Polestar 2 Singapore Review 2022

Polestar 2 Singapore 2022 - From Wearnes Automotive comes the long range dual electric motor variant of the Polestar 2, a fully electric vehicle that runs the world's first Android Automotive OS together with a superb Harmon Kardon sound system. As the dual motor model, the car outperforms its standard range single motor and long range single motor both in terms of performance and endurance, and is available with the optional performance pack featuring upgraded 20 inch rims, Brembo brakes, Ohlins suspension, and those quirky and avant garde yellow/gold seat belts. With prices starting from just over $210,000 for the base variant, its hard for consumers not to compare it to the Tesla Model 3 - But is it really a fair comparison, and if it is, then is it indeed better than the car that made electric cars cool? Let's find out.

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Effervescent Looks

First impressions of the Polestar 2 were excellent - The car looked striking, minimalist, sleek, and effortlessly cool. When driving around, the car turned quite a few heads, any perhaps because of its relative rarity compared to the Tesla Model 3 at the moment, there were a few members of the public that sneakily pulled out the phones for a quick photo snap. Some were not discreet than others, but I digress, and I think the point has been made - The car looks cool and extremely avant-garde.

On the exterior, plenty of effort has been made to make the car look futuristic, which sees the car stripped of almost any chrome bits, save the silver bits on the 20 inch rims that came as part of the performance pack found on the test car. The grille features a cool pixel design that mimics the LED headlights, the side mirrors are rimless, and for better or worse, there is a huge light bar that stretches across the rear of the car. My personal favourite though, is the removal of the beam that separates the rear windows and the quarter glass. The rear windows are essentially just one large piece of glass, that really adds to the sleek look of the car.

Interestingly, by the end of my 3 day test drive, I had discovered that I wasn't quite in love with the rear end of the car, which looks boxy and bored, with inadequate styling cues to make the car look truly spectacular. There is a Scandinavian minimalism about the car which is generally nice, but I think Polestar may have gone a little too minimalist on the rear end. That said, most people will still think the car is super cool, so I don't see a need to criticise its rear end any further. In essence then, the look is effervescent, where you quickly fall in love with parts of the car, only to realise you dislike other parts of the car on a different day. It would seem prudent then, to head down to the showroom to really observe the car from all the different angles, to decide if you want to spend your next few years looking at this car.

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Not in the Same League as Tesla

When you climb into the Polestar, you immediate see the difference to the Tesla Model 3. Truth is, its not even comparable - because the Tesla is a mass market vehicle, and the Polestar 2 is a premium luxury vehicle. And guess what? - You can feel this immediate with the Polestar 2. Although they sit in a similar price point, comparing the Model 3 and the Polestar 2 is a bit like comparing a performance Japanese car to an entry BMW 3 Series (the Tesla being the Japanese car in this context). With one car, you're paying for the drive train and performance. The other, you are paying for an elevated lifestyle. On a whole then, it is easy to pinpoint where the Polestar 2 just has plenty more premium touch points around the car, and is in my opinion, the easier car to fall in love with.

The Polestar 2 boasts a unique cabin that is filled with recycled wood, vegan leather, and other odd sustainably sourced materials that come together nicely to make the Polestar 2 feel like a sophisticated and discerning thing. You can pay extra for leather seats if you prefer dead animal skin in your car, an option I personally would be likely to opt for. Aside from that, there is plenty of gadgetry to make you feel like you are in a modern spaceship for your human family. One such piece of gadgetry would come in the form of the Android Automotive OS Infotainment system, the first time its ever been used on a car. The system is a bit of an oddball, and is essentially its own tablet with its own LTE connection, which means that syncing your phone up is not really the modus operandi here - in fact, if you want to access apps like Spotify, you literally sign into the infotainment directly. The system is built around certain ideals of connectivity via google assistant that is supposed to make life easier. For example, if you home and car are both synced to the same google assistant account, you could theoretically turn on your smart heater from the car, while driving home from work - Pretty neat. However, the system feels quite distant, and if you don't wish to sign into any of the services provided, you're essentially just left with a huge tablet in the middle of your console. As such, the infotainment system is definitely something people will want to check out during their test drive, to see if they can adequately get used to the system

Another piece of technology is the absolutely beautiful digital driver's display, which is simple and does not have an album of redundant menus that confuse you. It has 2 views - one with a map and one without. Without the map, your key pieces of driving information are moved front and centre, with no distractions. With the map, you get this wonderfully overlaid map image that is soothing to the eyes and features a gradient, which makes the image look a little more multi-dimensional and pretty - a little like the system you find on BMWs.

Which One Should I Buy?

The long range dual motor variant we tested isn't as quick as the top spec-ed Model 3, but it was still plenty fast for Singapore, and acceleration will still make the unsuspecting passenger skip a breath. So if speed is your priority, I'd say you wouldn't necessarily feel like you lost out greatly by buying the long range dual motor variant over the Model 3 performance. That said, I do think drivers will be happier with the Polestar as a calm cruiser, for as much as the performance pack looked like the real deal - the suspension does feel a little too firm for Singapore's highly uneven roads. Shock absorption was actually quite decent, but ride quality can be a little bit shifty on more pock-marked roads. For these reasons, I think the variant to buy would be the long range dual motor without the performance pack, which gives you good value considering the price difference to the base model. Alternatively the base model will still give you plenty of electric feels, while providing the same quality interior that sets it apart from the Tesla.

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