Road Test: We Drive the Polestar 2
Opportunities are a wonderful thing, and I had the opportunity to road test the 2022 Polestar 2, with the dual motor performance pack. I had the car for one day and I set myself a challenge to put as many kilometres as possible on the car to see how well it could be daily driven and road tripped. I was able get 600 kilometres on the dial and I was also able to give it a very good shakedown over the day and the following write up is what I thought of it.
When I road test a vehicle I will not overload you with stats and try to impress the auto-manufacturers with glowing reviews. I will simply write about my experience and grade the following categories with a simple A - F letter grade.
Drivetrain Performance
Handling
Appearance
Value
Overall grade
1. Drivetrain Performance Grade: B+
Motor Type: Dual, AC synchronous, permanent magnet
Horsepower: 408 HP 487 lb-ft torque
Transmission: Single speed, 8.57:1 gear ratio
0 - 100 kph : 4.7 seconds
The drive train in this car is superb full stop. At no time in my day did I think the car was out of its element. Climbing hills, freeway driving, city driving, overtaking on a single-lane road it was capable and responsive at all times. It was also fun to drive. From the start of the day until the finish I never got tired of the instantaneous acceleration. I was completely taken in with the smoothness of the power delivery. The first time I punched the skinny pedal my head actually bounced off the head rest because the car reacts immediately to your inputs, it was addictive and hilarious.
I have no complaints about the power train except for battery range. I will confess that my driving practices while the car was in my possession did not lend itself to maximizing range, and you might say the way the car was operated may have, in fact, caused the range to prematurely decay in the same way constantly throttling a gas powered car would reduce the range it got out of a tank of gas. That is all correct, but the in defence of my operation, this car was just too good. Once you got into it you couldn’t stop, every hill I climbed I knew I could get up quickly and there was no mechanical guilt for accelerating hard up a hill because there was no painful gear changes and no weird vibrations from a straining engine. It just felt like it could handle anything thrown at it. The cost of that is range and lengthy stops to recharge the battery. This meant for this 600km day trip, I had to stop and charge two and a half times. So why did I grade this Car a B+ instead of an A? Simply because stoping to charge the car for close to an hour every few hundred kilometres is not my favourite .
2. Handling Grade: B+
The Polestar 2 kind of throws you because it doesn’t look like it would handle well but once you’re in it and putting it through the paces you never find a situation that feels uncomfortable. For reference, in a full size pickup when you are throttle happy on a twisty road, you can find the limit of your comfort very quickly because the truck will roll and sway to a point you know you’re gonna wreck if you keep pushing. With the Polestar 2 you feel planted and confident pushing the car around corners, trail-braking and diving in and having all the legal fun you can on public roads. I would expect if you got the car on a track really tested it you would find it’s handling limits fairly quickly which is not me throwing shade at Polestar in fact I think it shows their brilliance even more. The car is not a track day car it’s a daily driver , but it’s a daily that’s fun to drive and a pleasure to drive hard. They have made a car that does exactly what it’s supposed to do and they have made it well.
So again why a B+ instead of an A? A’s aren’t an easy handout for me and if I have one complaint about the handling it’s the ride quality. To get a car that’s fun to toss through the twisty’s you do have to sacrifice soft riding suspension for a firmer bumpier ride. Which, to be honest, with the Polestar 2 the ride is not terrible it’s just not soft for those times when you just want to drive like an old man and relax. The ride does not allow you to have an ultra luxurious cruise like you would in an old Cadillac. In an old Cadillac, you would be numb to what is happening on the road. The road could change from smooth pavement to rough gravel and you would feel nothing different. The trade-off there is once you tried to take speed into a corner you would just understeer right off the road and die because it could not go through a corner. Cars like that are deaf to the road whereas in the Polestar 2, you feel everything the road has to communicate to you, but not in a terribly hateful way more in a, “just letting you know” way. Although it’s not a very soft ride it is acceptable for the confidence it gives you to corner, which is why I didn’t hate driving it.
3. Appearance Grade: B+
You're Probably seeing a bit of a trend here with the B+, but lets be serious this car is not a 1962 Ferrari 250 California GT SWB Spyder. It is a good looking car and probably at the top of its class as far as looks in my opinion. The Tesla Model S and Three are starting to look very dated, but this car looks fresh and clean. From front to back I have zero complaints.
The interior of the car is also fresh clean and well appointed. Everything in the car looks well made and of high quality which in my opinion is a major success for Polestar. Let’s be real, if you test drive a car that looks good on the outside but looks like crap on the inside you’re not going to purchase the car. The interior matters a lot and companies like General Motors should take note. The car has a easy-to-use large, and centrally located infotainment screen which is easy to reach for the driver and the passenger. Secondarily, the driver has a very crisp and clear digital display in front of them where they can see their speed and range and even have the navigation on display. The displays again are very high-quality and the only thing I can say as a negative is the cars do not have Apple Car Play. They do have Android Auto but as a iPhone-user it’s not ideal. The bluetooth controls still functioned well and allowed me to sort through and play music through the infotainment system but still not as effortlessly as Car Play.
Polestar 2 interior
4. Value: B+
I do find it hard to give an electric vehicle a high grade for value because they are inherently more expensive than their internal combustion cousins. The Dual motor Polestar 2 with the performance package like the one I tested will be in the $70K(CAD) range. When you do the math and figure in the money you will save on gas and lower maintenance costs over the life of the car it does figure to be good value for the money. You just have to get over the initial sticker shock. For what this car is I would give it a B+ for value. It ticks all the Boxes for a fun, classy daily driver, and although the initial cost is high the lifetime of the vehicle will more than pay for itself.
5. Overall Grade: B+
Overall I was really impressed with my day with the car and I think it is a very good choice for anyone who wants a car that can do everything and fit in anywhere. I think it will take some people by surprise because it is a bit unassuming. I think that anybody who is in the market for this class of car will put it at the top of their list once they drive it. In my opinion, this car looks really good and actually performs even better. Polestar should be proud.
Have you driven it? What are your thoughts? Comment below and let me know.
