Polestar 2: I've Been Thunderstruck!

Goodbye Ioniq, hello Polestar 2!

Yes, I am now the proud owner of a 2021 Polestar 2 in the stunning thunder color. After much research and test driving, I decided to trade-in my Ioniq EV to get something a bit more upscale.

And boy-oh-boy, is the Polestar 2 more upscale!

Thunderstruck!

I’m going to miss my little Ioniq. It was small and practical with some neat features that even the Polestar doesn’t have¹. But it was also rather ugly and boring. I still have a few Ioniq-related posts to write, however.

I ended up purchasing the first Polestar 2 I test drove back in February. I also drove a couple others, but I felt the Performance pack made the ride too stiff and would also likely decrease the range. A 2022 looked promising, but was just too expensive. Shout out to Berlin City Honda who made negotiations painless and gave me a great price on the car!

I’m only just getting used to the Polestar 2, but here are a few of my favorite things so far, plus a few nitpicks.

Favs

The looks are stunning. This is one beautiful car!

It reminds me a lot of my 1998 Audi A4, which was also a somewhat smaller car with a mean, muscular look.

My 1998 Audi A4 for comparison

The thunder gray color of the Polestar 2 is a sort of darker gray with hints of blue depending on the lighting. I absolutely love it. I’ve had cars that are black, green, blue and silver and this thunder color is my favorite by far. It looks amazing!

The Harmon/Kardon sound system has been a pleasant surprise. When I test drove various Polestar 2s, I did not find the audio to be all that impressive. But after a couple long drives, I’ve now changed my tune. I think it has a wonderful sound with a nice mix of highs and lows and some great thumps from the two subwoofers. For reference, I play music via CarPlay and Apple Music, both of which probably help the sound over using Bluetooth, the radio or SiriusXM.

The seats are extremely comfortable, especially with the lumbar. I also like that they are more firm than most other cars I’ve driven in as I find that is better for my back.

I love the underfloor storage in the rear. I’ve been able to stuff all my usual things down there such as shopping bags and dog gear. This keeps the main area free for other uses without me having to empty it out first. And speaking of the trunk, I love the kick to open and close.

I love having a shifter and this one is intuitive and looks cool.

I’m surprised how much I enjoy having the map show up in the driver console, even when I know where I’m going.

I don’t yet have the app working as I need to wait for the ownership transfer to happen, which should only be a couple more days.

Nits

• Efficiency is not great, but I’ve been able to get 3.29 mi/kWh (30.4kWh / 100mi) on a 46 mile trip with 50F temps.

• Backup sensor warnings are aggressive, at least for my garage. They are easy to disable, but you have to do it each time. However, I do like how the warnings are in surround, so a warning on the side comes from the audio on that side of the car. This, in addition to the visual indicator in the camera, makes it obvious what it is seeing as a problem. Safety first!

• The blinker sound is weird. Most people seem to think it sounds like an empty Gatorade bottle being squeezed. Crinkle, Crack, Crinkle, Crack.

• One of the key fobs was erratic, but it just needed to have its battery replaced, which only took a couple minutes.

This is just the beginning, so be sure to subscribe for more Polestar 2 content! I’ll have posts about range and efficiency testing, the Google infotainment system, unique features, purchase experience, comparisons to other EVs (Ioniq, Tesla Model 3) and much more!

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1. A subject for a future post.