{"id":2127300,"date":"2026-09-04T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-09-03T21:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2127300"},"modified":"2026-09-04T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-09-03T21:00:00","slug":"11-used-oddball-swedish-cars-that-mostly-cost-less-than-a-polestar-4-suv","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2127300","title":{"rendered":"11 used oddball Swedish cars that (mostly) cost less than a Polestar 4 SUV"},"content":{"rendered":"
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This week saw the debut of the Polestar 4 SUV<\/a>. As a fully electrified, crossover-shaped car, it feels wholly conventional against today\u2019s trends. Yet there\u2019s a pleasingly leftfield whiff about its creation; the wagon version of a rear window-less four-door coupe (still with us?), it\u2019s perhaps not made its way to market in quite the same way as its dozens of likely rivals.<\/p>\n

Which fits its ultimately Swedish creation. Polestar we know as a not-so-distant cousin of Volvo, who alongside a couple of other notable Scandi firms, has generously gifted automotive history with loveable curios. Like this 1963 Volvo Amazon Station Wagon<\/a>, a clear ancestor to the new Polestar 4 whatever its badges say. It looks thoroughly handsome for its circa-\u00a316,000 asking price, though beware the performance endowed by its modest 75bhp, 1.8-litre engine will somewhat lag its modern-day, dual-motor equivalent (with its 537bhp and sub-four-second haul from 0-62mph).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Or you could wind the clock back to the beginning of Polestar \u2013 at least in its modern, electrified guise. Volvo\u2019s former, offbeat tuning arm matured into its own brand with this, the plug-in hybrid Polestar 1 coupe<\/a>.<\/p>\n

An undeniably clever, unexpectedly expensive attack on a world occupied by Porsche, Bentley and McLaren, it looked fantastic and drove well enough to live up to its impeccably chiselled looks. Around 1,500 were built across its brief three-year production run, but they\u2019re all left-hand drive and you\u2019ll do well to snap one up in the UK. Paying a tenner under \u00a380,000<\/a> hardly befits our \u2018bargain\u2019 promise, but it\u2019s a truly rare find for precious little over half its original asking price\u2026<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cWhat the merry flip is a Saab Sonnett?\u201d A fair question, dear reader, whatever your level of automotive wisdom. A firm known mostly for its leftfield but still wholly sensible saloons, estates and cabriolets, Saab went off script with this cute little sports car.<\/p>\n

Production first began with an adorable, doe-eyed roadster of which only six were made. A pair of wedgier coupes followed, this round-headlamped Sonnett II being the first to arrive. Power comes from a 1.5-litre V4 engine (wild!) with a heady 65bhp (mild!). Who cares about speed when your car\u2019s this cute, though? Priced at a smidge over \u00a325,000<\/a>, you can\u2019t currently buy a new coupe for less.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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A similar V4 engine \u2013 albeit one tuned to deliver twice as much power \u2013 could be found in rally-prepped Saab 96 saloons. This one is described as \u201ca faithful replica of the legendary green Saab 96 V4 driven by Per Eklund”, aka WRC legend and winner of the 1976 Swedish Rally, and is a visual delight.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe liveries, sponsor stickers, and markings were photographed, measured, and reproduced with the permission of the Saab Museum in Trollh\u00e4ttan, where Eklund’s original car is housed,\u201d the ad espouses. Which makes its sub-\u00a314k asking price<\/a> sound very fair indeed \u2013 not least because it\u2019s fully equipped for historic rallying, something it\u2019s done twice at Monte Carlo already. Feeling game?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Does a historic rally car feel a little too specialist for a run to the shops? Here\u2019s one of Sweden\u2019s more demure gems, a compact and thoroughly affordable Volvo hatchback from the mid Noughties.<\/p>\n

Spun from the same platform as the more eminently sensible S40 saloon (not to mention the contemporary Ford Focus), it eschewed back doors and even a traditional boot, opting instead for a glass opening that prioritised stylish whimsy over the pragmatism of its siblings.<\/p>\n

