Volvo XC40 D4 Polestar Upgrade - Worth it??

I took the plunge and went for the Volvo Polestar Engine Tune upgrade. What do you get and how does it compare to standard?

Spoiler Alert!!!
The upgrade has been taken off and refunded!!😢

[oloferlksson]

I have polestar uppgrade every volvo i own and the biggest diffrence is the power in middle revs and how the gearbox handles for me is no brainer its worth every little penny

[miguelabrantes]

I added the polestar kit to my XC40 D3 geartronic fwd and noticed a large difference. The torque increase helps a lot in the acceleration. It is clearly expensive but with all the volvo certificates and no loss of warranty seems like a nice way to go if you are looking to improve the car's driving behavior.

[johnw]

Thank you for taking the time to demonstrate. I was wondering about this upgrade 🤔

[dezrok]

I've been looking everywhere for a video like this. Thank you for posting it!

[luisrodrigotrejogrimaldo]

Thanks for making this video. You saved me money

[ciprianslatineanu]

I drive S90 D4 Inscription, I can feel the gearbox respond a bit slow, need 1 sec sometime to change the gear,
I m planing to upgrade the Polester on 28th I dont do it for HP only to sort the gear shift, I will update soon the comment.

[UncleHo]

For my 2017 xc 60 (prefacelift) in the specs is stated that will rise from 193 HP to 225 HP. I will do mine in Sept.

[marka]

I had the upgrade on my V40 T5 and it made a really big difference, I now have an XC 40 T5 and have had it installed and it has made a very small difference. It was well worth it on the V 40 but not so much on the XC 40

[barrywalls]

Its clear even from the Polestar Upgrade website which has the power changes listed from standard to Polestar optimised that the Petrol Engines get the better boost in actual spec. The T5's will get a noticeable difference where the D engines will get on average around 40nm of torque and about 1-2 sec quicker 0-60mph, so a 10% increase which will be hardly noticeable by many. The Auto Gear box also gets a remap so it takes longer between gear changes to feel more sporty so mid range power will feel better in a diesel, thus people commenting that they like the difference.
Personally I have a 2015 S60 D4 181bhp 400nm car which has one of the fastest 0-60mph across the current Diesel range (from 2014 on) and I am happy with my 0-60mph of 7.4 seconds (7.3 with Polestar) and I like the way it drives from the factory. I did consider the upgrade, but the extra insurance cost (yes its a 10% insurance premium to Polestar upgrade) and the way I liked the car currently made me decide against the upgrade for such minimal gains.
The main selling point was it was an official Volvo upgrade so it won't ruin the car like most racing chips could.
I thought I would share my research as it sort of aligns with why some may not like the upgrade.

[TheKevzxr]

Was considering this however it’s a v40 d4 8 gear auto. To be honest I was quoted £770 to polestar map and after watching this video it makes naff all difference. Well very marginal! Good upload thanks.

[alexeidmitriev]

What eventually was needed to see. No real difference except kick between gears. Wish polestar engineers same kick, but to the nuts
I'm using T4 for S90, really disappointing

[GPPhotography]

We will be getting our Volvo V60 upgraded next month. I do not expect huge changes to the acceleration in general - like you demonstrated already in the video. Having 40Nm more torque earlier and quicker/more consistent shifting is my main reason for doing the upgrade.

[Manuel-vlfh]

What Polestar mostly does (at least in an XC60-T5, my case) is to change the car behavior (or feeling) in "regular driving", not when flooring. When you kickdown there is little difference due to the slightly higher power, not very noticeable as you have assessed in you video.
However, in daily driving you feel the car much more lively. Besides, the gearbox works much better with Polestar, is faster and the shifting points are more appropriate. In "Polestar mode", for instance, you can drive on a downslope without requiring manual downshifts.
Don't you have this same feeling with the XC40-D4?

[zermattgully]

Isn’t one of the key features of the Polestar upgrade that it changes the front/rear drive drive split? With Polestar active there’s at least 40% drive going to the rear wheels ALL of the time...whereas in other modes, Comfort or Eco ...it’s predominantly FWD unless the AWD system detects a need to push more power/traction to rear wheels. So it’s a handling upgrade as well as a [small] power and torque upgrade?

[marcuslee]

I was wondering if I should get polestar upgrade for my 2021 XC90 T6, after watching this video I am crystal clear of what I am going into. Thank you for your video!

[Mirror]

Yes it is! Just did mine today and the change in my vehicle is insanely better! My local dealer had a 100 dollar discount available that expired today and decided to use it for the upgrade

[martyjackson]

Nice to see Flat Eric over your shoulder on a shelf. I think I'm going to go for RaceChip Tuning set up. It's transferable to a 2nd car as well.

[redpawny]

Polestar is simply a software "upgrade" where it stays in lower gear a few seconds longer before shifting to the next gear. It is NOT a hardware upgrade. I test drove xc40 T 2021 R-series with Polestar and without. I was VERY disappointed as the difference was minor for such a major price difference. Salesman kept trying to switch modes to avert taking about the "25 HP" difference; documentation claims "15 HP" difference. It looks like a very nice car, but the performance was sub-par imo for a $46K (sticker price) [$42K invoice].

[Gozar]

As I understand you have to drive the car aggressively for some kilometers after the upgrade before you will feel a change. It learns somehow.

[bavers]

Hi, did you get the Polestar removed? I have just had my V40 D3 done and it took it from 150bhp to 177bhp. I love the extra power now. But I think the D4 only gets 10bp gain? Plus they had an offer at £595 which I didn’t think was too bad.