Polestar upgrade for diesel XC60

[humming]

I have been considering getting a Polestar upgrade for my diesel XC60, to get a bit more power when towing and hopefully get some improvement in the mpg.

Reading the comments on Polestar upgrades, it seems to me to be that on the diesel engine with a geartronic box, the extra power from the upgrade only has a minor impact on ‘automatic’ driving but is more noticeable on the sport mode, and the real advantage to Polestar is on the petrol engines.

Is this true, or did I get it wrong?

Is there any noticable improvement on the diesel mpg?

[Considered1]

I’ ve only ever driven diesel Volvo’s with and without Polestar and it would be the first thing I did if I bought another. More noticeable on a full fat D5 than any other diesel Volvo. You will notice the difference and won’t regret it.
It’s like having Adrian Newey spend a year on optimising your gearbox without being without the car in the meantime!

[SwissXC90]

In a diesel, More Power comes from burning more fuel

You cannot get more power and have higher MPG!
It is the opposite: as you will burn more fuel to get more power, the MPG will reduce

Of course, if the Polestar upgrade changes the fuel curve of the engine to use less fuel (which means less power) for sedate driving, and then more fuel (meaning more power) for spirited driving, then you may see a MPG improvement when driving sedately.

But at the end of the day the power comes from the fuel: you cannot have more power with less fuel!

[humming]

Thanks for the feedback, looks like I need to have a word with the dealer to see how much they want for the upgrade.

swissxc90,

I should have clairfied my comments by saying for 'normal (sedate) driving would mpg improve'. That will teach me not to check my comments fully before posting.

[MacV50]

I have it on my D4 AWD Geartronic. Power goes from 190 to 220 and the torque spread is greater even if the peak amount doesn't change.

There isn't a huge amount of difference in D although it is a little more eager. In S, the car is much more lively but I feel that the gearbox optimisation holds the gears too long on light throttle acceleration so you end up revving to 4k when you want smooth go.

I think it was definitely worth the money and I've seen no penalty at the pump but I still feel like I'll need to get the gearshift paddles to make it a more enjoyable drive on twisty roads.

[prc68]

Originally Posted by SwissXC90

In a diesel, More Power comes from burning more fuel

You cannot get more power and have higher MPG!
It is the opposite: as you will burn more fuel to get more power, the MPG will reduce

Of course, if the Polestar upgrade changes the fuel curve of the engine to use less fuel (which means less power) for sedate driving, and then more fuel (meaning more power) for spirited driving, then you may see a MPG improvement when driving sedately.

But at the end of the day the power comes from the fuel: you cannot have more power with less fuel!

This is true, you will be using more fuel to get the 2xx hp compared to the standard 1xx hp but you are not just "uping" the fuel, but also boost.
As you have more torque you will use the accelerator less and this is where the fuel efficiency comes from.
I don't have the volvo remapped "yet" but my previous 3 diesels were all chipped. On all 3 l/100km went down, but the range was higher.
Ex. on my last golf 1.9 TDI 150
Avg consumption went down from 5.9L/100Km to 5.5L/100Km
Of course the range varied wildly
Standard 4-12L/100Km depending on driving style
Remapped 4-19L/100Km

Thanks,
Paulo

[Ukwide]

My 2010 S80 D5 has the Polestar upgrade and it really does pull a whole lot better and the acceleration is much, much improved, but the mpg hasn’t improved and even driving like a Nun on Mogadon the mpg isn’t improved.

By the way it’s got 32k on the clock and full service history...

Gary

[prc68]

Well the example I gave was probably the best one
MPG on the Seat Toledo was slightly better than stock ~2% and on the Merc C220 even less. But in principal you should get better fuel economy (obviously not as stated in most sites).

[Julianpms]

Originally Posted by humming

I have been considering getting a Polestar upgrade for my diesel XC60, to get a bit more power when towing and hopefully get some improvement in the mpg.

Reading the comments on Polestar upgrades, it seems to me to be that on the diesel engine with a geartronic box, the extra power from the upgrade only has a minor impact on ‘automatic’ driving but is more noticeable on the sport mode, and the real advantage to Polestar is on the petrol engines.

Is this true, or did I get it wrong?

Is there any noticable improvement on the diesel mpg?

On the specific issue of the two modes for the automatic transmission, you should feel the benefit of the extra torque in the standard mode as well. In fact, I found I needed to use sport mode less often than before the upgrade, both on the V60 D4 Geartronic and the V40 T5 Geartronic I have now.

[Crockers]

Beware that some remaps can fool the computer to read false mpg readings. This is due to fueling measurements.

The Polestar doesn't. But I haven't noticed any changes in mpg. To be honest when I had it done it felt much more lively. But after a few weeks it didn't feel so lively as I had gotten used to it. Lol.