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Polestar 2 Fully loaded experience and comparison

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I am currently driving a Polestar 2 dual motor with Performance pack, Pilot pack, and Plus pack. For reference I have a Model X as a comparison. My X is in the Tesla collision shop from an accident I had. Enterprise rental gave me this one.

My impression of the Polestar 2 is a compact to mid-size vehicle that looks, feels, and functions like a low to mid-market ICE car. When I say looks and feels, I mean exactly. If it wasn't for the fact that I knew I was driving an electric car I wouldn't tell the difference. They even replicated how ICE cars bog down going up hills with a moderate slowing and them speeding up. Why? The car has enough power to maintain a steady speed. My experience with ICE cars is I have owned all spectrums of GM cars mainly because my dad worked for GM. I have owned Chevys low to high end. Buicks. Olds. Saturns. GMCs.

First off, I wouldn't compare this to a Tesla because nothing about it says electric except for the fact that I plug it in and the obvious power train maintenance items. I feel like I was transported back in time to my Buick Regal days before I bought my X 6 years ago. In fact, my Regal was and is a better-quality drive. I would compare it more to the higher end Chevys. It squeaks like crazy at low speeds and bumps. The Polestar has a glass roof. But, the day I picked it up it was raining. It sounded like I had a tin roof over me. You could hear every drop that hit the roof.

From a technology perspective there is nothing that is different from any ICE car available. It just feels outdated and 6 months behind like any other ICE I bought.

The Pilot pack consists of the standard ICE cruise control, adaptive cruise, and Pilot assist. Cruise and Adaptive cruise is the identical implementation that I had on my Buicks starting 10 years ago. The Pilot assist is a joke. It is supposed to be something close to auto pilot. But, no. It drifts from side to side at times drifting over the lane line before correcting. I am constantly fighting to keep it centered in the lane. And forget about corners.

In conclusion, I wouldn't even put it in the same ballpark with the model 3 let alone a model Y. My 6 year old Tesla feels decades more innovative. With that said, my perspective is in comparison to Tesla. It is a good offering for ppl that just doesn't care about innovation, likes buttons, and are coming from or wants an ICE experience. The Polestar I am driving is priced at $70,000 with all the options. Putting that at the high-end of the Model Y spectrum, I would go with a Y all day long.
 
I am currently driving a Polestar 2 dual motor with Performance pack, Pilot pack, and Plus pack. For reference I have a Model X as a comparison. My X is in the Tesla collision shop from an accident I had. Enterprise rental gave me this one.

My impression of the Polestar 2 is a compact to mid-size vehicle that looks, feels, and functions like a low to mid-market ICE car. When I say looks and feels, I mean exactly. If it wasn't for the fact that I knew I was driving an electric car I wouldn't tell the difference. They even replicated how ICE cars bog down going up hills with a moderate slowing and them speeding up. Why? The car has enough power to maintain a steady speed. My experience with ICE cars is I have owned all spectrums of GM cars mainly because my dad worked for GM. I have owned Chevys low to high end. Buicks. Olds. Saturns. GMCs.

First off, I wouldn't compare this to a Tesla because nothing about it says electric except for the fact that I plug it in and the obvious power train maintenance items. I feel like I was transported back in time to my Buick Regal days before I bought my X 6 years ago. In fact, my Regal was and is a better-quality drive. I would compare it more to the higher end Chevys. It squeaks like crazy at low speeds and bumps. The Polestar has a glass roof. But, the day I picked it up it was raining. It sounded like I had a tin roof over me. You could hear every drop that hit the roof.

From a technology perspective there is nothing that is different from any ICE car available. It just feels outdated and 6 months behind like any other ICE I bought.

The Pilot pack consists of the standard ICE cruise control, adaptive cruise, and Pilot assist. Cruise and Adaptive cruise is the identical implementation that I had on my Buicks starting 10 years ago. The Pilot assist is a joke. It is supposed to be something close to auto pilot. But, no. It drifts from side to side at times drifting over the lane line before correcting. I am constantly fighting to keep it centered in the lane. And forget about corners.

In conclusion, I wouldn't even put it in the same ballpark with the model 3 let alone a model Y. My 6 year old Tesla feels decades more innovative. With that said, my perspective is in comparison to Tesla. It is a good offering for ppl that just doesn't care about innovation, likes buttons, and are coming from or wants an ICE experience. The Polestar I am driving is priced at $70,000 with all the options. Putting that at the high-end of the Model Y spectrum, I would go with a Y all day long.
A friend of mine just purchased one recently. They were really concerned about their EV choice and went through a bajillion options before somehow landing on the polestar. Upon seeing it in person, I was excited that they were excited, but I felt the same about the interior. Kind of clunky, not my taste. It felt real weird to walk over to my X afterward when asked to see it. Felt like I needed to play my car down, like second hand embarrassment or something I don’t know. Again, they’re happy with their purchase, so that’s all that matters. I’ll stick with Tesla for sure.
 
