2021 Polestar 1

If you think the Volvo S90 is a good-looking car but has too many doors, the Polestar 1 is on offer from the Swedish tuning firm that once acted as Volvo's official skunkworks. Now its own manufacturer, Polestar's first offering has enough Volvo bits to be familiar and reliable but enough style and rarity to be considered a luxury exotic. Hybridization is the name of the game for the Polestar 1, and this model gets a 2.0-liter turbocharged and supercharged four-pot along with three electric motors for a combined output of 619 horsepower and 737 lb-ft of torque. Along with an eight-speed auto and all-wheel-drive, the limited-run Polestar 1 is on offer for $155,000, but are the bragging rights that come with owning a one-of-1,500 car enough to justify buying a rebadged Volvo?

With a unique and clean design, it's easy to tell that the Polestar 1 is something special. A unique grille dominates the front end, along with the LED headlights. A long hood sweeps back to a sleek glasshouse that features a fixed panoramic roof, while a short trunk and muscular rear haunches square off with a faux diffuser and quad-exit exhaust tips. An adaptive rear spoiler keeps the clean lines from being compromised while 21-inch wheels are humongous, but match the large doors.

Despite being a two-door coupe, the Polestar 1 is large and lengthy, measuring 180.5 inches from nose to tail. The wheelbase measures 107.9 inches while width including the mirrors measures 79.6 inches across. Curb weight, as you'd expect in a vehicle with four different motors and a heavy battery pack, is rated at 5,170 pounds. The Volvo S90 T8 eAWD, on which the Polestar 1 is based, is considerably lighter at 4,673 lbs. However, that model offers far less performance.

As standard, the Polestar 1 is available in a choice of five colors, each of which is metallic in finish. Choices include Magnesium, Osmium, Midnight (a dark blue hue), and Space. Our favorite is the iconic Snow, as white just seems to work perfectly on futuristic cars like this. Need for Speed: The Heat fanatics will be disappointed to note that you can't get this car in an AMG-like Solarbeam Yellow. Instead, your only choice is to have any of the above colors in a matte finish. This is the only charged option available for the vehicle and costs $5,000.

The Polestar 1 is the first model from the brand, but it's also their halo car. Thus it needs an energetic power plant to match its striking looks. While you won't get the performance of the console game version, you do get 619 hp and an astonishing 737 lb-ft of torque from a quartet of motors. A pair of electric motors each produce 116 hp which is sent to the rear wheels, while a third electric source - an integrated starter generator - produces 68 hp and works alongside an internal combustion engine to power the front wheels. This 2.0-liter four-cylinder is both turbocharged and supercharged and produces 326 horses on its own. An eight-speed automatic transmission with paddles for manual shifting handles the power, while torque vectoring helps enhance the ability of the all-wheel-drive system. It's a complex setup, but the results are worthwhile. 0-60 mph is achieved in just 4.2 seconds, while top speed comes at 155 mph - a considerably higher figure than the Volvo S90 T8's limited top speed of 112 mph.

The Volvo-sourced 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine that is both turbocharged and supercharged is present alongside a trio of electric powerplants for a total output of 619 hp and 737 lb-ft of torque. What makes the Polestar 1 impressive is that it manages all this power and torque in a fluid and smooth manner, with great throttle response minus the neck-snapping instant acceleration that pure electric vehicles usually offer. This vehicle treads the line between GT smoothness and sportscar response with impressive grace. It may have a supercar price tag, but it's more about style, sustainability, and balance than being either a dedicated cruiser or drag racer. The eight-speed automatic transmission is as excellent as it is in other Volvo products, making smooth shifts and offering quick responses to manual inputs. The integration between electric and gas power is also seamless, and the only gripe one may have is that when the gas engine is running, the sound isn't particularly charming.

The Polestar 1 doesn't feature the adaptive air suspension that is so favored by Volvo and other luxury automakers in this sort of price bracket. Instead, you get high-end Ohlins adjustable dampers, but before you get too excited, it's worth noting that these must be adjusted manually. This can be done for the front by popping the hood, but the back requires you to jack the car up and get under it - something that those who can afford this type of vehicle are unlikely to do. Nevertheless, countless man-hours have gone into each individual damper setting to ensure that they behave as intended. If you choose to, you can have your dampers set stiff or soft, but throughout the damping range, the ride is reasonably stiff yet comfortable. What this means is that in standard configuration, the Polestar 1 neither rides with the grace of a Bentley or Mercedes S-Class, nor does it have the same kind of rigidity and poise of a Porsche. It's a fine line, but the Polestar 1 walks it well. Most of the power goes to the front, so this isn't a power sliding monster, but the individual rear motors on each wheel are capable of full torque vectoring, which means that you can still go into corners far quicker than seems feasible, with understeer only kicking in when you go ridiculously overboard. It's an interesting sensation, but it's good. The brakes are also good and are supplied by the same company that developed the stoppers on the McLaren P1 hypercar - Akebono. They respond sharply and become easy to modulate with practice, but that regenerative braking system will confound first-time drivers.

