Polestar 5 Review: Full Breakdown & Transcript

[00:00] If you look at this you will see the vent at the front of the Polestar 5 shut when the battery doesn't need cooling to improve aerodynamics. If someone's snooping around too close to your rear end you just press this little

[00:12] here to bring up the camera menus then hit the wash camera icon and give them a shake. If you look the car seems to be a two feet in the rear with this divider to make himself sporty but you can actually put that up and use this little seat

[00:28] occasionally. It's got a seatbelt and everything. It's not the comfiest but it will do the job for a short trip. An expensive electric car should have an expensive looking charge port cover. Unfortunately there's no back window instead you get these cameras here. It

[00:45] displays the image here on the rear view mirror but no matter where you point it the view doesn't change at all. So you can go into mirror mode. Just see who's in the Hello. The Polestar 5 is a little bit like Abba Voyage.

[01:01] It's conceived in Sweden, it's engineered in the United Kingdom, and it uses technology from China. Needless to say, it's very powerful. You've got two electric motors with either 748 horsepower or 884 horsepower in this performance version.

[01:16] But how quick is it? Now, if I press this button here, then this performance app, open that up, and then go into launch mode, left foot on the brake. I'm going to time it for 0-60. I'm also going to time it with my specialist timing gear to see how accurate Pulse Stars app is.

[01:31] Here we go. Lift on the brakes for it. 3, 2, 1. Lots of traction. Lots of performance. Whoa. 0-60 in 3.12 seconds. What's the quarter mile going to be?

[01:43] Interesting difference between the times though. My specialist timing gear said 0-60 in 3.12 seconds. This said 0-60 in 3.06 seconds. My specialist timing gear said quarter mile in 10.77 seconds and this says 10.48 seconds.

[01:59] Let's try it again. Go. Are you going to be quicker? 3.1, yes. 2.93 according to the car. What?

[02:11] So the quarter mile was actually slower, 11.01. So I'm quick as quarter mile was the first one, but I'm quick as 0-60 was that one that I just did. 3.1 to 60. now though we've established this is quick but can stop as well as it goes

[02:24] so I did a brake test on 60 miles an hour it needs to stop in around 35 meters anything more than that and it's not good I'm gonna have to take the car for a little drive before I do it just to cool the brakes down because it's stinking 3, 2, 1

[02:40] that's not pretty good that did yeah wow maybe heavy weighs two and a half tons but it can break from six feet in 32 meters Whoa! The thing is, this isn't just about the performance, it's also about the looks of the car like this.

[02:53] So, is it the kind of thing that you're going to turn back and look at once you've got out of it? Let's find out. Well I think it is, yes. It's a stunning looking car. It is big, but it looks mean. It's got presence. I especially like the headlights. So these are your daytime running lights here,

[03:08] the main headlight unit there. It's got these cool little details in. It looks futuristic, spacecrafty. means that this number plate is appropriate also a lot of pulse hives done with their sensors so they've hidden them in this panel here

[03:20] and made a feature of it some of the manufacturers just can't seem to get that right there is some fakery going on here this is a bit fake here and plasticky but this is a real vent which then exits here to smooth airflow over the alloy well speaking of which they start at 20s go through to 21s

[03:34] and these are the 22s they cost over £3000 I like the gold dust caps and the matching brake calipers calipers. If you move down the side you've got some good contours in the body with these side skirts

[03:46] makes it look really sporty and the mirrors are frameless and they've been able to achieve that with all the sensors on the car by having a separate pod for the cameras. Now you've got poppy anti-door handles which I'm not the biggest fan of. There you go. It was just a little bit odd

[03:58] but we do have this look. Soft close on the front and the rear doors. Nice. Base-flating roofline. we'll see how that affects rear headspace later on but I'd like the haunches on the car

[04:11] looks muscular and this little strip here actually lights up and flashes when you're charging sort of reminds me a little bit of the Polestar 1 this area of the car once again very futuristic there's some fakery going on here and quite a bit of black plastic but I think they need it to break up the

[04:26] rear end design and I must say having this rear deck instead of a back window does look cool even if it is a bit impractical overall really like it I think it's better looking than the Porsche Taycan and the Audi e-tron GT. Is it better looking than a Mercedes-Benz GT electric thingy?