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I am currently driving a Polestar 2 dual motor with Performance pack, Pilot pack, and Plus pack. For reference I have a Model X as a comparison. My X is in the Tesla collision shop from an accident I had. Enterprise rental gave me this one.

My impression of the Polestar 2 is a compact to mid-size vehicle that looks, feels, and functions like a low to mid-market ICE car. When I say looks and feels, I mean exactly. If it wasn't for the fact that I knew I was driving an electric car I wouldn't tell the difference. They even replicated how ICE cars bog down going up hills with a moderate slowing and them speeding up. Why? The car has enough power to maintain a steady speed. My experience with ICE cars is I have owned all spectrums of GM cars mainly because my dad worked for GM. I have owned Chevys low to high end. Buicks. Olds. Saturns. GMCs.

First off, I wouldn't compare this to a Tesla because nothing about it says electric except for the fact that I plug it in and the obvious power train maintenance items. I feel like I was transported back in time to my Buick Regal days before I bought my X 6 years ago. In fact, my Regal was and is a better-quality drive. I would compare it more to the higher end Chevys. It squeaks like crazy at low speeds and bumps. The Polestar has a glass roof. But, the day I picked it up it was raining. It sounded like I had a tin roof over me. You could hear every drop that hit the roof.

From a technology perspective there is nothing that is different from any ICE car available. It just feels outdated and 6 months behind like any other ICE I bought.

The Pilot pack consists of the standard ICE cruise control, adaptive cruise, and Pilot assist. Cruise and Adaptive cruise is the identical implementation that I had on my Buicks starting 10 years ago. The Pilot assist is a joke. It is supposed to be something close to auto pilot. But, no. It drifts from side to side at times drifting over the lane line before correcting. I am constantly fighting to keep it centered in the lane. And forget about corners.

In conclusion, I wouldn't even put it in the same ballpark with the model 3 let alone a model Y. My 6 year old Tesla feels decades more innovative. With that said, my perspective is in comparison to Tesla. It is a good offering for ppl that just doesn't care about innovation, likes buttons, and are coming from or wants an ICE experience. The Polestar I am driving is priced at $70,000 with all the options. Putting that at the high-end of the Model Y spectrum, I would go with a Y all day long.
Thanks for the review. I was behind one at a light the other day and was very curious as to how they drive. Nice to hear it from a Tesla perspective.
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I have been a loyal Volvo owner and was looking forward to the Polestar but back in 2019 it was going to be quite a wait as it wasn’t even clear that they would be selling them in the DC area. After my wife and I tested a Model 3 on Valentines day 2019 my loyalty to Volvo went to Tesla and have been very happy for the past three years! Note our 2001 Volvo V70 is still running great as my son now has it at college.
 
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I have been a loyal Volvo owner and was looking forward to the Polestar but back in 2019 it was going to be quite a wait as it wasn’t even clear that they would be selling them in the DC area. After my wife and I tested a Model 3 on Valentines day 2019 my loyalty to Volvo went to Tesla and have been very happy for the past three years! Note our 2001 Volvo V70 is still running great as my son now has it at college.

Ditto, love older Volvo's, I was a moderator on volvospped.com......I thought about get an Polestar SUV until I drove it. I love my X, nothing compares to it.
 
I considered the Polestar 2 before I purchased my MYLR. For me the key factory that eliminated the Polestar was how far I live from a service facility. (~5 hours) vs. ~1.5 hours for Tesla.

I must comment that Tesla has not always implemented technology well. During my first 2 months of Tesla ownership I would have traded it for a Polestar in a heartbeat due to the intolerable phantom braking I was experiencing on 2 lane non-divided highways. That problem went away with a 2022.4.5.17

So while I am now happy with my model Y my ownership experience at 3 months would have undoubtedly been better with the Polestar. While a traditional vehicle manufacturer will innovate much more slowly than Tesla, they are far more likely to wait to put something on the market until it has been properly developed and tested.
 
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When I test drove the P2 it rattled as well, I was like this is a Volvo right? The Ionic 5 and Model 3 killed it. IF the P2 had the handling of the Ionic 5 and the speed of the Tesla well then sign me up. Heck the Mach-E was a lot more fun to drive as well.
 
Thanks for the review. I’ve been wondering about Polestar. Heard they had to recall almost the entire fleet for battery issues - not a very good start. I wonder if poor power delivery may have caused the issues on hills that you noticed?

I have to agree with @dan031970 - Tesla pushes technology, but they don’t always do it well. the V11 interface and TACC are prime examples. Still, I’m happy with my Y overall. Glad I didn’t wait for a Polestar!
 
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I do think the Polestar 2 looks very nice and was wondering how it compared.

Too bad that nothing other than the exterior look seems appealing to me. I was hoping that the Polestar would put up a worthy fight against the Teslas for the benefit of all EVs.

Just goes to show how difficult it is to do EVs well, I guess.
 
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