It’s been known for some time that used EVs depreciate like a Dodo bird BASE jumping. Polestar’s current legal situation, combined with the economics of the used EV market, have made its best-selling model, the Polestar 2, an incredible value. Despite having an original starting price of nearly $60k at launch, at the time of this writing there are over 40 pre-owned Polestar 2s listed in the United States with an asking price under $20k. I bought one, and I have to tell you about it.
While yours truly may not have the most sensible record of buying used cars (I do after all own a V12 Jaguar and a 325k-mile Land Rover), I still think these Polestar 2s are an incredible value. So much so, I put my money where my mouth is and purchased a 60k mile, 469hp, Long Range Dual Motor model for just $14,200. While current pricing is certainly eye-brow raising, the real question is: Should you trust a used, high-tech, electric fastback from a defunct brand more than you can trust lettuce from Taco Bell?
The Polestar 2 Is A Ridiculous Amount Of Car For Relatively Little Money
Launched in 2020 for the 2021 model year, the Polestar 2 was Polestar’s first fully electric vehicle. Originally debuted in 2016 as the Volvo 40.2 concept, the vehicle was the product of Polestar’s design team taking the classic ne’er-do-well high school essay writing technique of Ctrl C + Ctrl V, making a few minor tweaks, and voila! The Polestar 2 was born. Riding on the CMA platform – shared with the Volvo XC40 and C40 – the Polestar 2 was available in three different configurations: two different single motor configurations, bewilderingly in either front or rear wheel drive (yes, they switched in 2024 from front to rear!), and as a dual motor AWD variant. With battery pack options of 78 and 82 kWh, the Polestar 2 boasts a thoroughly okay EPA estimated range of anywhere between 247 and 320 miles depending on configuration.
When new, the Polestar 2 wasn’t exactly a stellar value proposition, especially compared to its primary competition: the Tesla Model 3. However, much like lutefisk, certain Nordic delicacies only get better with age. Originally, Polestar 2s ranged in price anywhere between $46k and $60k depending on motor and trim. According to transaction data from Cox Automotive, average retail sale prices for 4-year-old Polestar 2s currently range from the high teens to low twenties, and at those prices, this Swedish by way of China liftback, becomes a much more attractive option. Especially once you consider that, through the modern convenience of over-the-air updates, Polestar 2s now have additional features, like Tesla supercharger compatibility; that didn’t exist when these vehicles rolled off the Polestar “Space” floor.
While most Polestar 2s you’ll find at dealers are hovering in the low twenties, with a little bit of hunting you can find them for even less. Thanks to the magic of EV depreciation, and some Ed Bolian-style shrewd negotiation, you can now pick up a Polestar 2 for less than the price of a Fiat Topolino. As I mentioned before, I myself took the plunge on a privately owned (read: not Uber driven), clean title 2022 Long Range Dual Motor example for just $14,200 in February of this year. With the demise of the brand in the US, it’s become even easier to find deals like mine in the low to mid teens. Considering what you’re getting for the money, I think they’re an absolute slam dunk.
Though the Polestar brand is young, with its Volvo-adjacent styling and architecture, the Polestar 2 feels like a car designed by a car company with a proven track record of building cars. Combined with the utility of its fastback shape and ride and handling characteristics befitting of actually having had a chassis development team, the Polestar 2 has become an even more attractive, yet practical alternative to its Tesla competition.
But First, Batteries
As a car salesman who works with many first-time electric car buyers, one of the first questions I’m asked typically involves the subject of battery health. Interestingly, as traditional Volvo lore would imply, the Polestar 2’s pack is actually quite robust. In particular, the 78kWh CATL manufactured pack in the Long Range Dual Motor example stands out as one of the most durable EV batteries past 100k kilometers according to a study conducted by Swedish online EV Marketplace, Carla.
Additionally, my local Polestar Service Center in San Diego, CA claims to have seen examples used as Ubers in excess of 250k miles still reporting battery state of health readings around the 80% mark. The Polestar 2 proves that, unlike our smartphones, modern EV batteries don’t degrade at the rate we are used to with other consumer electronics.
What To Look Out For
Much like the menu at In-N-Out, the Polestar 2 range is a fairly simplistic affair. There are just two motor variations, single and dual, and all available option packages: Plus, Pilot, and Performance (with exception for the Performance package) are available on either. There is no option for “Animal Style”, but there is a Nappa Leather package with ventilated seats that you can select on top of the Plus Package.
