POLE POSITION(some text hidden)

By Jonathan Crouch

Ten Second Review word count: 86

You might think this updated Polestar 2, this Swedish EV brand's most important model, looks hardly different from the original. Much though has changed. As well as being a little smarter to look at, it's better to drive, charges quicker and goes much further on energy from its more advanced battery packs. As before, it's a high quality sporting mid-sized 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 can offer.

Background word count: 201

You may now vaguely 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. Which in 2020 was what brought us the Polestar 2, a mid-sized premium EV Crossover that's done its share of shaking up the market. Almost everything a conscientious EV adopter might want was 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 could expect from in-car infotainment and connectivity. But the competition has been catching up, so Polestar has fundamentally re-imagined what this car can be and produced a lot more than just a mid-term facelift....

Driving Experience word count: 394

In terms of dynamic updates, this is about as fundamental as it gets. Single-motor Polestar 2 variants (the ones almost everyone chooses) have been switched from front to rear-wheel drive, which Polestar claims 'elevates the driving experience to a whole new level'. It certainly features quite a few engineering changes - even at the foot of the range, where the base Standard range Single motor variant now gets a revised 69kWh battery (sourced from LG Chem) and a redesigned permanent magnet motor producing 295bhp and 490Nm of torque (raised from the earlier model's 228bhp and 330Nm). That gets the car to 62mph in 6.2s, 1.2s faster than before. And, more significantly, driving range rises to a best of up to 343 miles. The mid-level Long range Single motor model we tried also gets a battery change - and in this case one with greater capacity, an 82kWh battery pack (up from 78kWh) supplied by CATL and capable of taking the car up to 438 miles. That same 82kWh battery also appears in the top Dual-Motor AWD model, which now has a 369 mile total (rising 70 miles from before partly thanks to a 'front motor disconnect' function that's particularly adept at maximising range). That top AWD model should be more engaging to drive too, thanks to the new powertrain's greater rear bias; and it'll be faster, total system output rising to 416bhp (14bhp more than before) and 760Nm of torque (100Nm more). The 0-62mph time of that Dual-Motor variant is therefore cut to 4.3s. If that's still not quick enough, customers for this AWD flagship model will be offered an optional 'Performance Pack' upgrade, which boosts power to 469bhp and cuts the sprint time to just 4.0s. This option is also offered to existing Polestar 2 AWD owners as an over-the-air update. Even if you're impressed by all of this, you might still understandably have a few qualms about choosing a sports saloon from a subsidiary of the Volvo marque, a maker yet to deliver any sort of enthusiast-orientated product and a brand that limits the top speed of all its cars to 112mph. But give this Polestar 2 model a chance. Massive efforts have been made to imbue this car with levels of steering feel and body control that are about as far from your perception of Volvo as it's possible to get.