Page 1: Polestar brand and Polestar 2 introduction
Page 2: How the Polestar 2 drives

But maybe open-source software and collabs with Silicon Valley giants are the way to go now?

Maybe, so we’ll just say that Android Automotive is an inferior offering for now, but will almost certainly improve.

Meanwhile there are other minor ways the Polestar feels refreshing. Climb aboard and it powers up automatically, so you just snick the lever into “D” and drive off. Same when you’re home — put it in “Park”, walk away and you’re good.

The rear view mirrors are frameless, so when you adjust them the whole housing moves around. That’s a nice piece of dedication to slick design.

You can also play with some settings, such as the regenerative braking (one-pedal driving is possible, if that’s your bad), steering weight and whether the car creeps when you’re off the brakes. It’s nice to have your car just-so, instead of having to accept the factory settings and lump it.

Is it practical?

Reasonably so. Under that electric tailgate, the boot holds just 405 litres (including 41 litres under the floor) so it’s not especially big, but you can fold the seats down to add another 690 litres. There’s also a small frunk that’s rated for 35 litres. That’s where the jack and tyre inflator kit are, incidentally, which is useful.

Some Volvo genes express themselves here, so there’s a flip up floor divider with neat hooks and straps for groceries, so you don’t leave the store with vegetables and come home with a tossed salad in the boot.

The rear seats offer decent legroom, but not quite on par with say a BMW 3 Series. Also like the Mercedes-EQ EQA, the floor of the car is rather high, so your knees do feel more elevated than in a traditional sedan. It’s not horrible, just keep it in mind if you have Dutch friends.

Any gripes?

You can’t see much out of the back, because the C-pillars are thick and the rear screen doesn’t reveal much of anything. Good thing there’s an around-view monitor, or parking might have been a b-word.

Button-mashing like a video game cheater on the steering wheel failed to show me how much energy I was using on average – something prominently shown on every other EV we’ve driven. Eventually we figured how to make it show, by menu diving like Cousteau.

Quarter-million dollar question, then… should I?

The Polestar 2 is a lovely car in many ways, so it’s worth the money for many reasons. It’s fast, refined, comfortable and a treat for the eyes both inside and out, and it gives you sustainability cred. Plus it’s a less obvious choice than a Tesla if you want a sedan with no fuel tank now. It’s also a less alien experience than the American car, in terms of its basic interface and the layout of its controls.

If it were our money we would delete the Performance Pack, mostly because the Ohlins suspension adds too much unnecessary jitteriness to the ride. A calmer time in the car would be more in keeping with its overall personality.

For now, the Polestar 2 and Model 3 have the less-expensive, premium EV sedan segment locked up because the only other electric sedans are far pricier cars like the Audi E-Tron GT and Porsche Taycan, with the only similar-sized car on the horizon being BMW’s i4 due next year. 

With the Polestar 2 around, though, if your choices seem limited, at least they’re good ones.

2021 Polestar 2 Long Range Dual Motor Performance Pack

Electric Motor	Dual motors 408hp, 640Nm combined
Battery / Capacity	Lithium ion, 75kWh net
Regular Charge Time/Type	7-9 hours / AC 11kW
Fast Charge DC Rate / Time	155kw / 10-80 percent in 35 minutes
Electric Range	358km
0-100km/h	4.7 seconds
Top Speed	205km/h
Efficiency	20.9kWh/100km
VES Band	A1 / S$25,000
Agent	Wearnes Automotive
Price	S$256,000 with COE
Availability	Now
Verdict	Plenty of car for the money, properly swift and refreshing without being gimmicky. Forget the Performance Pack’s hard suspension, though

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