2024 Polestar 2 Reviews, Pricing & Specs

The Polestar 2 stands out, and not just because it’s one of the few EVs on sale that isn’t an SUV. It has the silhouette of a sedan—with a distinct rear deck that looks like a trunk lid—but is in fact a hatchback. It also features a raised ride height and fender flares for a slightly more rugged look than the Tesla Model 3 or Hyundai Ioniq 6. The Polestar’s lack of curves also makes for quite a contrast with those EVs.

The styling still has some Volvo ingredients, including the parent brand’s trademark “Thor’s Hammer” headlights. But for 2024 the Volvo-like grille has been erased. There’s now just a blank space between the headlights that Polestar has dubbed the “SmartZone.” It’s meant to highlight the sensors for the car’s driver-assist systems, but it also emphasizes that this is an EV.

For 2024, the 20-inch forged alloy wheels available with the Performance Pack also get a new design in line with the wheels of the forthcoming Polestar 3, the automaker’s first SUV. (Due to start deliveries in the 2024 calendar year, the 3 aims for even greater design divergence from Volvo.) The standard 19-inch wheels can also be equipped with Michelin all-season tires for 2024.

The Polestar 2 shares the Compact Modular Architecture (CMA) platform with the Volvo XC40 Recharge and C40 Recharge crossover SUVs. CMA is not a dedicated EV platform, although only the XC40 is sold with a combustion engine.

The interior is fairly similar to the XC40 and C40 as well. The portrait-oriented touchscreen, vertical air vents, and lack of extraneous details are common among the three models. It’s an aesthetically pleasing theme no matter which of the three models you’re sitting in. Our test car had a premium feel, but mostly because of the fit and finish, not the materials themselves. Polestar purposely makes cloth seats standard because they’re vegan (Nappa leather upholstery is also available), but there was also lots of plastic, including glare-inducing piano-black trim on the centre console.

Polestar made a change for 2024 that guarantees the 2 automotive trivia immortality: Single-motor models switch from front-wheel drive (FWD) to rear-wheel drive (RWD). They also get a larger 82-kilowatt-hour battery pack and more power. Output from the electric motor is now 299 horsepower and 362 pound-feet of torque, up from 231 hp and 243 lb-ft before. Polestar says the 2024 Long Range Single Motor will do zero to 100 km/h in 6.2 seconds and reach a top speed of 205 km/h, improvements over the 7.9 seconds and 160 km/h of the previous single-motor model.

The Long Range Dual Motor, which adds a front motor for all-wheel drive (AWD), keeps the old 78-kWh battery pack, but it now makes 421 hp and 546 lb-ft of torque in standard form. Those are increases of 13 hp and 59 lb-ft, and result in a 0.3-second improvement in zero to 100 km/h acceleration, to 4.5 seconds. Top speed is unchanged at 205 km/h.

The dual-motor Polestar 2 is also available with a Performance Pack that boosts output to 455 hp. That’s less than this option added for 2023, but the 2024 model is still slightly quicker, accelerating to 100 km/h from a standstill in 4.2 seconds. And the Performance Pack isn’t just about power. It also adds Brembo brakes and Öhlins manually adjustable dampers. The latter aren’t as convenient as the adaptive dampers available in some cars, but past experience has shown that they make a big difference in handling.

We drove the single-motor Polestar 2 this time, which can’t be equipped with the Performance Pack. Even with the standard suspension, though, the single-motor version was a delight to drive. Like other EVs, the Polestar’s heavy battery pack can be a bit of a buzzkill, making it feel a bit more sluggish when changing direction than comparable internal-combustion cars. But the rear-drive layout of the 2024 single-motor model helps a bit, allowing for more rotation, which makes the car a bit more eager to turn into corners. This dynamic is why car enthusiasts are always proclaiming the superiority of RWD over FWD.

While it’s definitely on the sporty side, the Polestar 2 isn’t impossible to live with as a daily driver. The handling-focused suspension doesn’t punish occupants over less-than-smooth pavement, and wind and tire noise were minimal even at highway speeds. Buyers looking for an even softer ride can also consider the Polestar’s Volvo platform-mates.

Polestar includes multiple settings for regenerative braking, ranging from no regeneration to a fully one-pedal-driving mode. Adjusting the level of regen requires going into a touchscreen menu, where you’ll also find drive modes and a setting for steering weight. That’s a bit annoying, but at least one-pedal mode lives up to its name. It requires only minimal use of the brake pedal in normal driving, and can even bring the car to a full stop in some circumstances.

The Polestar 2 is effectively a high-end compact car. Its rear hatch helps make the most of the 2’s small footprint, however, affording 407 litres of cargo space with the rear seats up and 1,097 litres with the second-row seats folded. That gives the Polestar more cargo space than a Hyundai Ioniq 6, and the rear hatch creates a wide aperture that makes loading and unloading cargo easier as well.

