Polestar tunes Volvos. Polestar used to only tune Volvos. Taking a Volvo and making it better was Polstar’s only real job until it became one of the dozens of EV startups that have burst on the scene in the past 10 years. Now the company builds intriguing electric vehicles under the watchful eye of parent company Geely and quasi-parent Volvo.

But Polestar couldn’t deny its inclinations.

That’s how the Polestar 2 BST edition 2 (a garbled mouthful of a name) was born. A skunkworks project to tune a Polestar 2 by… well, Polestar. The chassis team wanted to make an “extraordinary version of the EV Christian Samson, Polestar’s head of product attributes told Ars Technica.

The team lowered the vehicle, put Polestar 1 parts on it, and handed Samson the keys hoping that he could convince CEO Thomas Ingenlath to drive it. The goal was to have the boss see what the chassis team could accomplish. Ingenlath enjoyed the car so much, the CEO said they should sell it. Essentially as-is. Samson realized that the ride was too “track car” stiff for Polestar customers the company needed to bring some comfort back to the vehicle.

The result is the Polestar BST edition 270. A limited run of 270 specially outfitted vehicles that realizes the dream of the chassis team with track vehicle dynamics while also delivering a far more comfortable ride than an actual track vehicle. A compromise between the engineers and an excited CEO and Samson.

On Bay Area backroads, the agreement comes together with a vehicle that feels incredibly planted to the road without the twitchy steering and suspension of a lowered sports car. While Swedish design is typically subtle, the BST eschews tradition with a large black stripe that runs the length of the vehicle. On the hood proudly sits a number 2 bursting outside the margins of the stripe.

Inside, trying to find the limits of the vehicle’s attachment to the road is like playing a game of chicken with yourself. The slightest squeak from the tires requires going far beyond what you believe the vehicle can handle. Even wet, gravely roads find throwing the BST from its path to be challenging. It comes down to that comfort. The leveling out of the rough bits is achieved via the Öhlins 2-way adjustable dampers. With 22 levels of damping a driver could potentially dial in a teeth-chatteringly hard ride, or go the other way, dialing it up to 22 to (I assume) feel nothing at all. Polestar set the system to seven.

The dampers work against the vehicle’s lowered stance. It’s been dropped an inch (25 mm) and is outfitted with 21-inch black gloss alloy wheels. Stretched over the rums sit 245/35 R21 Pirelli P-Zero tires. The rear wheel is actually a half-inch wider than the front but the wheel size is the same. The idea is that the extra tension will reduce sidewall flex around corners to create a most predictable exit as the vehicle straightens out.

In practice, the special edition Polestar is steadfast in its trajectory. The all-wheel drive EV pulls itself out of corners with impressive stability. There’s no wiggle, no slide, just a tree-roots level of attachment to the planet.

Typically this type of handling is coupled with twitchy steering and a kidney-dislodging ride. The dampers take care of your internal organs while the steering feels actually a bit too detached. You know you’re stuck to the road but even on the highest level of steering engagement, feedback feels a tad too video game-like. It wasn’t enough to be a deal breaker, because you don’t really want to stop driving this vehicle on any road with a curve.

The vehicle has the same 476 hp (355 kW) as the Performance Pack dual-motor Polestar. But going faster in a straight line really isn’t the point; the zero-to-60 wars are over thanks to EVs. Thanks to electric motors’ instant torque delivery, going straight ahead as fast as possible isn’t terribly difficult. There’s an electric Kia that can outrun a Lamborghini, after all.

You can’t buy the new Polestar 2 BST edition 270. They’re all sold out. But it shows that the automaker knows what makes a great EV going forward. It’s an experience that delights the driver by delivering a cornering experience that reminds you that every on-ramp is an opportunity to feel the joy of driving. All you need is the chassis team to woo the CEO.

https://arstechnica.com/?p=1897425