We reserved a Mercedes EQS 450 from Europcar but ended up with a Polestar. This proved to be very disappointing to drive, though Germany’s network of charging stations is greatly improving.
My Experience Driving A Polestar in Germany
In California, my wife Heidi drives a Toyota Highlander is that is pushing 300K miles. It has been such a workhouse and she will continue to drive it into the ground. When that car finally breaks down once and for all, Heidi considers a German electric car. She says my Tesla is “too much like an iPhone” and thinks it is quite ugly.
I struggle to justify the huge premium of an Audi, BMW, or Mercedes over a Tesla, but renting a car is a perfect opportunity to try out a new vehicle, so we reserved the EQS 450, which is the base model Mercedes electric car.
However, when we showed up at Europcar (after Avis had no cars) we were told that the EQS 450 was not available and that instead we were “upgraded” to a Polestar (standard range, single motor).
Polestar is owned by Volvo and is certainly a very sleek car.
Inside, I loved that it had Apple CarPlay (the thing I miss most on my Tesla) and it was very easy to drive. Having a screen directly in front of you made navigation very easy. The seats were also comfortable and I appreciated the heated seats on what turned out to be a pair of cold summer days. All USB ports were USB-C.
We took mostly autobahns (German interstate highways) and we were able to go about 350 kilometers between charges (the initial estimate of 440 km after charging was too optimistic for my driving).
The Polestar will guide you to the nearest charging station, but we stopped at rest spots along the highway, all of which now include charging stations. Setting up accounts in order to begin charging was easy enough and the cost for electricity appeared to be about half the price of buying fuel (which runs about $8/gallon if we convert currency and imperial measurement). I bet home-charging would have been even cheaper.
But here’s why I did not like the car: the top speed was 160 km/h (100 mph). Sorry, but that does not cut it in Germany. Yes, I am one of those people who drive significantly faster on the Autobahn. Why? Because I cannot do it here…and because it is fun, especially in that 220-240 km/h range.
Even a long-range dual motor model caps at 205 km/h (127 mph), which is just not fast enough in Germany.
CONCLUSION
It was fun to drive a Polestar in Germany, though I expect that will be my last time driving the vehicle: the top speed was a huge turn-off and in almost all ways, I prefer driving a Tesla. But that’s the upside to renting cars: you can take other models for a test drive before buying them.
But other than being limited to 100 mph, how was the car overall? Acceleration to 75? Sluggish or responsive?
I drive a Volvo XC90 and the standard Volvo familiarity/straight forward cabin design carries over into the Polestar so it may be something I’d consider looking at for a city/commuting car, but I haven’t had the chance to drive it. I also wonder what really does a Polestar offer over an electric Volvo other than a different nameplate and a lower price point.
The acceleration was much slower than on my Tesla. It did not feel like an electric car except for its silence.
Could you do kind of a Consumer’s Report sort of review for us, even if in the comments? I’ve heard the turning radius is pretty terrible too. How was the ride? How were the finishes? How was the interior noise? How was the distance between charges? I know that’s a lot to ask but we have a decision coming up on a vehicle, specifically in Europe, and I’m arguing for an EV and the other half is on the fence. I’d like ammunition and I’m not really wanting a Tesla because their QC seems to be awful. But I’m generally undecided. Would love an semi-neutral 3rd party’s opinion that isn’t a media outlet. Thanks!!
I’m not Matthew, but just finished a week long rental of a Polestar 2 in Sweden. Rented it from Hertz, got a 2023 Long Range Single Motor with Pilot Pack light with 5,000 kms on it.
Turning radius wasn’t great for Europe, it’s a pretty wide and boxy car, so parking garages and streets were tight for maneuvers. What might have been a 3 point turn was probably more like 4-5, just to be on the safe side. The 360 cam and sensors weren’t super helpful in determining how close I was to obstacles, hence why I made it a 5 point turn when maneuvering. Parking was also challenging due to the turning radius, often times I needed to go out wider before going into the spot, or repositioning to ensure I was straight.
Ride was fine, comfortable on the highway, seats were good for the 2-3 hour segments we did (and I normally have trouble getting comfortable in cars on longer drives). I describe the finishes as a “nicer Mazda 3”, there’s some glossy plastics, combined with fabric covered surfaces. It didn’t feel luxurious by any means, but it was a step up from an economy car. I’d say average sedan or so. Interior noise was good, quiet on the highways, didn’t need to turn up the music volume to compensate for the road noise.
