Anyone have the Polestar package on an XC90 T8?

[Kingmunky]

Saw my local dealer has an offer on just now, something like £749 reduced to £498, for Polestar. Reading up on it, it looks as though it's worth the money but I'd like to find out what the real-world effect is on mpg, gear changes, smoothness, acceleration etc etc. Weigh in with your tuppence worth.

[Kingmunky]

Wee I just decided to go with it and got the upgrade yesterday and what a difference!

The acceleration has obviously improved but the gearbox is the biggest difference, it's smoother, so much quicker - almost instantaneous with the gear changes, and best of all that 1 second lag when you put your foot down has disappeared. Car feels like a different beast, well worth the money imo.

Right, I'm off to turn a 10 minute drive into an hour long trip!

[Director76]

Originally Posted by Kingmunky

Wee I just decided to go with it and got the upgrade yesterday and what a difference!

The acceleration has obviously improved but the gearbox is the biggest difference, it's smoother, so much quicker - almost instantaneous with the gear changes, and best of all that 1 second lag when you put your foot down has disappeared. Car feels like a different beast, well worth the money imo.

Right, I'm off to turn a 10 minute drive into an hour long trip!

Do you have the factory 390 or 407 model?

[Kingmunky]

Originally Posted by Director76

Do you have the factory 390 or 407 model?

Had to google those references, but I'm pretty sure mine was just 313hp from the dealer. It's a 2017 T8 Momentum.

[Director76]

Thanks - I think there were several flavours of ICE, the 313hp you have was
upgraded to 320hp at some point (maybe 2018, as this is the spec of my MY18.5) and then it was reduced again to 303hp for MY19 (I think due to the introduction of a gasoline particulate filter). Hence 400, 407 and most recently 390 total PHEV power.

Our car goes back in 10 months time, and I am thinking of ordering a new T8 soon, but I am a little concerned that I will notice a 17 horsepower drop, so I’m interested if anybody has polestar on 390 which I think takes power back to a healthier 404?

[Jackysi]

I love polestar on my V90 Diesel too, it makes huge difference. But what I was trying to say here was, it's a little "annoying" that Volvo doesn't offer this as "free" or part of car purchase. I get it their point is to make sluggish safe family cars, but in some cases the gearbox being so slow in unsafe. Also as you mentioned, gearbox with Polestar is just like it should be! awesome! So why the difference . Should've made it part of "official" car software not an expensive extra.

[AB-UK]

Originally Posted by Jackysi

I love polestar on my V90 Diesel too, it makes huge difference. But what I was trying to say here was, it's a little "annoying" that Volvo doesn't offer this as "free" or part of car purchase. I get it their point is to make sluggish safe family cars, but in some cases the gearbox being so slow in unsafe. Also as you mentioned, gearbox with Polestar is just like it should be! awesome! So why the difference . Should've made it part of "official" car software not an expensive extra.

A very good point which has been frequently stated.
Volvo refuse to take note however.

[sk546]

Originally Posted by Director76

Our car goes back in 10 months time, and I am thinking of ordering a new T8 soon, but I am a little concerned that I will notice a 17 horsepower drop, so I’m interested if anybody has polestar on 390 which I think takes power back to a healthier 404?

So, on the T8, dont think too much about the peak performance gains as you need a very, very good arse dyno to notice a 17bhp peak gain.
Where the Polestar optimisation is concerned, the biggest gain you get is in the mid-range where the power and torque gains are most noticeable over the stock engine software. The gearbox optimisation is also a very worthwhile benefit of the whole Polestar package too!!
In my opinion, its worth doing to get the mid-range increases alone and im sure with these increases, there will be some economy benefits if the car is driven in an economical way as the engine dosent have to rev as high to extract the same performance as stock, however, where is the fun in driving economically??!!

[Kingmunky]

Originally Posted by sk546

So, on the T8, dont think too much about the peak performance gains as you need a very, very good arse dyno to notice a 17bhp peak gain.
Where the Polestar optimisation is concerned, the biggest gain you get is in the mid-range where the power and torque gains are most noticeable over the stock engine software. The gearbox optimisation is also a very worthwhile benefit of the whole Polestar package too!!
In my opinion, its worth doing to get the mid-range increases alone and im sure with these increases, there will be some economy benefits if the car is driven in an economical way as the engine dosent have to rev as high to extract the same performance as stock, however, where is the fun in driving economically??!!

The other big benefit imo is that the car now holds a gear far longer when your foot goes down, so there's no concern when overtaking that it's going to change gear at an awkward moment - it just keeps pulling through the range.

Originally Posted by AB-UK

A very good point which has been frequently stated.
Volvo refuse to take note however.

Yeah, there's something not right about it being sold as an upgrade but really is just the car working closer to it's potential.