Polestar 2 review: The car giving Tesla a run for its money

From Volvo’s electric sister brand, the Polestar 2 feels far classier and better built than a Tesla.

The electric Polestar 2 gives Tesla a run for its money.

Many elements of modern life are ripe for reinvention – silent, non-sleep-shattering aeroplanes that run on solar power would be my top request, followed by super-fast trains that work outside Japan and delicious burgers, beers and lemon meringue pies with zero fat content. But there are even more things that don’t need reinventing and the world would be a better place if people would just cease trying to do so (I’d like to find the person who thought cleverly scripted television should be ditched in favour of letting “real” people spew forth bilious banality and then beat them with my remote control).

The engineers who work at car companies, however, have never seen a feature that couldn’t be improved, at least in their minds, and this includes literally reinventing the wheel (concept cars have been turning steering wheels into trapezoids for years, and Lexus has now done it for real, giving its new RZ450e EV an F1-style “yoke”).

Polestar was once the sporty offshoot of Volvo, but it’s now a purely electric sister brand.

So it should’t really surprise me that Polestar – an EV brand that seems to have been born out of a madly panicked meeting of car executives looking at Tesla’s sales and saying “Build us one of those” – decided the sound that indicators make was in desperate need of reimagining. To the point where, the first time I heard it, I started screaming and waving my hands wildly because I thought there was a giant bat, or possibly a pterodactyl, loose in the car.

While everyone who heard it found it surprising, my daughter found it offensive and spent some time trying to describe what it sounded like, including the Devil tapping his fingernail on a leather-topped desk, and the noise a suction cup makes when you attach and release it. This seemed accurate to me, as it was definitely a sound that sucked.

Polestar 2 EV

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It’s possible that EV designers feel the need to make their cars stand out from the crowd and seem super modern and vive la different, but when you ask a company based in Sweden for something exciting you’re going to get meatballs, not Japanese tacos with wasabi slaw. (Polestar was once the sporty offshoot of Volvo, but it’s now a purely electric sister brand, and both are owned by Chinese giant Geely, which builds them in China.)

While one cruel friend described my Polestar 2 as looking like a “squished” Tesla, I quite like its restrained design, and I’d even call it eye-catchingly attractive from behind. It also feels far classier and better built than a Tesla. While it’s copied the “slap an iPad in the middle, kids will love it” approach, it also gives you a proper dash in front of the driver, which is better than the way Tesla asks your eyes to constantly shift away from the road.

The interior.

Unfortunately, Polestar runs a Google system, which means it initially launched without Apple CarPlay and then added it when customers complained. As you’d imagine when you ask these two tech frenemies to work together, it doesn’t work most of the time. The screen does offer you various settings for steering feel, regen strength (or “One Pedal Drive”) and the ability to turn “Creep” mode on and off, a button some politicians would dearly love.

Polestars are proving popular in Australia, despite a price starting at $63,900 for the entry Polestar 2 with a single motor. I had the full-fat Long Range Dual Motor ($73,400) with 300kW, 660Nm and “up to 480km” of range. My fast and furious variant has a zero to 100km/h time of 4.7 seconds and more mid-range punch than anyone could ever need, and yet this Polestar 2 felt completely lacking in the hurtling histrionics of most super-charging EVs. It feels non-threatening and yet still fun, familiar and pleasant to drive, as if there might be a somehow-silent internal-combustion engine under the bonnet.

The steering is nicely weighted, the seats are superb, it rides over bumps well and is comfortable in all conditions. And if you don’t like the regen sensation, which weirds a lot of people out when they first drive an EV, you can just about turn it off. With Creep mode on, it even rolls forward when you take your foot off the brake, just like an old-school car.

While there are plenty of things that make it feel like Polestar was desperately trying to copy a Tesla Model 3 (it even has the same, space-sensation panoramic roof), or at least its success, it feels far less radical and challenging to live with. Indeed, a Polestar might be just the car for people who want to buy an EV, but don’t want anything about their car-owning experience to change (aside from never visiting a servo again). On the downside, it has fewer storage cubbies than a pair of Speedos and the indicator noise might drive you mad. Other than that, the Polestar 2 is a Swede surprise.

Polestar 2 EV

Engine: Twin synchronous magnet synchronous motors (300kW/660Nm)

Economy:20.2kWh/100km

Transmission: 1-speed automatic, all-wheel drive

Price: $73,400

RATING: 3.5 stars