Rather than bore you with the word by word accounting of option package features, we’ve cooked up the following menu to help you decide:
Off the bat, it’s best to avoid the 2021-2023 FWD Single Motor cars. According to my local Polestar Service Center, they seem to have a tendency to munch on front motors. However, the EFAD (Electronic Front Differential) and ERAD (Electronic Rear Differential) used in the RWD Single Motor and Dual Motor models are considerably more reliable and have few documented failures.
By far the most common issue with Polestar 2s is the infamous “Wheel of Fortune” noise emanating from the rear axles under regenerative braking. This well-known clicking coming from the CVs has been well documented by the Polestar 2 community and is indicative of the beginnings of axle failure. I’ve been assured by my local Polestar Service Center that this is a fairly common issue and that – if you don’t mind bystanders suddenly darting their heads in search of Vanna White every time you go past – you can just turn up the radio and ignore it for quite a while. Nice. Fixing the issue requires replacement of both rear axles. Fortunately, this part is shared with the Volvo XC40 and C40 Recharge and an upgraded part number is readily available.
At 4,750lbs, the Polestar 2 isn’t the lightest vehicle around. Subsequently, suspension components shared with the gas-engined XC40 can take quite a beating. Front strut mounts in particular have a tendency to fail leading to creaking and knocking noises from the front end. While the noise may sound severe, it’s a fairly common issue for most Volvo platforms dating back to the 850. Thankfully, parts are readily available from a number of suppliers and practically any shop familiar with wrenching on Volvos can silence those uncouth noises from your front end in an afternoon.
Beyond axles and strut mounts, there’s little else you have to be on the look out for when inspecting a Polestar 2, but there are a few more points you should consider when looking at potential candidates. While the Performance package may be tempting with its Ohlins dampers and Brembo brakes, it’s important to note that replacements can be costly. Brake rotors ring in at over $260 a corner and the Ohlins struts come to an eyewatering $2700 a piece! Fortunately, if the horsepower upgrade from 408hp to 476hp is an absolute must, and you can make do without the Ohlins and Brembos, it can be downloaded to any Long Range Dual Motor Polestar 2 through Polestar’s online marketplace.
Lastly, like with any used car purchase, reviewing a Polestar’s maintenance history is recommended. That being said, don’t be surprised if there isn’t much. Unlike an Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) car, sparse records are not necessarily indicative of a lack of care. For instance, when I bought my Polestar 2, it had only three CarFax entries in 60k miles, and one warranty receipt for a replacement charging cable. Simply put, with how little maintenance EVs require, don’t be alarmed if you only have a few receipts to review.
Where Can I Service it?
I have referred to my local Polestar Service Center throughout this, and you might be thinking: If Polestar is pulling out of the US market, where will I be able to service mine when they’re gone for good? Polestar has announced that they will be maintaining their network of 32 service centers in the US for existing vehicle owners and will continue to honor any warranty work. While the manager of my local Polestar Service Center assures me that everything is business as usual behind the scenes, I can’t help but think what the manufacturer’s support is going to look like once warranties start expiring on current cars. I have my doubts.
As someone who generally likes to have a contingency plan in place, I’m happy to report that independent Polestar servicing is far easier to find than you’d expect! During my research leading up to the purchase of my Polestar 2, I found a number of EV independents close to me in Southern California willing to work on Polestars. Thanks to commonality with the Volvo XC40 and C40, even my long-time, local Volvo mechanic has started working on out of warranty Polestars, and yours might, too.
Ownership Costs
Speaking of service, Polestar 2s are recommended to be serviced on 20k mile intervals. This service includes: changing the cabin filter, changing the wiper blades, performing a basic multipoint vehicle inspection, charging the high-voltage battery to full, and, presumably, giving it a pat on the tailgate and calling it a good boy. For this service, my local Polestar Service Center will charge you $584.95 plus tax. In conjunction with the standard 20k mile service, every 40k miles Polestar recommends flushing the brake fluid, to the tune of $399 plus tax at my local Service Center.
If you, like I, find those prices to be a little steep, I’m happy to report there are much more affordable alternatives. I phoned up my personal Volvo mechanic and was quoted $250 for a 20k service. If you don’t mind turning your own torx bits though, DIY service doesn’t get much simpler than this. From start to finish, changing the cabin filter took me exactly 1 minutes and 27 seconds to replace. The wipers are like any other car’s, and clearing the maintenance reminder just takes a gear-lever toggle and a press of the steering wheel buttons. With parts from FCP Euro, I completed my last 20k mile service for just $63.98.