The Pilot Pack with adaptive cruise control was probably my favourite feature, auto steer was good (but needed to be watched closely, especially when road lines did weird things, had to be forceful to ensure it didn’t go elsewhere), and no issues with following distance. It definitely took a lot of the stress off driving.
Distance between charges wasn’t an issue at all in Sweden. The speed limit is only 120kph at most, so I was doing 125 on cruise control, with a bit of acceleration, mild climate control settings. The car estimated probably around 450 when full, but we didn’t really push it.
As someone who made this their first EV road trip, charging wasn’t an issue based on the distances we drove. We needed to stop for lunch anyways, so that was the perfect time to recharge. We did 2 high speed recharging stops, probably 15-20 minutes long, which offered an opportunity to stop to use the washroom and stretch our legs. We used 300kW chargers for those stops, and it took about 20 minutes to go from low to 70% (but I didn’t watch it closely, again it was just about taking a break and letting the car charge up).
Swedish charging was probably the best and worst part of the rental. The charging network was extremely fragmented, I ended up with 4 apps. I wish more chargers would just take CC natively, but they seemed to use their own network of apps or RFID cards to activate them. No issues finding chargers though, there was always something available, but occasionally they were busy. When overnight charging was available at the hotels, that was the best, it was free or low cost (1/3 the price of fast charging, closer to market electricity prices), and you could head out with a full battery on the next day. Otherwise we’d just need to plan to charge sooner.
After it’s all said and done, the Polestar 2 definitely grew on me. During a shorter rental in NA, I called it a nicer Mazda 3, but I think that might be understating it. It was a comfortable ride, worked alright for the most part (some infotainment glitches and I’ve had a weird sensor glitch once), and it’s nice to get the model you book. I don’t think I’d hesitate to seek one out when renting again, although hopefully it’s well equipped.
Sure, I’ll try. Feel free to follow up with more questions.
Turning radius was not as sharp as I would have liked.
Seats were comfortable, but you ride low – I like my Model Y and sitting higher.
Very quiet inside. The 440km range was misleading – I drove mostly at 120km/hr and that drained the battery much quicker. I’d say I got closer to 320km on a full charge. It was never a problem to find charging stations, but unlike Tesla where you can just plug in and it bills your account, I had to deal with three different private providers and set up an account (via app) with each (I wish it was as easy as tap and pay).
I used auto steer and cruise control at all times on the Autobahn, which is not as good as self-driving, but makes driving much easier.
Ok, now that I think about it, I hated this car. The camera is SO HORRIBLE. As are the sensors. I backed into a hedge and it never beeped. Thankfully I had taken out a full wavier on the car (25EUR/day) and so I was not concerned (it actually did not damage the car anyway). The downside, so to speak, of the Tesla is that the camera is so good you really come to rely upon it, when you cannot do so in other cars. The camera is seriously horrible (distorted beyond belief) on the Polestar.
Thank you both, Matthew and Andrew. This is great info to have outside gearheads…which can way too detailed for the average driver. You’re great. Appreciate the help very much.
Wouldn’t EVs have severely depleted range due to having no gears + autobahn’s speeds? I feel like you should have rented something like an honest, dead-dinosaur powered M5 or M550i.
I’ve driven cars like that many times on the Autobahn. It was more important to test an alternate electric car to the Tesla than drive fast. But I agree – those cars a whole lot of fun.
“I struggle to justify the huge premium of an Audi, BMW, or Mercedes over a Tesla”
How about an engine that takes 3 minutes to refuel and doesn’t require your whole journey to be dependent on the next charging station? I love my Audi and my gas guzzling, 8-cylinder Camaro and will never buy some piece of crap electric car.
I hate going to gas stations and don’t have an assistant who I can send. In LA, an electric car is just perfect to get around town. I don’t drive electric cars for environmental reasons, but for convenience reasons and because I like driving them. My previous car was a gas-guzzling Audi, which I greatly miss. That was a good car too.
All Polestar EV are made in China, because Volvo Cars, owned by China, is the controlling shareholder and creater of Polestar. Time will tell if Polestar EV aged well.
Nothing upgraded about a Polestar vs Mercedes EQS – you got a whopper from them – ask for a credit , the EQS is almost double the value
I like how intuitive the car charging sign is. No way to miss interpret.
I’ve driven on the autobahn before. A speed of 100 MPH (161 km/h) is fine with me, especially with a rental car. I made all efforts to stay out of the left lane unless passing, but I did get a horn blown at me on a few occasions.