Polestar claims that this vehicle will achieve a figure of 26 mpg on the EPA's combined cycle when using both gas and electric propulsion. With a 15.9-gallon gas tank, this equates to an average range of around 413 miles with mixed driving. On electric and gas power combined, the claim is 58 MPGe, and on electric power alone, a range of between 52 and 64 miles is estimated, thanks to a 34 kWh battery pack.

On a 110V home charger, you can expect to refill the battery in around nine hours, while a 220-240V socket will cut that down to between three-and-a-half and four hours. With DC fast charging, 80% charge can be reached in as little as an hour.

The interior of the Polestar is both stylish and comfortable, with beautiful double-stitched Nappa leather and vast expanses of carbon fiber broken up by a 12.3-inch driver info display and a nine-inch touchscreen infotainment display. It's vastly spacious in the front seats, with plenty of headroom and legroom, but the rear seats are suitable only for youngsters. Fortunately, Polestar admits this and doesn't hide behind exaggerated claims of comfort for all passengers. Other notable features include a UV-blocking fixed panoramic glass roof and a standard head-up display. The front seats are also heated, and the overall look and feel is one of luxury, albeit not quite as opulent as you may expect from a vehicle with a six-figure price tag.

The Polestar 1 is a 2+2, provided that the latter two are small children. Thanks to the large doors, getting in and out is relatively easy once you remember to step over the side skirts that jut out, but those rear seats are certainly not suitable for anyone approaching adulthood. In the front, it's a vastly different story, with plenty of headroom and legroom for front occupants, each of which has power-adjustable seating. Visibility all around is excellent and finding a commanding driving position is a simple matter too. That clear roof helps aid the feeling of spaciousness in front, and both front seats offer plenty of support and comfort for long drives, although it's not as luxuriant as it would be in something like a Bentley.

Just two options are available for the interior in terms of color, each of which dyes Nappa leather. Charcoal or Charcoal with Zinc are your options, while the dash is wrapped in leather too, with a massive carbon-fiber trim insert offset by brushed aluminum. Alloy pedals also feature, and the lashings of gloss black in the center console act as the framework for a crystal gear lever, expertly crafted by Swedish company Orrefors. Golden color seatbelts come standard too. Customization is therefore not high on the Polestar 1's priority list, but the finished product is beautiful nonetheless.

While the rest of the car boasts simple and elegant design principles and colors, popping the handsfree and soft-close trunk shows you a gaudy mess of orange wires closed off by a clear case. This is where the batteries lie and it's a stark contrast to the rest of the vehicle. It also takes up a lot of space, leaving you with just 4.41 cubic feet of volume, enough for a pair of carry-on cases, but not much else.

In the cabin, the rear seats can be used for overflow storage, but other options are relatively limited. The door pockets are long but narrow and the glovebox is shallow, as is the center armrest bin, but at least there's a tray in the center console for your phone.

The Polestar doesn't offer any options beyond paint and interior color scheme, but you do get a fairly long list of features that includes a 12.3-inch configurable digital driver info display, a panoramic glass roof, an adaptive rear spoiler, adjustable suspension dampers, and ambient lighting. You also get dual-zone automatic climate control, a heated steering wheel, and heated front seats, as well as a head-up display, LED headlights and fog lights with a cornering function, keyless entry and ignition, and rain-sensing wipers. Also included are adaptive cruise control with forward-collision warning, and automatic emergency braking. Traffic-sign recognition, parking sensors, hill start assist, a hands-free soft-close trunk, blind-spot monitoring with rear cross-traffic alert, parking sensors, a 360-degree camera, and forward and rear collision mitigation systems are all included too.

The infotainment system is borrowed directly from Volvo, with a nine-inch Sensus Connect touchscreen display handling output to an excellent Bowers & Wilkins 16-speaker sound system that is all but unparalleled in automobiles. Unfortunately, the infotainment interface itself is not flawless. It works in a tablet-like fashion, which makes it fairly easy to acclimatize to, but some icons can be too small to avoid distraction while driving and it can be laggy on start-up. Fortunately, voice control is included. You also get Bluetooth connectivity, a pair of USB ports, Apple CarPlay, Android Auto, SiriusXM satellite radio, and navigation with real-time traffic updates.

The Polestar brand has only recently burst onto the scene and is free of recalls so far. Although comparisons can be made with Volvo products, the Polestar brand is separate and may have teething issues. That said, the Volvo products from which this car borrows have been generally excellent, with no recalls so far in 2021.

A limited warranty covers the Polestar 1 for the first four years/50,000 miles, while hybrid components are covered for eight years/100,000 miles. Those in California get a two-year/50,000-mile extension on this warranty.

The Polestar 1 has not and is not likely to ever be crash-tested by either the IIHS nor the NHTSA, but Volvo has an excellent reputation in terms of safety and Polestar is likely to be just as brilliant.