While certain jobs like EFAD/ERAD fluid replacement and major hardware replacements are probably best left for trained technicians, it goes to show just how economical it can be to own a used Polestar 2 with a little ingenuity Especially once you consider that access to dealer-level diagnostic software via Orbit can be had for just $100, ongoing DIY diagnostic and repair work is much more accessible than you’d think.
That being said, not everything can be cheaper than an ICE car. Like any EV, Polestar 2s can go through tires much quicker than its gas-engined stablemates. While you might suffer a slight range deficit, fitting a standard high-performance all-season tire can definitely help you eke out more from your contact patch investment. It’s also important to note that, on average, EV insurance rates are about 42% higher than an equivalent ICE vehicle, and I’d recommend shopping around before signing on the dotted line.
Why You Should
As someone who endures a 70-mile roundtrip commute five to six days a week, it’s hard to ignore the economics of a used EV. Prior to my Polestar 2, I was daily driving a 2006 Mercedes Benz E350 wagon. While I absolutely adored that car for my commute, it was costing me upwards of $800 a month in fuel! Ever since I bought my Polestar, I have largely been charging at home using SDG&E’s off-peak power rates. At 12 cents per kilowatt hour, my driving habits tend to only cost me between $60 and $70 a month. Even if you don’t drive as much as I do, I invite you to do the math for yourself. You might just be surprised.
Possibly the best part of owning this car is the lack of anxiety it brings me. It’s so refreshing to own an appliance I don’t have to be really invested in, making sure it keeps operating as designed. When I smell burning oil in traffic, it’s so relaxing to know it can’t possibly be me. Compared to the other vehicles I own, its ease of maintenance and care just are a welcome relief in my otherwise chaotic life.
It’s almost cathartic knowing that, one day, once its range is depleted and the remainder of its value has evaporated, it will be harvested for parts and crushed into a cube. But until that day, which I believe is still fairly far away, I will enjoy bombing around in my Polestar 2. And I think many of you might too.
Polestar 2 is also the best-model3-that-isn’t-a-Tesla experience you can have. 400V architecture works well with superchargers, similar charge rates, similar range, same charge port location. The RWD is really the move… the newer battery, plenty fast, doesn’t understeer… I get 4.0+ mi/kwh. 300+ mile range. Plus it’s a hatchback. When I quit Tesla and went to sell my 3 it was pretty much an even trade for a much more premium vehicle.
Things to watch out for: old screen can be laggy… there is an upgrade available in Europe… not sure if it’s available here yet but it would be worth the money.
This is probably a silly question, but does it have CarPlay, and if so, is it wired or wireless? Also, how are the controls for HVAC – are they on the screen, or are they buried in the touchscreen?
I wouldn’t mind a laggy screen at all as long as it had CarPlay and I could easily adjust the temperature without interacting with the screeen.
Yes, Wired, and Yes, on screen.
I found the embedded Google Nav was just fine – and it would stream music via bluetooth.
Very easy to use.
Okay, cool! It’s super easy to convert wired to wireless. I’ll have to check one of these out sometime.
Even though the CarPlay is wired, I personally not had any issues with it!
My one major gripe is that pretty much all car functions go through the screen (including climate), but they do come with built in Google Assistant! While I’m driving, I never touch the screen. All I have to do is say “Hey Google, turn up the temperature to 70 degrees” and it does. I’m usually not a fan of voice activation, but the Google assistant is a genuinely well integrated feature in these Polestar 2s IMO.
Thanks for the info! I occasionally use voice activation to do the same thing in my Ioniq 5 since the climate panel is capacitive touch, so sounds like a similar experience in the Polestar.
Yes, the HVAC controls are on the screen, but the basic controls are always on.
I had a 21 with the 3 packages, it was early October of 2021 when I got it and there were not many around at all, people stopped to ask me questions. One of the best cars I ever owned, the treatment from the dealership was perfect, they always had a loaner if there was an issue. There was always an issue lol
I got 3 speeding tickets, but I think it was more about the curiosity of what is that thing? Because I was always doing the same speed as others in Michigan, even if it was way over the speed limit, but always me getting stopped.
Hah I have been pulled over twice in mine (no tickets luckily) but yeah I think it was just because the cops had no idea what it was hah.
