Overview

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. There’s even some crossover with the Volkswagen ID.3 in terms of pricing.

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.