First drive: 2020 Polestar 2 prototype

All of which should be music to our ears because, as always, it comes down to priorities. Polestar will not operate dealerships but chic ‘spaces’; the cars can be ordered online only; it will make a splash among the general public, with cutting-edge looks and zero-emission powertrains; and it is a subsidiary of a marque that recently announced an intention to limit its cars to 112mph and, bluntly, has never given us a world-class driver’s car. It would have been so very easy for driver appeal to descend so far down the 2 to-do list as to become irrelevant, but that has not at all been the case.

No point beating around the bush: the Polestar 2 is good to drive. It may never set your synapses on fire but the natural steering response is well matched to what the suspension is doing, and on Hällered’s quick, flowing handling course, the Ohlins dampers – hydraulically textured in their movements – only ever need one bite of the cherry to get the body under control.

Given the powertrain layout, it is no surprise that the car’s balance is good and one can’t fail to notice how high the limits of grip are compared with, a Volvo Volvo XC40. It can be teased into neatly rotating on the brakes, but snow and ice are required to get the car expressing itself under power.

On the more challenging rough-road tracks (there are surfaces resembling LA freeways and Perthshire B-roads), the ride is on the firm side but remains genuinely compliant. Gut feel says this car ought to cope well with UK surfaces, although the softer setup of non-Performance Pack versions might be best for daily driving.

We know the 2 sits on the same CMA platform as the XC40, but it also features a unique front subframe for crash protection (combustion engines being more absorbent than electric motors), has modifications at the rear and supports a battery whose shape leaves good rear footwell space, which is rare in an electric car.

In fact, barring the small boot and poor rearward visibility, the 2’s cabin is superbly conceived. Where the Model 3 goes for an expansive, minimalist ambience, this is more classically enveloping. The window line is high and the glasshouse vaguely pillbox, and the standard panoramic roof is a game-changer because, without it, the high ‘transmission’ tunnel, abrupt 11.0in display and blade-shaped dashboard might have made the place feel too confined. As it is, the cockpit feels safe, secure and involving, and even in this early-stage verification prototype, the fabric and wood trims hit high notes for perceived quality. Soft but supportive seats – a modern Volvo speciality – complete the surprisingly lavish picture.

Back with the not-so-oily bits, Olle Fast (powertrain expert, naturally) explains that the torque split is variable between 60:40 and 40:60 and Rydholm adds that steering angle is used to inform the split and help the car rotate. Drive smoothly and it looks for grip; get punchy and it will begin to favour the rear. Fast also says that for more power, they’d need a better-flowing battery rather than stronger motors, although so rapid is the pace of development that improvements are being made “more or less on a daily basis”. For now, it’s 402bhp whether or not you go for the Performance Pack, which brings 20in wheels with Continental SportContact 6 tyres, the Ohlins dampers and gold-calipered Brembo brakes.

For an electric mass-market family car, the Performance Pack is overkill. And, in truth, so is the surging performance of the 2. But there’s appeal in the way this machine concurrently feels both highly rational and slightly illogical, and at a time when so many automotive pleasures come with guilt attached, that’s exciting. That the people behind this electric car are what we might still describe as ‘petrolheads’ is even more so.

Polestar 2 specifications