[04:42] I think it is. What do you think? Watch my video on that car just by finding the link up there or wherever. Figures though, does it feel as sporty and as futuristic on the inside? Well actually it's not. It's pretty much identical to the Polestar 3 SUV. It's not a bad thing because it's a good-looking interior

[04:57] but it doesn feel quite as unique as the exterior There are some changes for instance you get this big center console there like that and it dashes it slightly different I guess and there these lovely Recaro seats absolutely gorgeous Recaro seats all the

[05:14] seats are made by Recaro regardless of which trim you go for now you can get them with a vegan friendly material or this leather which feels plush all the materials feel plush the steering wheel is lovely the switch gear is nicely damped

[05:27] The layout is cool and minimalist which means no physical controls. Everything is done to the screen like your climate's all down there. You've got, oh hello, hello, you've got Google Maps here, like everything's like through Google.

[05:40] But if you need to do certain things you have to go through the screen and all these different menus. Once you get the hang of it it's not too confusing but it is just harder than quickly turning the knob or the dial like for your climate. The only physical button is this, look, it's your volume.

[05:54] Why volume? I'd rather have fan speed but listen if you spin it, you know that sounds like myself? anyway the buttons I do like are these on the steering wheel so normally I don't like touch sensitive buttons on the steering wheel but they don't have marks on them

[06:07] instead you actually see there on the digital driver display what they relate to that's actually quite a good solution what else do I like? storage, door bins are a decent size and then here there's the storage area, you think that's not very big

[06:20] you lift that out and you've got more storage in there. You've got your cup holders here, you've got your wall of charging there, and there's some more storage underneath this, hello, underneath this panel.

[06:33] Actually look, I can open that from underneath. Hello, and your cup holders, how are you? And with the seats, you can actually alter all the bolstering in them, so you can let them hug you tighter or less tight, depending on what is your preference. Right, so the headlining feels lovely,

[06:47] but then you've got plastic-y sun visors. Why do they cheap out on that? It's a shame! They've got decent sized vanity mirrors though, which is good. I don't know why they do that. I also do not know why... ...there isn't a glove box.

[07:00] But there isn't one. And that brings on to five annoying things, except the pulsar 5. You get this weirdest reflection in the windscreen, and it happens when the sun's actually behind you because it comes in here to the windscreen and then reflects off the plastic screen for the head-up display.

[07:15] Can you see that strip of light there? Bouncing there. and have a look what it does it then reflects up onto the windscreen right through your field of

[07:28] view it's one of the worst reflections ever because it's so bright and so distracting and something that um i think they need to fix but also is really proud about the fact you have 18 watt usb charging whereas pretty much all other chinese made cars have 50 watts i'll remove that

[07:45] I don't know if I'll be you, just be quiet, it's only 84. There are three ways this car will try to hurt you. The first is the protruding film. Whack your shins off that sometimes. Then when you go to get in, the protruding dash,

[07:59] you whack your knee off that, out, and get a dead leg. And then finally, there's the design of the door handle there. It pinches your skin if you grab it wrong like that. Some Volvos, sorry, Polestars are supposed to be safe.

[08:12] Are you sure it's fine? I'm just being tired. I went out and my eyes were a bit... couldn't get done. The cupholders in here are rather tight. So, when you pour one of these smaller cups of coffee in there,

[08:24] like that, wedge it in, and then you're driving along and you're trying to remove it, this is what happens. Oh, you just take the lid off like that. That's annoying. Or even worse sometimes, the cup comes out halfway, and you catch it, and you can't think still.

[08:36] There'll be a little interior. It's not all bad though. Here's five good things about the Polestar 5. The Polestar 5 has 800 volt architecture which means it can charge and DC it to 350 kilowatts so you can charge from 10% to 8% full in just 20 minutes.

[08:51] I'm not actually charging because I'm just connected to James. If you have the leather interior you get called and even massage on all four seats. Unlike other Polestars which use a traditional steel monocoque chassis this

[09:06] uses a bonded aluminium chassis like a sports car from Aston Martin or Lotus. In the boot you have a fourth floor which stores underneath and you can use this as a divider there's even these little

[09:20] hooks there which are perfect for hanging your stuffy mask so it doesn't all roll about when you go home above the speed limit, no don't go home above the speed limit, it's bad, don't do that. What's also good is the fact that you can

[09:35] recline the rear seats. Ah hello very comfy. Headroom is okay for this kind of car knee room is very generous any problem if you can't really stretch out underneath

