Polestar are different. They are the first car company in Ireland to sell their cars exclusively on-line. Most car companies have dealerships where you can go in, kick a few tyres take a car for a test drive, but with Polestar you have to order online.
However, Polestar now has an outlet in Sandyford Industrial Estate in south Dublin, close to the Luas stop, where you can drop in and visit their only Dublin outlet, chat to one of their experts and find out more about the Polestar range and also take a short test drive.
Polestar are planning to open other similar outlets around the country. With regard to servicing this can be done in any of the Volvo dealer workshops countrywide.
Polestar is a Swedish brand established in 1996 by Volvo Cars’ partner Flash/Polestar Racing and acquired in 2015 by Volvo. Polestar cars share technology and engineering with Volvo cars, but they like to be viewed as a stand-alone company. The cars are made in China.
My ‘Performance’ test car came in a very impressive shade of space black. At first glance the logo on the bonnet reminded me of the St Brigid’s Cross that RTE television used to use back in the sixties. This is no retro logo, but the Polestar logo and it’s also used on the boot door, inside on the steering wheel and just under the gear lever.
The dash is dominated by a tablet-like screen where you have all your infotainment controls. The seats are Charcoal WeaveTech (vegan) with Black Ash deco. My test car had a sunroof which certainly brightened the interior décor.
There is no start-stop button. The car will start once the key is ‘on your person.’ When you stop, you don’t have to switch off anything, simply press the ‘p’ button to park and exit the car.
There is plenty of room for three well-built adults in the back seat. Massive space in the boot and while there is ‘well’ underneath it’s not the correct shape to hold a spare wheel. There is also a decent-sized frunk under the bonnet. In my test car it was used to store the charge cables. But I think you could store those cables safely in the boot and then use the ‘frunk’ to store personal items.
The Polestar 2 is a smart, sturdy and conventional looking car. It’s so easy to handle and very comfortable to travel in. And the Volvo connection means it’s strong on safety.
Polestar 2 comes equipped with an 11kW onboard charger, which gives more flexibility in AC charging. DC fast charging is available up to 15kW, for an 80% charge in 35 minutes. It will take about 11 hours to charge the Polestar 2 at 7kW from a wall box at home.
Johnny Cash or Henry Ford, both of whom loved black, would I think, like this car, as black is the dominant colour. But you get gold-coloured seats belts and the brake calipers are also copper gold-coloured. Visibility is not great through the rear window, but parking is so easy thanks to the 360-degree surround view camera, which is also used in modern Volvo cars.
Prices start at €52,635 while my Polestar 2 version starts at €70,270. However, my ‘performance’ test car which came with a lot of extras plus a delivery fee of €1,000 brought the price of the car as tested to €77,155. The range varies from 470km up to 540km and road tax is €120.
Black Beauty was a novel written by Anna Sewell about a horse 146 years ago and this is definitely another ‘Black Beauty’ with 476 horses working under the bonnet in the dual-motor version.
For more log on to www.polestar.ie
