1. CAR FEATURE
Euro flavour and supercar style may well be what automotive-
modification dreams are made of - but a 360bhp Volvo S60 for half
the price? Well that’s just pure final fantasy.Text: Fabian Cotter - Photos: Kevve.be

2. S
CREAMING around bends
and ripping across high-
speed sweepers are all
part of the fun before wide-
open throttle down The Green
Hell’s Antoniusbuche straight,
but when an engine goes pop
there’s the ensuing urgency for
many to get their motors ‘back
on track’ fast. When 29-year-
old Belgian Koen Lauwereys
had his Volvo S60’s 170bhp
2.4-litre lump die hard on him
after a blood-pumping circuit
lap, he seized this opportu-
nity to re-invigorate the looks
and performance of his 2002-
model ‘Ovlov’. And he’s never
looked back since.
“As a young guy the Volvo S60
wasn’t the hottest car I could
imagine, but with a little ef-
fort...” thought Koen. Near
three years later, we can hon-
estly say … shit, he was right.
It isn’t so much that the S60
pictured here has been dis-
cerningly ‘evolved’ in strict ad-
herence to the fundamental –
thoughoftencompletelybloody
ignored by morons - principal
of ‘taste’, but more importantly
that this ‘cleaned’ project has
been executed so authorita-
tively and inspiringly that the
very ‘Volvo’ brand-name can
be seen by many modifiers in
an entirely new, alluring light.
Yep, that’s right! In the case
shown here, Volvo is now …
voluptuous. This S60? As sexy
and sordid as ever.
Put simply, Koen’s taken an ar-
guably bland but nonetheless
potential-brimming Euro car
as a daily-driven base, then
enhanced key styling queues
from the factory with subtle
bodykit application, luxuri-
ous interior enhancement and
audio specification, imbued
it with sexy-as-fcuk deeply-
dished multi-piece rims – then
nailed it all to perfection with
carefully dialled-in, belly-
scraping lowered stance. And
that 360bhp wallop from Gar-
rett turbo grunt? That’s right
on the money, too.

3. How Swede it is...
Bought in July 2005, the ex-
leased 2.4-litre company-car
S60 did have leather, but not
much else. Koen first bought
rims: 8.5x19-inch RH AN Cross-
lines with 225/35 Pirelli Zero
Neros. Then, because of his
“fear of heights”, Koen bought
a KW Variant II-kit (front ad-
justable lowering, rear not) to
achieve that tarmac-scraping
look.
All cool, but then he wanted
the rims to look a little less
standard, so he changed them
to 9x19-inch at the front and
10x19-inch rears – but the non-
fit meant arch rolling 1.5cm
front and 3.5cm rear, which
totally looks hot.
Koen, though, did not want it
all to look like “just a chassis on
wheels”, so after some months
an Evolve bodykit arrived. He
cleaned out the towing eye
holes, made another for the
exhaust, then got a bodyshop
to spray the bits. While waiting
for the paint-job Koen welded
up a custom-made Inox ex-
haust for it.
Ice man
Come winter 2006, he installed
fully clear headlights, cleaning
out the holes for the headlight-
wipers, the windshield-wash-
ers, then tackled the interior as
he wanted different coloured
leather and alcantara.
Outside, with the interior out,
the car was resprayed in its
original silver after thoughts
to change it were eventually
eliminated. The renewed body
looks lean, mean and low over
those deepdishes,whichhouse
upgraded, big-arse 320mm
Volvo R Brembo brakes with
four-piston calipers now. And
these get a proper workout as
Koen loves fanging this bitch
around many a racetrack when
he can.
Up front now sits a 2.3-litre T5
injected block running a Gar-
rett 2871R turbo with MTE
software, K&N air intake, and
Ferrita 3-inch downpipe to

4. custom Inox exhaust exiting
into Ferrari 612 end pipes.
The five-speed manual gear-
box works in conjunction with
a high-spec stage 3 clutch. Vi-
sually under the bonnet, the
engine’s been painted body
colour and there’s carbon de-
tails throughout.
“T5s are rare around here,
but the cops drive around in
them and sometimes they
crash one. I took that engine
out, gave it a complete check-
up and cleaned it completely.
As the engine wasn’t of the
same year like my car, I got
some mayor problems to start
it. After changing every elec-
tric wire and part of the car,
everything started working,”
Koen explained.
And it all sounds awesome
when he’s racing, balls out,
around circuits like The ‘Ring –
but even when he’s not the Fo-
cal Utopia speakers, Steg am-
plifiers and Rockford Fosgate
360.2 bouncing tunes around
the Dynamat-cossetted cabin
are pretty rock and roll, too.
Ultimately, Keon says he chose
this car as you don’t see it
done much in the world tun-
ing scene. But given how cool
it’s all turned out, I wouldn’t
be surprised if that was about
to change. An inexpensive su-
percar that’s an almost fac-
tory-look special? Yep, we’re
ordering more IKEA stuff and
Swedish meatballs right now!