EV Review: Polestar 2

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You might remember Polestar as Volvo’s high-performance department, and today, they’ve become their own brand that deals exclusively in electrified vehicles.

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I recently spent about 1,200 kilometres test-driving the brand’s current entry-level Polestar 2 while filming and shooting the machine for some upcoming projects, and it’s a pretty impressive little machine.

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My dad calls cars like the Polestar 2 ‘pocket rockets.’ He’s referring to cars that are small and fast — apt descriptors for my little Swedish sleeper.

Polestar 2 can do 0-60 in 5 seconds or less — thanks to 408 horsepower and all-wheel drive for maximum grip. My tester can drive about 375 kilometres on a charge, can be filled from empty in your driveway overnight, and can even chug back enough electrons from a compatible fast charger to recharge at a rate of approximately 10 kilometres per minute. That’s 200 kilometres of recharging in the average road-trip lunch stop or bio-break, or a full-from-empty recharge while you get the groceries. 

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So, you’re free to enjoy the Polestar 2 around town, on highway road trips, and anything in between. I regularly drive between Toronto and Sudbury, Ontario — and with the presence of multiple fast-charging stations available along that route in recent years, I could comfortably handle the 425 kilometre drive with nothing more than a few minutes of charging while I’m stopped anyways. 

The Polestar 2 starts around $70,000 before any applicable rebates, with my well-equipped demo clocking a sticker price of around $76,000. Shoppers making that sort of spend on an EV are typically considering models like the Tesla Model 3 and Ford Mustang Mach-E, as well.

Imagine a Subaru STI with a bit of a chip and a tune — and a total lack of any noise and vibration — and you’re in the right ballpark. The Polestar 2 continually called an old friend’s tuned-up Subaru to mind by way of its hard-hitting torque, fast steering, flat handling, and sticky tires. Of course, unlike the Subaru, the Polestar 2 gets off the line at maximum speed with zero effort, zero noise, and zero vibration.

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The point is, if you’re coming to the Polestar 2 from any number of rocket-propelled AWD performance sedans with a combustion engine, you’ll feel right at home in a lot of ways. They’ve captured the same sort of direct, frisky, high-energy driving feel behind some of the most popular enthusiast cars on the road today, and made it electric.

“See ya!!!” says the Polestar 2 to its fellow traffic when the light turns green. And all without making a peep.

Just stand on the throttle pedal, enjoy the mild face-lift, and sail away from the intersection at warp 9, noiselessly, and before anyone else’s transmission is even meshed up.

It never gets old. 

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The acceleration is a  treat, but on my watch, the biggest smiles came from the Polestar 2’s steering, handling, and brakes. Remember, this car has a big heavy battery mounted flat and wide in the every bottom of the floor, which lowers the centre of gravity. There’s an electric motor mounted smack between both front and rear wheels too. This layout helps make electric cars like this one very well balanced.

From that basis, the engineers fine-tune things to make sure the driver feels it.  Though it’s quiet and minimalistic from the driver’s seat, the Polestar 2 is an absolute riot to drive — and drive hard. The on-demand throttle response is eye-widening. The performance tuning to the chassis and suspension and handling are all built around the car’s low centre of gravity and high power output. Look no further than the giant drilled rotors and clampers, finished in polestar yellow, for a nod to this machine’s sporting intentions. 

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Cruising, it feels solid, heavy and dense. But, ask for a change in speed or direction, and the machine seems to shed its weight, responding with a smaller-car feel that’s eager and full of energy. Steering and throttle respond with hair-trigger immediacy, and the superhero-sticky Continental rubber corner-carves quietly. The way it all comes together at the tips of your fingers and toes demonstrates the sort of fine-tuned and calibrated feel you’d expect from years of expertise.

Drivers can even dial in how they want the steering to feel, so the car feels just right in your hands.

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There’s no engine sound, no shifting, and no sense of rising action to the power delivery as the the revs climb. Many enthusiast drivers will miss those things, your writer included. Still, the hilarious throttle response brings its own form of entertainment. You get an interesting new world to explore, too — where your senses aren’t being bombarded by noise, which, I figure, ramps up your ability to feel and read the car and what’s going on between the tires and the road when you drive spiritedly.

You enjoy this from a quiet and snug cabin. The Polestar 2’s interior design is clean, elegant and tidy. Little is flashy or over the top, and hard buttons are few and far between. Mostly, it’s a big central screen, clean scenery that’s nicely trimmed, and a calm and smooth collection of shapes and angles that seem to invite relaxation, if you like.

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I found that an interesting contrast to the driving position itself, which saw my backside gripped into place by snug, sporty buckets, and a floor that angles your feet down towards the pedals. You sit deep inside of the Polestar 2, low and in control, with a thick steering wheel in your hands.

On the highway the sporting feel of the Polestar 2 shines through, though it remains more than comfortable enough for a highway road trip by an enthusiast driver. There’s always a sense of firmness and eagerness to the way it drives here, but at speed, the suspension and steering both enable a drive that feels alert but not twitchy; athletic, but not uncomfortable. Even on rougher in-town roads, the Polestar 2’s suspension exhibits a strong and durable feel over rougher surfaces, though you’ve got more comfortable-riding options for the money if that’s important to you.

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In sum, the Polestar 2 is at its best when driven spiritedly, but it’s more than happy to deliver a chilled-out, quiet ride, too.

After a week at the wheel, I left the Polestar 2 wishing for a slightly more generous rear seat, and a more straightforward infotainment interface. Polestar’s built-in system is a powerful and valuable tool once up and running, but I found the initial setup and login process to be more frustrating and time-consuming than expected.

For a high-energy drive, gobs of power and quiet looks, the Polestar 2 is a modern-day electric sleeper.

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