The Polestar 1 is well equipped with numerous safety features, among which are a 360-degree surround-view display that receives input from four cameras. You also get parking sensors at both ends of the car, rain-sensing wipers, blind-spot monitoring with rear cross-traffic alert, lane-keep assist, LED headlights and fog lights with cornering, forward collision warning with autonomous emergency braking, adaptive cruise control with a semi-autonomous driving function and traffic sign recognition, hill-start assist, whiplash protection, and rear collision mitigation. A driver's knee airbag is also fitted, along with frontal, side-impact, and curtain airbags.

The Polestar 1 might be relatively new, but it's not the vision of a fly-by-night startup. It's got a heritage of safety and performance stemming from its affiliation with Volvo. It's exquisitely finished and offers real GT cruising ability along with impressive acceleration. One of its biggest talking points is the expansive use of carbon fiber to keep weight down, and while this contributes to making the Polestar 1 expensive, it also aids in the car offering a phenomenal range on electric power alone. Sure, it's short on customization options and its infotainment system is a bit finicky, but its striking design, impeccable quality, and vast array of safety features go a long way to righting those wrongs. Furthermore, with just 500 units being built annually for three years and production ending in 2021, the Polestar 1 is very rare. This is a car for discerning individuals who want luxury and performance bundled in a package that also offers brilliant fuel economy, and while there are certainly faster, more comfortable, or more prestigious offerings available, few have the wow factor of the Polestar 1. For that reason, we love it. Also, our inner kid likes the idea that we're driving a car from a video game.

The Polestar 1 is available to order for the princely sum of $155,000, before a $1,500 destination charge. A $500 deposit secures your order, and the only charged option is matte paint, at a cost of $5,000. Thus, a fully loaded model starts and ends at $160,000, before additional fees or rebates.

The Polestar 1 is a standalone model that is only available in a single configuration. It has a pair of electric motors on the rear axle and a starter-generator along with a turbocharged and supercharged 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine powering the front wheels. This makes for a combined output of 619 hp and 737 lb-ft of torque, with power sent to all four wheels via an eight-speed automatic gearbox. LED headlights and taillights are standard, as is a fixed panoramic glass roof. You also get a hands-free soft-close trunk lid, 21-inch wheels, Ohlins adjustable suspension dampers, Akebono brakes, and an active rear spoiler that deploys at 62 mph and retracts at 44 mph. The vehicle is capable of 155 mph and will sprint from 0-60 mph in 4.2 seconds. The entire body, with the exception of the bumpers, is crafted from carbon fiber with a rigid steel chassis. In the cabin, Nappa leather is standard, along with an Orrefors crystal gear lever. The front seats are heated too, and a 12.3-inch configurable driver info display sits ahead of an integrated head-up display in the dash, while a nine-inch touchscreen display handles infotainment, with output going to a 16-speaker Bowers & Wilkins sound system.

Sadly, you can't spec Khyzyl Saleem's Need For Speed virtual body kit for the Polestar 1. In fact, you can't spec much at all. No charged options are available for the Polestar 1 in the USA. Instead, it comes fully loaded and can only be made more expensive than its base price by adding a $5,000 matte finish to the paint. However, you can change the exterior trim color, the wheel design, and the interior color scheme.

Since there's only one model and no additional equipment available, the Polestar 1 is a take-it-or-leave-it kind of car. We'd stick with gloss paint over a matte finish, as the metallic flakes help accentuate the sleek lines and make the car even more futuristic in appearance. We'd opt for either white or black to match the interior.

Suppose you like the basic design of the Polestar 1 but need more practicality and better interior space? Suppose that your budget for a new car is less than half what a Polestar 1 retails for? And suppose you couldn't care less about rarity? Well, the Volvo S90 T8 on which the Polestar 1 is based may be just the car for you. It features the same 2.0-liter turbocharged engine and a similar, albeit less powerful hybrid setup. It produces less horsepower than the Polestar, with just 400 hp and 472 lb-ft of torque, but it also weighs a lot less, making it an impressive sprinter. The trunk also dwarfs that of the Polestar 1, with 13.5 cubic feet compared to 4.41. However, it offers a little more than 20 miles of electric range. For us, the rarity and style of the Polestar 1 are hard to ignore, but better acceleration and range are not enough to justify spending 155k on a carbon-bodied Volvo unless money is no object. For most, the S90 T8 is a better option.

Tesla has been in the game for a while now, and its Model S is one of the most exciting electric cars available. Starting at a base price of $79,990, it's almost half the price of the Polestar 1. It also boasts four doors, seating for four adults, or five if a child squeezes in, and a cargo volume of 15 cubic feet - and 58.1 with the seats folded. This makes it more affordable and more practical than the Polestar, and since production is not limited, you're more likely to be able to get one. Peak output is also greater, with this version of the Model S producing 670 hp. That gets the dual-motor all-wheel-drive sedan from 0-60 in 3.1 seconds - more than a second faster than the Polestar 1. Their top speeds are the same 155 mph. The upgraded interior for 2021 is still rather bland for some, while others will view it as futuristic. What can't be argued is that smartphone integration and traditional buttons and switches are totally absent. We like both cars, and each has its strengths, but the Tesla is the better overall package.