POLES APART (some text hidden) --NONE--

By Jonathan Crouch

Introductionword count: 49

Polestar's first fully electric volume model, the Polestar 2, was a premium performance fastback EV that delivered a very Swedish-style alternative in the compact electric segment. Its style is individual, its driving dynamics claim to be surprising and its core values are right on point for these enviro-conscious times.

Modelsword count: 21

5dr SUV (EV) [Standard range Single motor, Long range Single motor, Long range Dual motor, Long range Dual motor Performance Pack]

Historyword count: 422

Back in 2020, the Polestar 2 was this fresh Swedish EV brand's first volume model. It was a high quality sporting EV, a rare and rather unique five-door hatch with quality, handling and battery technology all benchmarked against the best that the premium segment competition could offer. You may be aware of the Polestar brand as Volvo's luxury platform for uniquely designed sporting electric models. Every premium marque makes an EV these days of course, but many of them merely feel like battery-powered versions of existing cars. For an early adopter to plug-in motoring, there's an undeniable appeal in the clean sheet approach that segment originator Tesla's products bring to the table. Polestar aims to deliver that but combine it with the depth of engineering you'd get from a more established manufacturer. Its first product was the Polestar 1, a beefy luxury GT coupe that was a plug-in hybrid and came with a hefty £140,000 price tag. The model we look at here though, the Polestar 2, was much more like it, a full-EV priced more accessibly from launch at around £40,000 and aimed directly at cars like BMW's i4 and sportier versions of the Tesla Model 3. For all this car's Scandinavian vibe, in reality it was China's entry into this exploding segment. This model was built and bankrolled there by Geely, who at the time of launch not only also owned Volvo but Lotus, Proton and the SUV maker Lynk & Co. Mind you, this was also very much an international product: the battery modules were from LG Chem in South Korea, the electric motors came from Siemens in Germany and the brand had a Research and Development facility in Coventry. The Polestar 2 first arrived in mid-2020 in twin motor form, but the range was expanded in 2021 to include the more affordable single motor variants you're more likely to want. Almost everything a conscientious EV adopter might want is promised here - decent driving range, sustainable manufacturing, a vegan interior - and more than a dash of cutting-edge technology too: this was the first model in the world to feature an infotainment system powered by Google's Android Automotive OS system, which claimed to redefine what you can expect from in-car infotainment and connectivity. A rare BST Edition 270 model was launched in 2022. The Polestar 2 sold in its original form until mid-2023, when it was fundamentally updated, the Single motor versions switching from front to rear-wheel drive. It's the pre-facelift versions though, that we look at here.

What You Getword count: 691

As a carmaker, Polestar has an intrinsically deep relationship with Volvo - and so does this Polestar 2. Back in 2016, this design was originally a Volvo concept car - the 'Concept 40.2' - but when Polestar's styling chief Maximillian Missoni saw it, he recognised in the chiselled look a shape ready to pioneer the style of entirely new brand. This may be the second car the company has made, but it's the first true Polestar. The tall, chunky proportions certainly couldn't be more different from the sleek, globular shape of a rival Tesla. In fact, it doesn't really look like anything else at all, which is what you might most like about it. In theory, it's a five-door Fastback, but it sits on the 'Compact Modular Architecture' platform of a Volvo XC40 SUV, hence the high-sided look that Polestar likes to describe words like 'urban' and 'robotic'. From the side, you might consider that the 2.7-metre wheelbase is rather too short for the 4.6-metre body length. And adding this rather cheap-looking battery output sticker behind the front wheel arch is unnecessary. But the profile's lovely, embellished by blacked-out windscreen pillars that flow into the cantilevered roof. The rear perspective is equally arresting, with strips of LED lighting that curl around the lower tailgate like Salvador Dali's moustache. Getting in and activating the car requires nothing more than you should have the key in your pocket, but it's a rather cheap-looking square black thing, so you might prefer to download the appropriate Polestar app so that the whole entry and start procedure can be handled by your smartphone. It's a 'vegan interior' apparently and if you don't happen to be a vegan, you may view the prospect of that with all the enthusiasm you might muster for a trip to your local meat-free restaurant. But actually, once inside, well, it's all rather nice, providing you happen to like the whole pared-back Scandinavian vibe this car wants to draw you into. The things you most commonly interact with like this curiously shaped gear lever and the screen graphics are all bespoke - shared componentry with Volvo has been kept to a minimum - and the overall feeling is of a cabin that, rather refreshingly, isn't derivative of anything else in the segment. Unlike in a Tesla, Polestar hasn't tried to cram everything into one central touchscreen - thankfully, a configurable 12.3-inch 'Progressive' instrument display is provided too - but you're still going to be using this 11.15-inch portrait-format middle monitor rather a lot, so it's just as well that thanks to its uber-sophisticated Google Android Automotive OS operating system, it's one of the best you'll find on any car at any price. Brilliantly intuitive built-in voice control is a speciality, Apple devices are reluctantly accommodated and even the integrated climate controls are easy to use. Other cabin highlights include brilliantly supportive seats, a much-needed standard fixed panoramic glass roof and a reasonable level of storage provision. In the rear. The door opens nice and wide and shuts again with a quality 'thunk'. But you're not going to want to share the rear part of this cabin with more than one other adult because of the protruding height of a centre tunnel you'd think this car wouldn't need since it doesn't have to house a conventional transmission system but which is necessary here to house some of the lithium-ion battery cells positioned beneath you. Still, leg room is very reasonable by the usually relatively mediocre standards pervading in this class. What about the boot, the hatch for which as you'd want is power-operated and optionally embellished with a swipe function so you can wave your foot beneath the bumper and open it if you're approaching the car laden down with bags. The capacity revealed (405-litres) is some way down on what you'd get from a rival Tesla Model 3 (542-litres) - or something conventional like, say a BMW 3 Series (480-litres). But those two cars are saloons and this is a hatch, so here you get a more versatile loading space. Push forward the rear bench and 1,095-litres of space is freed up.

To see the full road test text contact us on 0330 0020 227