Polestar 2 2020 UK first drive

This is the Polestar 2 without the optional Performance Pack fitted to every example of this slick and very quick electric notchback that we've tried until now.

Let’s go straight in and first talk about what you don’t get, should you forgo the package. (If you’re unfamiliar with the Polestar 2 in general, you can catch up by reading our experiences driving a prototype in Sweden, our first taste of the car on British roads or a head-to-head with its closest rival, the Tesla Model 3.) 

Most noticeably, you don’t get the supercar-spec 20in forged wheels with gold valve caps, the gold Brembo brake calipers or the sizable drilled discs they grip. And no doubt, without these, you also lose an appreciable portion of the 2's concepty visual clout.

Neither do you get the high-gloss black roof panel, nor the gold seatbelts, although interestingly the lovely panoramic roof is standard. This is just as well, because I suspect the cabin would feel a little too cosy without the skylight, as Polestar surely knows.

Most of all, by choosing not to have the Performance Pack, you go without the vaunted Öhlins dual-flow valve dampers, which are manually adjustable and paired with stiffer anti-roll bars and unique spring rates. 

Öhlins, if you don't already know, is the Swedish brand whose expensive kit is frequently found on racing cars and supercars such as the Lamborghini Aventador, although it has also recently announced remote-reservoir dampers for intrepid Suzuki Jimny owners. In short, the Performance Pack dampers are anything but ordinary. 

As for what you gain for resisting all that bling, there's a slight increase in ground clearance and therefore ride height, because the standard passive suspension uses longer springs than the Performance Pack suspension. You also get the standard 19in wheels, which aren’t so attractive but do wear tyres that are more generous of sidewall, which ought to improve the finer elements of the ride quality.

Last but not least, you’ll save yourself £5000.

Not only will you save yourself £5000 but also you won’t actually sacrifice any of the 2's really good bits. The turn of pace, the interior ambience, the driving range; the general sense of wellbeing.

Both variants get the same 78kWh battery and 292 miles of WLTP range and the same Valeo-Siemens electric motors – one for each axle, making more than 400bhp in total. Drivability is equally good. It’s all very easygoing, although push through initially quite hesitant throttle response and the 2 is uncomfortably quick. Floor it and this car would initially out-drag a BMW M4 or Porsche 911 Turbo S.