When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
Now that I've had a full month with the Model Y, I can now do a better comparison between the Y and my Polestar. Simply put, they are two great cars, each with their own personalities, quirks, compromises and use cases.
The Polestar:
I really took a chance when I ordered this car back in December 2021, being a fairly new electric car manufacturer. I did a bunch of research on it from available reviews first, but once I test drove one (Polestar brought it to my place of employment) I instantly fell in love with it. Polestar has a minimalist philosophy that works really well. The cabin is very cozy, seats are comfortable and easy to clean, controls and display are well laid out. The tablet based on Android Automotive is really a no brainer to use. It's nowhere as good as Tesla's infotainment and software implementation, but it does the job.
Steering and suspension is setup very well, the car easily handles winding roads. Not a lot of feedback, but it goes where you point it. Although it's AWD, it exhibits understeer in hard cornering, which is actually really cool! And brakes are totally adequate to bring you to stop from high speeds when needed.
The drivetrain with it's dual motors is it's secret sauce. Outputting 300 kW (408 HP) for the Long Range edition and with an offered Performance upgrade 350 kW (476 HP), the Polestar has extremely decent straight line performance. It's the ultimate sleeper, with smooth acceleration, and instant on demand torque that makes you dizzy and has the potential to give your passengers a heart attack. Extremely fun car to drive! It's also very efficient, getting between 90 and 100 MPGe.
Comfort...well it's comfortable enough. The front seats are about as comfortable as a base Camry. The front cabin is a little cozy, but offers decent leg room, the front seats are electrically adjustable. You can store up to two seat adjustments in memory. Now the backseats, it can get a little cramped. You can fit about two adults comfortably or three smaller people. Because it shares the same platform as the Volvo C40 ICE platform, it has a "hump" on the back seat floor.
Range. The Polestar 2 has a 78 kWh battery pack and is EPA rated for 250 miles, but realistically with my driving style, I get about 220 to 230 miles on a 100 percent charge. Battery consumption varies depending on road conditions, ambient temp etc, but on average it uses about 33 kWh per 100 miles, which is less than a gallon of gas. Because this car is a commute car and no longer used as a trip car (and the fact that I charge at home), the range is not even an issue or afterthought.
Now I'm going to mention a few downsides of the Polestar: 400v Battery architecture and Software. With 400v battery packs (which is now "old battery tech"), fast charging is limited to 150 kW. What that means is going from 0 to 80 percent takes about 30 to 35 minutes. In the scheme of things that's not really that bad, but in comparison the Model Y charges to 80 percent in 15 to 17 minutes. As far as software is concerned, Polestar is getting better at it, but is still way behind Tesla. Overall each software update has made the car better, but they also seem to introduce new bugs. Sometimes it seems the software team takes more cigarette breaks than develop software . The last thing is the low roofline, which blocks the drivers side view when making sharp right turns where there is oncoming traffic. You literally can't see the oncoming traffic when going into the turn, and have to position yourself so you can use the mirror. This has almost gotten me rear ended a few times because people exiting from a freeway off ramp that goes to the right aren't always looking ahead, but looking to exit quickly and beat oncoming cars. I also had this same issue with my IS350, as well as my previous 10 Gen Civic Si.
Model Y:
Buying the Model Y was really a no brainer for me. First our Hyundai Ioniq EV which is on a 3 year lease is coming up in November. Secondly, I travel quite a lot to Southern Cal, and need a reliable and robust Fast Charging network, and lastly, we need a reliable family hauler with lots of room, and the Y meets all those needs. The cabin is huge, with plenty of backseat space and huge roomy trunk. It also has a decent size "Frunk" that can fit a medium size suitcase. Storage space in general all around is plentiful and generous.
Like the Polestar, the Y has a really good steering and suspension setup. Brakes are completely adequate and give me confidence. The Y is also AWD with dual motors, and handles very well for a mid-size SUV of its size and weight. It has a well insulated cabin that isolates it from excess road noise and wind, and you really have to monitor your speeds because going 80 mph feels like you are going 50. I found myself going into the 90's without even realizing it. With all the slow Tesla drivers around here, I'm thinking they are either new drivers, have the speed limiter set, are in "Chill Mode", or just plain morons
The Y although not as fast as the Polestar (3.7 seconds vs 4.8 zero to sixty) but is still pretty fast thanks to its dual motors and 425 HP. Extremely smooth acceleration and instant on demand torque gets you up to freeway speeds very quickly. The Y still puts a smile on your face when going down on the throttle, and gets that look from my wife that I'm about to get in trouble . It does it a lot smoother than the Polestar, but you still get that roller coaster feeling in your stomach and lightheadedness. The Y is a lot more efficient than the Polestar, getting around 115 MPGe.
The Model Y is a lot more spacious and comfortable than the Polestar. Everything from the front seats to the back seats. The back seat area has completely flat floors and raised front seats so plenty of place to stretch your legs and move your feet around. Also the Y has rear seat heating, and although the Polestar has air vents in the back, you have to turn the AC way up for the people in back to get enough air. The Y doesn't have this issue, the back area is adequately cooled. Also rear cargo space is huge and doubles in size when folding the rear seats.
I still haven't fully determined the actual real world range for the Y, but it's definitely more than the Polestar looking at kWh per mile and kWh per 100 miles for both vehicles.