Cool things, not least in burbling five-cylinder form if you have the time and budget to hunt one down. This 142bhp 2.0-litre petrol at under \u00a32k<\/a> is the bigger bargain, though\u2026<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The C30 didn\u2019t plummet into a bewildered Noughties hatchback market without context, though. It essentially resketched the formula of the classic Volvo 480, a car whose two-door, glass-hatch layout felt like a two-fingered salute to anyone who decried the Swede firm\u2019s cars as too boxy. Flashing the 480\u2019s pop-up lights at them is probably a kinder gesture, though.<\/p>\n

This one claims a comprehensive history file alongside its modest mileage and low owner count. It\u2019s a cool, kooky thing for under five grand<\/a> \u2013 and a guaranteed showstopper if the attendees of your next cars \u2018n\u2019 coffee date possess even a modicum of taste.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Okay, the budget has climbed a little. But at, um, \u00a32.5million, this Regera is the cheapest Koenigsegg we can currently find for sale<\/a>. And that counts for something, right?<\/p>\n

It\u2019s certainly oddball, too. Each and every Koenigsegg has a bewildering engineering tale to tell, but the one belonging to the Regera is the most curious of all: it channelled the 1,479 horsepower of is hybrid powertrain through a single-speed transmission called \u2018Direct Drive\u2019, a smart solution for combining petrol and electric power for an overwhelming 20-second lunge at 250mph.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we can’t find the right partner or solution for a problem we basically bring it in house,\u201d Christian von Koenigsegg told TopGear.com at our blockbuster first drive<\/a>. All you ultimately need to know is it can achieve a truly enormous burnout\u2026<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Back to the real world, though thankfully not with too dramatic a thump. The 900 is quintessential Saab; there\u2019s a high chance any Millennials reading this grew up with these wedges slicing insouciantly around our childhood streets. There have been few four-seat cabriolets that have ever looked so effortlessly cool, that\u2019s for sure, and its three-speed automatic \u2018box should ensure you settle immediately into its calmer pace of life.<\/p>\n

Pining for a manual? Its \u00a35,795 asking price<\/a> is essentially the baseline of you\u2019ll pay for one now, with dozens costing much more in the classifieds, and this particular advert has its own offbeat charm. Just like the car itself.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Hardly an offbeat classic, you might argue. The Volvo 850 R\u2019s story is very well known thanks to its bold British Touring Car Championship exploits. But a performance wagon that hauls around so much legend in its lengthy body is surely a bargain at under \u00a310k<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Not least when it\u2019s a Japanese import described as \u2018rust-free\u2019, words that usually pile several grand onto the cost of any Nineties icon. Its four-speed automatic gearbox may represent a chink in its appeal in lieu of the more desirable five-speed manual, yet its 2.3-litre five-cylinder turbo engine should subtly sing regardless.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The R badge didn\u2019t live and die with the 850, either. Volvo recommissioned it in the early Noughties for its S60 saloon and V70 estate. And yes, this example comes with three pedals and a stick. Hurrah!<\/p>\n

It called upon an uprated 2.5-litre T5 engine with a nice round 300bhp, though despite heady outputs, accomplished all-wheel drive and a set of natty blue dials, it couldn\u2019t hold a candle to the contemporary BMW M3 or Audi S4. But it looks good now at just \u00a38,750<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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A few years late, perhaps, but Saab presented its own rival in 2007 in the shape of the 9-3 Turbo X. It launched 30 years after the Swedes\u2019 pioneering 99 Turbo and was sold as both a saloon and wagon.<\/p>\n

Essentially a cousin to the Vauxhall Insignia VXR \u2013 using the same 2.8-litre turbocharged V6, with 276bhp as standard and tuned up to 300bhp in this example \u2013 it paired Saab\u2019s inimitable design language of the time with a trick \u2018XWD\u2019 four-wheel-drive system, albeit one that remained rather locked down in driving. Such maturity is all the better for making this a fabulously flexible all-rounder at a thoroughly tempting \u00a34,500<\/a>, however\u2026<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This week saw the debut of the Polestar 4 SUV. As a fully electrified, crossover-shaped car, it feels wholly conventional against today\u2019s trends. Yet there\u2019s a pleasingly leftfield whiff about its creation; the wagon version of a rear window-less four-door coupe (still with us?), it\u2019s perhaps not made its way to market in quite the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,237],"class_list":["post-2127300","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-topgear-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2127300","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2127300"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2127300\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2127300"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2127300"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2127300"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}