To work out how much caustic soda solution you need, put 10 mL of isopropyl alcohol and 1 mL of oil in a beaker. Use an eyedropper to add the caustic soda 1 mL at a time. Check the pH using litmus paper or one of those testers you get at swimming pool supply places after every mL of caustic soda. When the pH gets to between 8 and 9, you’ve hit the right spot. Count the number of mL of caustic soda you used and use the following formula to calculate how much you’ll need to make your biodiesel: number of mL + 3.5 = N. N is the number of grams of caustic soda you’ll need for your batch of oil. Use leftover caustic soda solution for cleaning the drains or making soap (and for goodness sake, label the container with a large warning label!)
Put your vegetable oil into one container and your methanol into another. Put N grams of caustic soda in a dish. Now you’re ready to get started. Make sure that the containers you use are a lot bigger than the amount of oil you’re working with in case things foam up when reacting. In the article I read, the people used 3-litre plastic bottles for mixing the oil and caustic soda/methanol solution to avoid problems with fumes, shaking the mixtures gently to stir them. You may or may not need to warm the oil gently – some of the many websites about making biodiesel say you do need to but others don’t.
Step 1 is to stir the caustic soda into the methanol. Stir well but don’t breathe the fumes in. Don’t touch the container, either, as this reaction gives off heat.
Step 2 is to carefully add the oil to the soda/methanol mixture. Stir well again. Be prepared for the mixture to react. (My eyebrows went up when I read this instruction – all the soapmaking recipes I’ve read, which also involve caustic soda and fat, tell you to add the caustic soda solution to the oil).
In Step 3, you leave the mixture to settle. Leaving it overnight is best. When you come back the next morning, you’ll find a layer of glycerine down the bottom and the biodiesel up the top. The longer you leave it, the better.
Step 4 is the tricky bit: separating the glycerine from the biodiesel. Let the glycerine dry out a bit and use it for soap. The biodiesel goes into your fuel tank.
If you use too much caustic soda, you’ll end up with soap, which isn’t a total disaster!
If you try this, let us know how you get on.
Happy driving,
Megan
Twin Peaks: Volvo S60 T5 R-Design and Polestar
Turbos and small engines go together like scotch and ice. Volvo’s done the scotch and ice with its S60 T5 R-Design, taking a 2.0L petrol engine and throwing on a hairdryer, adding in a smooth auto and some sweet interior design work to provide a comfortable work place. Then there’s a 3.0L turbo to play with and a northern hemisphere name….Private Fleet’s Dave Conole loads the R-Design up with three adults and two kids for a week and takes the (as tested) $71000 car for a cruise to the NSW Central Coast then follows up with the Polestar (call it $100K), this time, to the South Coast, via Canberra.
The Donk.
Not unexpectedly, power is peaky, 180kW at 5500 revs, but there’s a mesa flat 350Nm of torque from 1500 through to 4800 revs in the T5. In a car that weighs 1600 kg, that equates to a top speed of 230 klicks, passing 100 in a lick over six seconds. Fuel economy is rated at 6.4L per 100 kilometres on a combined cycle from a tank of 67.5 litres. It’s joined to a eight speed dual clutch automatic transmission 
(with paddle shifts on 
the steering column), driving the front wheels and comes with Stop/Start technology plus a full suite of safety and driver assist technology. Polestar gets 257kW (5700 rpm) and over 500 Nm (3000 to 4750 revs) and puts power down via all four paws through a six speed auto. It’s a touch heavier, at 1770 kg and somewhat thirstier, at 10.2L/100 km. Polestar gets an extra level of tech, with Launch Control, adjustable suspension thanks to Ohlins, Brembo brakes and breathes out via stainless steel pipes.
The Suit.
The S60 (S for sedan, natch), is a short tailed, long bonneted beauty, 
with overt and subtle curves, plus a single sensually curved crease line joining the headlights to the rear lights. It’s not tall at just 1484mm in height, is compact at 4635mm in length and has front/rear track of 1588mm/1585mm, sits on a wheelbase of 2776mm and gains some subtle R-Design and Polestar additions, including a restyled front bumper (extra chin on Polestar), a small 
bootlip spoiler, aluminuim look (R-Design, Polestar gets black) wing mirror covers and 
gorgeous (optional) 5 spoke diamond cut wheels, black and alloy in colour with 8 x 19 inch dimensions for the R-Design with Polestar getting similar colour but different design alloys of the same size, black striping at the bottom of the doors and both copping integrated LED running lights complementing “bending” Xenon headlights plus personal safety comes with Home Safe lighting. Rounding out the rear is a diffuser featuring dual exhaust tips for both.
The Interior.
Passengers are spoiled by being given comfortable, grippy R-Design/Polestar highlighted, leather seats (with perfortaions in the R-Design), electrically motivated for the driver (both in Polestar) and heated for both. They look fantastic and support both legs and torso nicely. The leather theme continues with the gear lever (Polestar is a clear top with coloured LED) and steering wheel, there’s the floating centre console (black surround) and the gorgeous fully digital dash display. R-Design emblems appear in the door sills whilst the Polestar gets “Engineered By
Polestar”. It’s a comfortable workspace, a good looking one however the compact design did make it cozy for three in the back, with 1401mm 
shoulder room and 1359mm hip room on offer, plus just 852mm leg room. The overall size of the car also contributes to the comparitively small boot space, at just 380L, but there is a 
ski port through to the main cabin.
The information screens that Volvo fits look great, as does the satnav, however I query the way the info is set up to be accessed, with the various jog dials and buttons only working for what is on the screen. I also feel it redundant to have a push button start system that requires a key to be inserted. 
