They both were the fully optioned Ultimate trim levels, with B&W etc. You can see my V90’s spec in my signature.
For a commuter car, the S/V60 Recharges are great. Commuting downtown and back every day as I usually do, almost exclusively in Pure mode (electric-only), it was great. The dealer actually left the charger in the trunk for some reason, so I just plugged the car in at home (not a fast charger, just a normal outlet one) every evening. The V60 was an Inscription MY20 whereas the S60 was a MY22 Extended Range R-Design. They feel like much smaller cars on the road, but also inside.
The seats are definitely harder and the cabin was much more cramped for passengers, whereas the V90 is is more upscale, plush, soft, and roomy. People don’t really notice a huge difference in back-to-back dealer test drives, but living with them for almost a month definitely brought out the material difference in the cars. The S60’s RD cloth inserts in the door cards and the seats were ok, but not amazing. Door pockets felt thinner and harder, with hard plastics dominating where there was full leather and wood in the V90. Door closing feeling and sound felt more harsh in the -60 cars. The B&W in the -60 cars didn’t sound as good as in the V90 [specifically, in terms of imaging and instrument separation, and the bass’s overall power felt down], and of course, cargo space was lacking.
On long road trips, I personally wouldn’t like being in a -60 car as much. Being stuck on the DVP for a good 40 minutes each way during rush hour, I felt some hard spots in the seats and less padding compared to the V90 (even in the V60 Inscription which had perforated nappa seats like my V90 does). When I had passengers, they immediately commented on the lack of headroom/kneeroom compared to being in the V90.
The -60 cars are definitely more nimble and more powerful than the V90 in T8 form, and the Öhlins would increase that further, but at least on Toronto roads, the two seconds of maneuverability you get in between hours of being stuck in traffic would not make it worth it for me. Several people I know with P3 Polestar cars, now that their original Öhlins shocks are due for a replacement, now want to swap over to a more forgiving setup.
What else in terms of differences…
The headlights seemed slightly less bright on the -60 cars for whatever reason, there was significantly more road noise, and there was an egregious amount of piano black trim on the center console in the -60 cars which, compared to the Walnut wood in the V90, looked terribly scratched up and cheap. However, I did love the illuminated Örrefors crystal shift knob.
The tap forward/tap back shifting mechanism was very intuitive for me, and resulted in much faster parallel parking in the downtown core since it’s a quick double-tap each way. At parking speeds it’s always in the electric mode anyways, so no stopping then shifting and then waiting for the transmission to shift between reverse and drive. Plus, it’s a smaller car and fits more easily into parking garages and tight street spaces.
TLDR: the S60/V60 Recharge are amazing, amazing city cars. If I was driving only in the city 99% of the time, the next car I’d get would be one of these. However, the interior is a noticeable step down, with the seats surprisingly being pretty hard in comparison — which, in combination to the step down in interior roominess and cargo, I couldn’t have on a longer trip, much less a long road trip. It would be very hard for me to fully switch from my V90, and by the end of the two weeks and a half, despite the immense power on tap and acceleration (which embarrassed several S4/5s and an older C63), I really wanted to be back in the V90 and found myself calling the dealer to ask how much longer the warranty work would take.