Although the Polestar 2 may be an unfamiliar name to many car buyers, its importance can’t be underestimated. Polestar is in fact a spin-off from Volvo and is the Swedish answer to Tesla, specialising in progressive electric cars with a zeitgeisty feel.

They’re electric and feature niceties such as vegan interiors – imbued with a caring, sharing vibe that’s very on-trend for these times. The 2 is a fully electric five-door family hatchback to rival the BMW i4 and other premium brands. The Tesla Model 3 saloon is another key rival, and has the Supercharger network to help tempt you further. The Volkswagen ID.7 and BYD Seal are both close rivals, too.

The Polestar’s cabin is a very special place to sit, knocking spots off the Model 3’s interior, which feels cheap by comparison. There’s a high-quality, minimalist vibe at play here, with a simple dashboard and hardly any buttons – most controls are taken care of by the Google operating system and an 11.0-inch touchscreen, which work well together.

As befits a marque that has its roots in racing the top version of the Polestar 2 is far from slow, thanks to a pair of electric motors sending drive to all four wheels. Producing 476hp, it’s fast enough to dispatch the 0-62mph sprint in just 4.2 seconds – a time that’ll trouble many traditional sports cars.  

Polestar doesn’t really do trim levels and models in the traditional sense. Instead you decide whether you want the Standard Range model with a single motor and a range of up to (officially, more on real-world range later) 331 miles or the Long Range. Stick with a rear-wheel drive single motor and the range jumps to 406 miles with the dual motor bringing four-wheel drive at the expense of range; this drops to 367 miles.

Recognising that electric car buyers aren’t simply choosing to ditch petrol and diesel engines purely for environmental reasons, Polestar offers the dual motor model with a Performance Pack that includes manually adjustable Ohlins dampers for the suspension, larger Brembo brakes for increased stopping power, lightweight 20-inch alloy wheels and gold-coloured accents on the seatbelts, tyre valves and brake callipers.

Click through the next few pages to find out everything you need to know in our Polestar 2 review, from how it drives, to how practical it is, plus handy buying tips from our team of expert reviewers.

If you’d like to learn more about our testing process, have a browse through our how we test cars explainer page. And if you prefer to watch rather than read, we’ve recorded a video review of the Polestar 2 which you can view below.

Watch our Polestar 2 video review