[09:48] the seat in front because it's so low but there is enough foot space and you don't feel like you've got insufficient under fire support either it is a comfy car in the back. There's something a bit odd though to this armrest here it seems a little bit too far away

[10:02] You feel like you need a bit more armrest action in that bit there. But quality like it is, just the same as in the front, it's lovely. And I noticed this look this is the only bit where quality somewhat lacking Huh Shame because if you actually feel the pockets on the seat look that proper high car vibe isn it

[10:20] You've got that plastic here in the door bins as well. They're a decent size. I'll tell you what I've also noticed back here. There's an extra speaker just up here. There's actually three here in the back, right by your ear-hole. When it comes to carrying three people in the back at once,

[10:33] it's actually more comfortable than I thought it would be because the middle passenger sits forward of the two outer passengers so you're not competing for shoulder room i was surprised by that what you're probably gonna do is just fold this down which you do i've got it wrong already but by

[10:45] pulling on that pull on that for this big posh armrest this feels luxury oh look we have a augment grade line of felt that's an area there and then you have cup holders here as well but i

[11:00] can't operate them from underneath so this is generally how you're going to travel if you want If you want something luxurious like this but with more space maybe more quid just comfort why not check out a BMW i7 because actually you can save an average of £20,000 off on Suzuki car wear

[11:14] Click up there to watch my review, follow the QR code or follow the link in the description of this video Now there is something that I'm a little bit disappointed about, it's this look, ready? Rear windows, I didn't go that far

[11:27] They do have a feature of acoustic glass so that keeps the noise out even here in the back also all cars get a glass roof now this thing I need to show you which is related to the fact that look oh actually is this a speaker?

[11:42] this is a speaker you got a sound bar behind you anyhow the other thing I need to show you is how to fold down the seats because it's a bit odd you'll bear with me one eternity later

[12:01] ok now as we're here there's one last thing to do look at this panel alright? bear with me hello! look you've got two loading, obviously busy with that one as well but we haven't got all day we need to get on

[12:15] to talk about this dude. the big capacity of the Polestar 5 seems pretty poor, 365 litres so let's see how many suitcases we can fit in here first of all, let's try and fit a suitcase in here

[12:27] oh no look it won't quite fit that means we're going to lose some valuable space here

[12:40] I can get this in there, we're laughing oh so great all right ah, oh, something wrong

[13:02] fine, will it shut though? this bit is an awkward scrape fine, but, follow me so, we have a front boot

[13:16] just over 60 litres enough to accommodate this maybe the shape is right the state is right

[13:28] that's six current circulators which is actually very good I wonder if this is quite going to be surprising to drive this is a big car it's over five meters long and it's fairly wide as well so it's intimidating driving around narrow streets it's also

[13:43] got expensive large alloy wheels which are going to be easy to scrape on the curb. Forward visibility is actually decent, even though I'm reasonably low, I've got a good idea where the corners of the car are. Rear visibility is actually brilliant because I've got this

[13:58] camera. I'm getting used to these cameras. I don't like them as much as a mirror because you don't have the full depth perception, but great build of view. I need to move the door mirror. Oh god, I've got to do this. Oh no. There's so much of a hassle to do this

[14:11] and then this thing, yeah, is it working? There's that one, ah, and then this one, just that one. I'll do it wrong again to do that. Right, I need to come out of that now.

[14:23] Oh, yeah, right. So, I've got the car in one-pedal drive mode, and I can change it quite easily using the button on the steering wheel to make it more aggressive, full-on aggressive. I like one-pedal drive,

[14:35] and it works well in this car. Couldn't they give you the option? I just don't understand why manufacturers don't give you that option into switch like this one does. The suspension is in its softest setting. I can't see everyone because it's low speed. You know what, actually, I'm going to put it into stiff, which is a

[14:51] bit of a fathomless again. Where is it? Where did it drive? I want to press all these buttons. Let's give it a firm. It doesn't actually feel much different. It just stops the bounce as well. It doesn't make it more harsh. That's good. That's just staying firm. Oh, that's

[15:09] the indicator makes a winking sound on the side of the car only and that's over this side I never experienced that before that is cool right what up with the corner about this car It turns so cool It more than competitors like the Porsche Taycan and the Audi e GT

[15:28] They have rear axle steering. This one doesn't. This car doesn't get it at all, which is odd for such a long car. Let's see if I'm going to get into a muddle now. Fortunately there's no cars parked at this so I might make it round in one sweep. Cameras automatically come on. Here we go. And then I can clear. Let's go round.