I did note Porsche and Audi drivers do have attitude in Deutschland!!
I should note that during this little two-day road trip my children stayed with my in-laws and it was just Heidi and me. I would not drive that fast with the kids in the car.
I do really appreciate your posts on the Klint family electric car adventures. You’ve given me some good points in my mind, and appreciate your perspective in that you are a regular Tesla driver and are very honest about what it does well and what it could improve upon.
Yeah, a Polestar is not an upgrade from any EQS… I rented one here in LA and also one in Italy and I am quite fond of it, but yeah, it’s slower than our Teslas and a little less airy inside. I think the dual motor is the one to get if you need the power.
The real steal is the BMW iX when compared to the EQS and the Model X or Model S
If you want a smaller EV the Model Y is the best car for value – 55k all in now
For a larger family size, the BMW is the best of the lot – a station wagon that handles like a sports car
It’s by no means a slow car, but the top speed is deliberate; Volvo has started limiting all of their cars to try and reduce accidents, because safety technology can’t keep up at such high speeds (and their cars are pretty much the safest in the world). And to be honest, 220-240km/h on the Autobahn is pretty reckless 🙂
And driving fast is what would have used the range up quicker. 350km seems very low.
The range was low…another reason I’d never consider that particular model. And yes, driving fast can be reckless, but goodness it is fun.
I have a 2023 Polestar 2 with the performance software upgrade. I like the car. However, the small center console and lack of extendable Sun visor is annoying. I wonder what the incentives will be when the lease is up.
Even I do not consider EQS, by size it is like S class. EQE 350+ would be my preference and in Germany the price of 2022/2023 year, 10.oookm driven is equal with brand new Tesla Y. Tesla is fugly, Lucid Air looks way better. let your wife try also Audi e-tron and BMW before deciding.
“Tesla is “too much like an iPhone” and thinks it is quite ugly.”. Heidi knows it all. In our hose hold we have had over a dozen of German cars in the last 15 years. Those are the only ones we will consider.
FYI the line “which runs about $8/gallon if we convert currency and imperial measurement” is confusing, imperial measurements are not needed for the conversion. The exchange rate is currently about 1.07 Euro to 1 USD, and 1 liter (US spelling) is exactly 0.264172 US gallons. BTW Imperial measurements are / were used in the British empire, and avoid the “nasty” French Napoleonic (though logical) metric system !!. A litre (International spelling so correct for a French idea), is only 0.219969 Imperial gallons. In humour……..
Isn’t gallon itself part of the imperial measurement system?
Yes, though a “different” gallon. My subtle comment was you can get from Euros per litre to green backs per yankee gallon without “imperial measurements”. I maybe a British engineer living in the US !…….
I love the imperial system. 😉
Me to…… how about we request an upgrade to Tesla’s software to display distances in furlongs (8 per mile) and energy in BTU (British Thermal Units where 3412 = 1 kWh). British Thermal Units sounds very “Imperial” !, The new numbers would be large, so Elon as the ultimate marketer would I think be happy to help out !. In humour…..
I have a Long Range dual motor Polestar, it’s top speed is way over 100 mph, 127 mph to be exact but it’s only a few MPH below what a Tesla max speed is.
127mph would have suited me much better, but even the 100mph would have been in LA…I don’t drive that fast at home.
I don’t know how available it is since it was recently released, but the lowest price MB EV sedan is now the EQE (as the name suggests is comparable to the E Class). I also agree with Heidi that Teslas are too much like iPhones and don’t really offer a true “luxury” experience. And call me crazy, but I like buttons and knobs and find the all touch screen interface to be more trouble than it’s worth (not to mention more distracting and thus more dangerous).
What’s the move with insurance when renting cars like this. I don’t think I’ve ever rented anything that wasn’t covered by a US credit card, and I’m pretty sure Polestar, Tesla, and higher end Mercedes/BMW aren’t covered.
The photo indicates you got the old Polestar 2 model. There is a “2024” facelift that has quite a lot of improvements.
Some people say Ps2 is nor that roomy but in general it’s well received. Tesla is ra for the spqce and they do know the motors and battery, but as a car, sigh.. We have our two Teslas, first and last one, with the ’21 M3LR.
So many new cars coming that we do’t even think the next one.
Matthew, are you sure you reserved an EQS? That is not the base model for Benz’s electric cars. The base model is the EQA, the plain simple small version. EQS is actually the flagship.
For that kind of high speed? You might have to try the new IM LS6 that can reach 252km/h.