Either put a key in and twist or make it keyless start (as seen in the Polestar….). There’s plenty of tech on board, including CitySafe, a radar system that’ll apply the brakes automatically if it senses a vehicle (or anything big enough) in its path, Lane Departure Warning, Blind Spot Information System and more. It’s also decreasing the need for user manuals, with an onboard “book” largely replacing a traditional manual, however it still takes a bit of digging to come close to finding half of the information you may be looking for. Auto Start/Stop is switchable on the R-Design.
The headlight switch is down to the right, above the driver’s knee, as are switches for boot and petrol lid; they work however, ergonomically, they’re out of sightline and there’s pluses and minuses on that. The tiller has a couple of flat spots left and right, just enough to place the palms and get a secure grip.
On The Road.
Quiet. Very quiet. That’s the exhaust I’m talking about for the R-Design. Road noise? That’s another matter; there’s a lot of it and it’s intrusive. Acceleration? The week I spent with the R-Design was with five aboard all of the time and, as a result, it felt muted. The 350 torques didn’t appear to be there but this was with approximately 200 extra kilos of human aboard, with the expected display of urge not being felt. Also not being felt was torque steer through the front wheels, with the car tracking straight and true when given the command. Polestar has a thrum through the exhaust at around 2000 rpm and becomes a hollow, somewhat tiresome drone at constant speed on the freeway, especially on coarse chip and concrete surfaces. Under acceleration though, there’s a metallic growl that turns into a snarl as revolutions climb. Fuel economy on the R-Design was decent, rarely sneaking abouve 9.0L per 100, with the eight speed ‘box slurring its way through nicely under acceleration and giving a moment’s hesitation between changes on light throttle, giving an impression of manual change. The six speed in the Polestar is reactive enough, rarely found wanting for the right ratio and is quick to move via Sports mode. There’s proprietary software on board, allowing the ‘box to be put in Sports mode, play with the traction control or DTSC as it’s known, however I can’t help but feel that if a seven or eight speed box was fitted the economy of the car would improve…
Although a taut suspension in the R-Design, there’s enough suppleness to provide a measure of comfort, a measure of compliance with just enough give initially to not break the teeth. Tipping the R-Design into turns also produced surefooted handling, with minimal understeer backed up by a settling of the chassis when the go pedal was pressed. But there’s that 
thing missing, the aural excitement, with barely a hint of exhaust noise emitted. Not terribubly exciting, sadly. However, on idle, there’s chatter from the four up front, prompting one wag to ask if it was a diesel. Indeed. R-Design also came with the Auto Stop/Start, switchable for use by a button and in city traffic it was turned off.
Polestar is harder edged, to the point that it’s uncomfortable on anything other than a reasonably flat surface, with cat’s eyes roadside more than noticeable, making smaller speedhumps (car parks) and bigger (roads) bad enough to jolt a person momentarily from their seat. Although the car comes with adjustable suspension, front and rear, it’s only done manually, via the bottom of the front right strut and from inside the boot atop the left rear. This would infer that it’s only to be done via experienced people, rather than offering an electronically adjustable setup from within the cabin.
On the flat the S60 pair are comfortable, with initial give ironing out any road niggles in the R-Design while the Polestar didn’t. There wasn’t any noticeable torque steer either in the front wheel drive T5, however with a constant passenger load it may have been dialled out. The rear drive bias of the Polestar was barely noticeable but the heavier steering was. Occasionally, too, there would be a subtle tugging of the steering wheel in the T5, done by the car itself; it’s a self straightening system, for lack of better explanation, for when the lane sensing system decides to try and keep the car between the white lines. Great tech but hard to find in the menus.
The Wrap.
It’s a technofest under the skin, it’s a pretty looking car, it’s comfortable seating wise and seated five well enough. The R-Design was thrifty enough on fuel, handled as expected and is certainly a competent package. But I handed it over, swapping to the Polestar, uncertain as to how I felt about it overall. It was that uncertainty that both irritated and baffled me. Part of me wanted to love it yet I felt unsatisfied, like buying an expensive scotch only to have it taste like a brand much cheaper. The expectations I had were met yet the subconscious expectations weren’t. The lack of exhaust tone from the R-Design and the opposing drone from Polestar, the somewhat fiddly access of info, the (possible) lack of urge the numbers offer versus the thirst….cars are different to different people. To make up your own mind, go to www.volvo.com.au and follow the links to check out the S60 range and book yourself a test drive.
The Car: Volvo S60 T5 R-Design and Polestar.
Engine: 2.0L petrol, turbo, four cylinder, 3.0L petrol, turbo, straight six.
Power/Torque: 180kW @ 5500 rpm, 350Nm @ 1500 to 4800 rpm. 257kW @ 5700 rpm, 500+ Nm @ 3000 to 4750 rpm.
Fuel: 95/98 RON.
Tank: 67.5L.
Weight: 1602 kg, 1770kg.
Economy: 6.4L/100 km (combined). 8.7L/100km (city)/5.1L/100km (highway). 10.2L/100km (combined), 14.5L/100 km (city), 7.3L/100km (highway).
Transmission: eight speed automatic via front driven wheels.
Emissions: EURO6.
Dimensions (LxWxH in mm): 4635 x 1825 x 1484.
Wheelbase/Track: 2776mm, 1588/1585mm (front and rear).
Cargo/Luggage: 380L.
Wheels/Tyres: 8 x 19 x 45.
Price: $63890 + ORCs, $99950 + ORCs.
As tested: $70990, $99950. 
Level 2, 9 Help Street