Overall in month of driving the Model Y, I've only found a couple of things I can complain about...when using Autopilot (Smart Cruise control), it will put the wipers in auto mode. If the camera area on the windshield is dirty or smeared at night, the computer will think water is on the windshield and activate the wipers. You cannot deactivate auto wipers while Autopilot is in use, you can either use the windshield washer to clean the camera area, or turn off Autopilot. Tesla calls this a "feature" to prevent distraction in case it starts raining or something splashes on the window, but if you don't have the ability to turn something off, than I call it a bug, and Elon is going to hear from me. But it wasn't that big of deal, only a minor irritation and only happened once. My second complaint...that it doesn't come with a sunshade for the glass roof. You have to buy that separately from the Tesla online store, which is not that big of deal as it's only $150.
Overall I'm extremely happy with both my Polestar and Model Y. Each serves its purpose, one as a commuter, the other as a commuter/family hauler. Both cars are very inexpensive to run, have low fueling costs and very little maint costs. Each car on average costs roughly $60 a month in electricity, and both are cheap to fuel on long trips
Last edited by AMIRZA786; Jun 21, 2023 at 12:33 PM.
On the roof part, I don’t have a roof sunshade and never feel like it’s an issue with heat and my wife has never complained which is a good barometer. When parked I did buy a sunshade for the front windshield which helps when I get back in the car.
On the roof part, I don’t have a roof sunshade and never feel like it’s an issue with heat and my wife has never complained which is a good barometer. When parked I did buy a sunshade for the front windshield which helps when I get back in the car.
So far the glass roof has not been an issue, but when you touch it, it's really hot. The good thing is, I precool the car 15 minutes before leave so the cabin is nice and cool
The tablet based on Android Automotive is really a no brainer to use. It's nowhere as good as Tesla's infotainment and software implementation, but it does the job.
can you elaborate on how it's "nowhere as good as Tesla..." how so?
when using Autopilot (Smart Cruise control), it will put the wipers in auto mode. If the camera area on the windshield is dirty or smeared at night, the computer will think water is on the windshield and activate the wipers. You cannot deactivate auto wipers while Autopilot is in use, you can either use the windshield washer to clean the camera area, or turn off Autopilot.
that's what you get for not having radar any more for cruise like every other car. it has to rely on cameras at the top of thw windshield.
can you elaborate on how it's "nowhere as good as Tesla..." how so?
that's what you get for not having radar any more for cruise like every other car. it has to rely on cameras at the top of thw windshield.
Hardware wise, they probably use some off the shelf apu/GPU, so it responds much slower when accessing functions. Also , Android Automotive is nowhere as good as Tesla's inhouse software. For example when you open up Google maps, it can take a few seconds to open, and when navigating, it can take 10 to 15 seconds to calculate the route whereas the Tesla screen it's all instantaneous. Also when waking up the Polestars screen, it can take up to 15 seconds. Lastly, occasionally stuff will just stop working, and you have to reboot the infotainment screen, which can be done while driving BTW. No such issues with the Tesla infotainment screen.
I think I've told you already I agree about the radar
about polestar ui being slow, could be faster hardware, maybe more memory would fix that. obviously android can run well (phones) but obviously a car screen is way bigger (more pixels to haul around).
but besides being slow, i'm genuinely interested in how the polestar ux is lacking compared to tesla.
about polestar ui being slow, could be faster hardware, maybe more memory would fix that. obviously android can run well (phones) but obviously a car screen is way bigger (more pixels to haul around).
but besides being slow, i'm genuinely interested in how the polestar ux is lacking compared to tesla.
I'll give you one example. With one tap from the taskbar, the Tesla UI let's you get into all the car settings instantly. Also I can see things like energy usage in great detail. With the Polestar, I have to access the app menu, access the program and download a report (reporting has to be enabled) in CSV and sort it myself. Also, the Tesla's app menu is accessible as a pop up directly from the taskbar, where in the Polestar you have to actually go into the app menu. One step vs two or three.
But to be fair to Polestar, they are constantly updating and adding new features. They just added for example an app that monitors energy usage in realtime as well as the ability to watch YouTube videos
Last edited by AMIRZA786; Jun 22, 2023 at 08:45 AM.
Really good looking car. Can’t wait to see it after the camouflage is off.
This is probably where they are going to fully break away from Volvo. It's rumored to be 884 HP, have a 300 mile range and will start around $100k. Hopefully it will be cheaper when it's finally released
Still not sold on the no rear window thing. I watched the Doug DeMuro vid with the Ferrari Daytona SP3 and having no rear window in that thing (in addition to being cramped) just makes me feel claustrophobic.
. The last thing is the low roofline, which blocks the drivers side view when making sharp right turns where there is oncoming traffic. You literally can't see the oncoming traffic when going into the turn, and have to position yourself so you can use the mirror. This has almost gotten me rear ended a few times because people exiting from a freeway off ramp that goes to the right aren't always looking ahead, but looking to exit quickly and beat oncoming cars. I also had this same issue with my IS350, as well as my previous 10 Gen Civic Si.
. It does it a lot smoother than the Polestar, but you still get that roller coaster feeling in your stomach and lightheadedness. The Y is a lot more efficient than the Polestar, getting around 115 MPGe.