I rented one of these via Hertz on a trip to LA/Palm Springs.
After arriving on a late night flight I found myself at the end of a line of people – and realized we were going nowhere because they were all waiting for ICE cars, which were being driven up sporadically and doled out one by one – while a dozen Model 3s and Polestars were sitting there just waiting to be driven away.
Being an impatient person and rather chilly, I waved at the attendant at the head of the line and loudly said “Can anyone take any of these cars here?” while gesturing to the EVs.
“Yeah!”
So from the back of the line I rolled the Tumi over, figured out how to open the tailgate to load the bags, got in and made the thing move under it’s own power, and drove away – leaving all those oldsters still standing in line out in the dark and cold.
In the week I had it – driving all over LA and Palm Springs – I found that it was easy to charge at public chargers without using an app.
It was easier to use the embedded Google Nav rather than CarPlay.
There was no On-Off/Unlock button – it just came on and unlocked itself whenever I approached with the fob.
The Auto-Brake while reversing felt like I had rammed into something when I hadn’t.
I liked it so much I named it “Thor”
Now I’ll start keeping an eye out for a RWD one of these….
Believe you will really enjoy the 299 HP RWD model, too. I’ve had mine for about 6 months now, and contrary to Google Co-Pilot responding to me there would be no way I would make it to Las Vegas from OC/IE ish area on a single charge, I made it to N. Las Vegas with 40 miles left to go, then charged for free at the Casino. Total round trip energy cost to me less than $8. The 320 range is possible, but as with about any single gear EV watching your speed is especially paramount.
Update:
If you can find a Polestar 2 of any mileage anywhere in the US listed under $18,000 – you’re a luckier person than I.
I dunno who gave their car away for $5K+ under market value – as most are in the lower 20K range – particularly for the mileage described in the article.
Clickbait headline is clickbait-y.
Maybe you’re right. But I can also imagine a scenario where a Polestar owner is freaked out by the demise of the company and wants to get rid of it. Dealers are similarly scared to take it in trade, so they offer a lowball trade-in of $10k. Owner thinks to themselves, “Gee if I sell it myself maybe I can get $5000 more than the dealer was offering.”
Polestar has been clear that they’re maintaining service centers – and it’s practically a Volvo anyway….
…so I don’t think that’s it.
I’d bet it was in a collision – Thats the only thing that makes the low purchase price make any sense.
That or being financed at Zero down and 35% interest over 5 years with a $5000 prepayment penalty.
Are you kidding? People freak out about “discontinued” models all the time. I just helped my BiL buy a Bolt, and people are asking him and me where he’s gunna find parts… got a GM vehicle which sold tens of thousands of units.
I’ve been able to find examples of the Polestar 2 close to what the author paid without even trying.
The owner of my car received a CarMax offer of around $13k back in January prior to Polestar’s announcement to exit the market. As of late, I’ve seen lower or similar offers for even lower mileage cars.
It does take a little bit of hunting (I myself searched for a couple of months) but they are out there!
There are two within a few hundred miles of me under $18k. One is about $16k and one is about $15k. I think they’re both around 70k-80k miles.
You might just need to keep an eye out for higher mileage ones and/or widen your search area. These are rare cars at any price.
Nevertheless, the writer definitely got a great deal, but people get great deals all the time. I got a 2024 Kona Electric for $8,000 with almost nothing wrong with it. The mileage was high, but that’s still like $7-10,000 under market value. I couldn’t replicate that again if I tried, but I think calling the headline clickbait-y because they got a good deal is unfair.
I’m in VA.
I found a former rental with 102K miles in CA for $15K
Cars with mileage closer to what he tells us he has (60K) are in the $19K+ range.
So yeah, I’ve looked far and wide.
This is why I believe “…and you can too!” for a near impossible deal is definitely clickbait.
There’s one on Marketplace in VA for $19k with only 59,810 miles.
Are you looking on only dealer sites? Marketplace is where it’s at for deals, love it or hate it. I do miss Craigslist, but Marketplace is where I’ve bought and sold the last 4 or 5 of my cars without issue.
Yeah – I saw that one – which is also on the dealer site and Autotrader.
It’s $5000/35% more than what the writer says he paid for his. ($14,200)
Clearly not a comp.
The big thing that changed is Iran. This car was purchased prior to the war with Iran. I’ve been sort of thinking about a Bolt. I found them for as low as $10k. Now from the same dealer with more miles and less features, Bolts start at $15k.
