What is it?
This is the Polestar 2 without the optional Performance Pack fitted to every example of this slick and very quick electric notchback that we've tried until now.
Let’s go straight in and first talk about what you don’t get, should you forgo the package. (If you’re unfamiliar with the Polestar 2 in general, you can catch up by reading our experiences driving a prototype in Sweden, our first taste of the car on British roads or a head-to-head with its closest rival, the Tesla Model 3.)
Most noticeably, you don’t get the supercar-spec 20in forged wheels with gold valve caps, the gold Brembo brake calipers or the sizable drilled discs they grip. And no doubt, without these, you also lose an appreciable portion of the 2's concepty visual clout.
Neither do you get the high-gloss black roof panel, nor the gold seatbelts, although interestingly the lovely panoramic roof is standard. This is just as well, because I suspect the cabin would feel a little too cosy without the skylight, as Polestar surely knows.
Most of all, by choosing not to have the Performance Pack, you go without the vaunted Öhlins dual-flow valve dampers, which are manually adjustable and paired with stiffer anti-roll bars and unique spring rates.
Öhlins, if you don't already know, is the Swedish brand whose expensive kit is frequently found on racing cars and supercars such as the Lamborghini Aventador, although it has also recently announced remote-reservoir dampers for intrepid Suzuki Jimny owners. In short, the Performance Pack dampers are anything but ordinary.
As for what you gain for resisting all that bling, there's a slight increase in ground clearance and therefore ride height, because the standard passive suspension uses longer springs than the Performance Pack suspension. You also get the standard 19in wheels, which aren’t so attractive but do wear tyres that are more generous of sidewall, which ought to improve the finer elements of the ride quality.
Last but not least, you’ll save yourself £5000.
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Ride comfort issues
Overdrive wrote:
The comments on the ride being over-firm were about the Performance Pack, which this one doesn't have. It even says it's better for not having the Performance Pack.
I own and drive this
I own and drive this wonderful car since September 9th. As a test car I drove a non Performance Pack with 20 inch alloys and Continental tyres.
The same as the onze object of this present testdrive.
Both my wife and myself judged the ride to be unacceptably hard in that configuration. You must know we drove an Audi A7 with air suspension as our daily driver.
The car we ordered would be equipped with 19 inch wheels and Michelin Primacy tyres and we hoped this would be a very different drive. We even considered to use our right to cancel the contract (which is allowed within 14 days after delivery).
Our hope became true through, the ride quality appeared to be very much better than the non PP with 20 inch.
Even on bad roads and potholes it is really OK., although no cushion ride.
On better roads the ride is frankly excellent. I mean nearly S-class quality. The A7 is no match. Of course the fact that there are no mechanical vibrations contributes to the refinement.
So spread the news : the 19 inch version really is the sweet spot of the range. And more silent too.
And I didn't notice any drawbacks : Steering is only a little softer, but still very stable and direct (not alot of feel, I agree) and body control remains very good.
Competition
Ultimately, its main competitors are old fashioned fossil cars. Tesla has its own tech market. The fossil industry is playing catch-up and it's not there yet. Maybe they'll catch in 3 to 5 years, but then Tesla will be somewhere else.
self drive
Good to see they have left all the self drive and other gimmicks to Tesla. Just a shame its made in china, despite Autocar mentioning Sweden several times, rather than Europe, you could knock 5 to 10 percent off the price, potentially making it a 39k car which sounds alot better.
Why is it a shame that its
Why is it a shame that its made in China?
Ans
Read all the sentence and you will find out, clue is the tariff, which pumps the price up by several thousand pounds.
xxxx wrote:
Its a shame the Tesla 3 isnt built in China, it might actually get built with a bit of quality, matching panel gaps and a decent paint job, everyone I have seen so far is like something produced in a 1970's BL factory.
You wrote to soon
It is, as well as the states and will be build in Germany next year. Quality emmm, 2 recalls for the polestar already, what were you saying about 70's build quality