[15:46] Do not curb it. Do not curb those wheels. I'm not going to curb those wheels. Let's go. Easy peasy. That wasn't too bad. Now if you do want to see my full in-depth video review of the Audi E200 GT, click on the pop-out banner there.

[16:00] I've got my QR code on screen. I'll put the link in the description. It's not too intimidating. It's not. Didn't have to feel any fun in there. Let me just put the cameras up again. Only available at low speed. This is low speed. Didn't notice that the graphics look a bit kind of weird.

[16:13] Quite blocky the way it's distorting the wheels. I know it's doing some kind of computer trickery to make it look 3D, but it's not entirely successful, it's like old Minecraft that is. Stop looking at it, pay attention to the road.

[16:27] Now let's check out the pick up from 40 to 70, I imagine it's going to be pretty rapid. So I'm doing 40 right now, I'm going to hit it, 3, 2, 1. 70, that's what happens when you've got over a national stamp.

[16:41] cruising along at 70, fair road noise, hardly any wind noise, but it's still extremely quiet and the seats, the seats are lovely, car is solid, secure, one of the advantages of extra weight is that

[16:57] any car is still flappable at speed as long as they've got suspension right, the suspension is right in this car battery efficiency? ah ok so it's doing 34 watt hours per 100 miles which works out to 2.9 miles per kilowatt hour which is brilliant

[17:12] and when you multiply that by the usable battery capacity of 106 kilowatt hours you get a real world range of 307 miles that's 88% of the 347 miles that Polestar claims for this very car

[17:24] so ok but for like crossing the continent with a really really subtle environment One thing to check, the handling. I can tell straight away this just doesn't have the same sport car vibe as a Porsche Taycan.

[17:38] I think the steering's nice, the handling seems good, but it doesn't have that lightning precision. What is interesting though is that if you took it into a game, it does kind of start to rotate a bit. This is playful! When you get on the power, what it doesn't do is have that rear drive control that you get with a Taycan.

[17:55] I think it might be something to do with the fact this doesn't have a proper limited slip differential. how's my torque vectoring by braking which isn't as good I mean, we get some really motoring, germany stuff here mostly because it can be in place with the speed and the traction which is good

[18:09] but yeah it handles well whoa this is freaking hard bit more of a relaxed vibe than a Taycan I think the suspension's more comfortable less harsh

[18:21] so for a general cruise with a bit of fun handling chucked in maybe it's a better all-rounder yeah generally it handles right now you don't get deducted dampers on every single version the pulse bar 5 it's a little bit of a shame that i've heard that it doesn't need it but for a check

[18:36] out why i ended today review of course titan click on the pop-up button on the scummy QR code on screen now or follow the link in the description of this video there is a slight problem with this card and that's the fact it's quite expensive it starts from 89 000 pounds rising to 105 for this

[18:51] performance version but this one with all the kick on it is 117 000 pounds now if you buy it to be a company is a tax wipe off also to benefit in kind even higher on electric vehicles however

[19:03] if you're buying it personally then there's a whole thing about depreciation on big powerful electric cars such as this for instance on car ride i found a 2023 audi e-tron rs gt for just

[19:16] £35,000 and it's only got 18,000 miles on the clock thing is there's always a risk in buying a used car and that's why i recommend doing a car vertical history check on any used car you'll you're thinking of buying because here's an example of an Audi RS e-tron GT which

[19:31] yeah the car vertical history check shows that it is a stone magic you probably want to buy that car don't you so if you're thinking about buying a used car head to car vertical there's a link in the description of this video you can

[19:44] click on the pop out banner and use the discount code CARWAG for 20% off so then what's my final verdict on the new Polestar 5 should you avoid it consider it shortlist it or just go right ahead and buy it well i reckon you should shortlist the

[19:58] Polestar 5 it might not be as dynamically engaging as its German competitors but it's tactical it's more comfortable and it looks better but do you agree with my verdict and is this car's range

[20:11] up to the task well find out by watching my video of an EV range test which includes the latest time It might surprise you with the result. Anyway, thanks for watching the video.

[20:23] If you enjoyed it, give it a like. If you haven't done so already, subscribe to the channel. And as ever, I'll see you next time.