However, the Tesla Model 3 offers still more cargo space at 560 litres with the back seats in place and 648 litres with the second row folded. The Tesla has a usable frunk, while the Polestar’s is basically just a storage compartment for the charge cable.

Polestar doesn’t publish full interior measurements, but it’s fair to say the 2 is not a family car. Subjectively, the rear seats have a decent amount of legroom. But passengers’ heads will block the view out the fairly small back window. The first row is divided by a high centre console which, along with the fairly high belt line, gives the cabin a somewhat bunker-like feel.

Large cavities in the door panels provide useful storage space, and there are small pockets on the sides of the centre console. However, designers only had room for one cupholder in the usual position. A second cupholder is located inside the centre console storage bin, so you can use it for beverage or small-item storage, but not both.

The infotainment system mostly carries over for 2024. The Polestar 2 comes standard with an 11.2-inch touchscreen running an Android-based operating system that includes Google Built-in apps. Google Maps navigation, Google Assistant voice control, and the Google Play app store are the default, although wireless Apple CarPlay is included for users who prefer that company’s interface.

A 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster is included as well, with a map view that allows drivers to use the touchscreen for other things. That’s important, because the Polestar 2 is very screen-centric. As mentioned above, you have to navigate to a settings menu to change vehicle parameters like drive modes and regenerative braking. Climate control is on the screen as well. All of this didn’t seem like a big deal at first, but after a few days with the car frustration levels grew.

So, while the on-screen interface is one of the best, with nice looking graphics and a layout that makes it fairly easy to find what you’re looking for, the overall user experience is lacking. Some functions are just better left to analog controls. More buttons and knobs (Polestar did include a volume knob, at least) might ruin the sleek, minimalist design of the dashboard, but it would make things a lot easier for the drive.

Despite being on sale since the 2021 model year, the Polestar 2 hasn’t been tested by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS). The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) did give the Polestar a five-star overall safety rating, however. That includes five stars in each individual NHTSA crash-test category as well.

Standard driver-assist features include lane keep assist, lane departure warning, forward collision warning, and automatic emergency braking. For 2024, blind spot monitoring, cross traffic alert, park assist, and a 360-degree camera system are now standard as well.

The optional Pilot Pack (standard on AWD models) adds adaptive cruise control and Volvo’s Pilot Assist highway-driving system, which can keep the vehicle centred in its lane while maintaining a set speed and a safe distance from a vehicle in front. This system still requires drivers to keep their hands on the wheel and eyes on the road at all times, however.

For 2024, the single-motor Polestar 2 gets a major range boost from its larger battery pack. It’s now Natural Resources Canada-rated at a maximum 515 kilometres with the standard 19-inch wheels, compared to 435 kilometres of range last year. Single-motor models with the optional 20-inch wheels are rated at 494 kilometres. Dual-motor variants have the same pack as before, but they get a 26-kilometre range increase to 444 kilometres with 19-inch wheels. The 20-inch wheels decrease range to 428 kilometres, while the Performance Pack further erodes range to 397 kilometres. An available heat pump should help maintain range in colder weather, but note that it’s not standard, even in Canada.

Polestar says the Long Range Single Motor base model can DC fast charge at up to 205 kilowatts and complete a 10% to 80% charge in 28 minutes. The numbers for the Long Range Dual Motor version are 155 kW and 34 minutes for a 10% to 80% charge. An 11-kW AC onboard charger is standard on all models and can fully charge the battery in eight hours using a 240-volt Level 2 AC charging station.

Polestar offers a four-year, 80,000-kilometre, limited warranty and eight-year, 160,000-kilometre, battery warranty that guarantees the battery will retain at least 70% of its original capacity during the warranty period.

Pricing starts at $57,600 (including a mandatory $2,650 charge for destination and other fees) for the base Long Range Single Motor model. Long Range Dual Motor models start at $66,600 with destination. Our Long Range Single Motor test car had the Plus Pack—which adds a Harman Kardon audio system, heat pump, panoramic roof, power adjustable front seats, a heated steering wheel, and a power tailgate—as well as the Pilot Pack driver-assistance package. Those additions, along with metallic paint, bring the Canadian as-tested price to $71,600 with destination.

The Polestar 2 is a very nice car, but at that price it’s hard to justify. A stylish design and polished driving experience are counterbalanced by a relative lack of standard equipment and similar range and charging performance to less-expensive electric cars like the Tesla Model 3 and Hyundai Ioniq 6. The Polestar seemed more impressive when it launched, but at that time the Tesla was more expensive and the Hyundai hadn’t even been revealed. It shows how fast the EV market is growing. The Polestar 2 qualifies for the full amount of the available federal and provincial EV rebates, meaning you can take $5,000 off your base price anywhere in Canada and potentially even more depending on your home province. This reduction may sweeten the deal for some buyers, but it’s also important to note these rebates are also available for the Polestar 2’s main competition.

Note: Images show a US model.