Polestar 1 Drives as Beautifully as it Looks

Polestar 1 Drives as Beautifully as it Looks

The fact is, the Polestar 1 is so achingly beautiful that we can forgive most of its philosophical shortcomings. If you think it looks good in pictures, wait until you see it on the road. Its rear hips look to be as wide as a Chevy Suburban; its proportions every bit as eye-catching as an Aston Martin. It’s simple and elegant and so devoid of fake vents and visual accessory crap that you might think it’s from a different, better age of automotive design. Polestar 1 Drives as Beautifully as it Looks

Actually, it is. The Polestar 1 is a near-identical facsimile, in design and engineering, of the 2013 Volvo Coupe concept, down to its cut-down S90 platform and hybrid powertrain. It seems someone didn’t want that car to go to waste—and that someone is likely the designer himself, a gentleman named Thomas Ingelath. Ingelath is now, you will not be surprised to learn, the CEO of Polestar Cars. Polestar 1 Drives as Beautifully as it Looks

Now that he’s found a way to make his drop-dead-gorgeous coupe become a production-car reality, we were able to slip behind the wheel on Northern California’s best twisty roads to address our biggest worry—that this big, heavy hybrid would drive like a big, heavy hybrid. Polestar 1 Drives as Beautifully as it Looks

Any anxiety was unfounded. The Polestar 1 is as rewarding to drive as it is to behold. And, in case you hadn’t noticed, that’s exceedingly high praise.

The 1 wears Öhlins manually adjustable dampers at all four corners. The adjustment plates are unnecessary jewelry, as their tuning is perfect at the factory’s default setting. Body motions are exquisitely controlled, bumps are a one-and-done affair, and the only hint of harshness comes in the form of slightly sharp impacts. These are surely unavoidable with 21-inch wheels padded by 30-series sidewalls with all the absorbent quality of the little blue rubber band that holds your broccoli together.

If there is body roll in corners, you’ll never know it from the driver’s seat. That said, the Polestar 1 doesn’t feel unnaturally flat—indeed, in a tank-slapper, you’ll finally be aware of the almost incomprehensible amount of mass concentrated in this small car. (It’s 5 inches shorter than a BMW 3-series, though the same measure wider—and 3.5 inches lower, in case you’re wondering.)

So Polestar 1 Drives as Beautifully as it Looks

Source : https://www.roadandtrack.com/new-cars/first-drives/a29697771/polestar-1-first-drive-review-photos/