Ironically, I think Trump has done more to help the used values of EVs than anyone else. By cutting incentives and starting a war that makes people wonder if they can even get gasoline, the prices of used EVs has stopped its freefall. Used EVs are still deals, but they are no longer then steals they were early this year.
This makes the most sense – Thank you for the dose of reality.
Within 100 miles of me (116 to be precise) there is one, and it’s $17,975 with 82,079 miles on it. Three under 25K and the rest are knocking on 30. IF I go just beyond my 100 mile search I get a handful more around 20K
A little late to the conversation, but…
EV prices have shot up in the last few months with gas prices. New ones that were seeing $8-10k on the hood in February are now advertised at list (maybe a little off for a 26 as 27s are rolling out). On the used front, it isn’t quite as dramatic but still an obvious jump. $14k to $18k for these seems in like with the hike I’ve seen around here on used EVs
My driveway has one segment that’s not level and is almost 1″ higher than the segment before it.It’s nothing to drive over but that 1 inch “wall” is enough to trigger the auto-brake and yes, it feels like hitting a damn wall and freaks me out every time.
Damn it, you made me look. Out here in my part of the left coast, a 200 mile search produced nothing good to look at under 20K, with a lot of the entries at ‘blink and we’re gone’ used car lots. It’s a nice vehicle, but if you’re not near a service center or near a major city, getting service is going to a problem.
Interesting. I’ve been jonesing for a used Ford Mach E, but I always forget about Polestar 2. Looks like a decent example can be found for about 10k less than a Mach E GT…. The GT is likely still a better driver’s car, but the P. 2 has real door handles?
I don’t love the minimalist tablet only interface, (and would never tolerate it in a new car) but for under 30k CAD I could cry about it into my fuel savings. At least you get 4 proper window switches!
I have a Mach-E GT. It’s a great all around car, and the GT’s torque is insane. Still life left in the original tires at 37k miles.
Yes, can confirm real door handles. And pretty nice feeling ones too, in my experience! The tablet interface could be worse, it’s not my favorite but on the other hand I rarely need to make significant adjustments to anything that isn’t permanently on the screen. The screen/map feature on the instrument panel is genuinely one of my all time favorite UIs I’ve driven with, it’s fantastic.
No knock on the Mach-E, but you may want a brief introduction to this man:
https://www.vehicledynamicsinternational.com/news/oem-news/joakim-rydholm-extols-the-dynamics-virtues-of-the-polestar-1.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tOgS46o2Pv8
Odd someone sold such a pricy (60?) car for so little after so short time…
The owner of my car was simply looking for something larger. He ended up moving into a Volvo C40 since he liked the platform so much!
I bought my ’23 P2 PPP last October and have been really enjoying it, even with the occasional wonky infotainment malfunctions, but 2 weeks ago I got rear-ended in traffic and am now waiting for insurance to see if they’re going to fix it. 🙁
Lutefisk does not improve with age. Source: I married a Scandinavian-heritage woman and her father required it every year at Christmas.
Nice car and screaming deal!
Nice find! Congrats – I do believe I’ve finally met the match on good deals vs. my 2012 Volt when I bought it in 2016 with 40K miles. I had paid $11,500, and that was just the beginning. I had no idea what it would cost to run on electrons, I just thought that was a cool feature. At ten cents per kWh, the extra $20 to $25 bucks that landed on the utility bill for my monthly commute was nearly imperceptible.
“EFAD (Electronic Front Differential) and ERAD (Electronic Rear Differential)”
Do acronyms work differently in Swedish?
Maybe A = Axle?
Thank you for catching this! I work at a Volvo dealer and our techs have referred to them as such. However, I have since been informed that the correct acronyms are “Electronic Front Axle Drive” and “Electronic Rear Axle Drive”. Working to get it updated!
Maybe they were trying to avoid the “effed” acronym.
For the Performance suspension, they can be rebuilt instead of replaced when they go bad. It’s still not cheap, but far less costly than a brand new one!
Yep, that was my only major concern with ours. The big performance brakes are pretty standard for a heavy sports car, and that was expected, but the cost of a full strut replacement is something we’ll try to avoid. There’s enough independent Swedish shops in Seattle that might be willing to work with us that I’m hopeful. The local dealer/service center may or may not end up being helpful – we have the front strut mount creaking/knocking issue, and I think I remember them saying they wanted to do a full strut replacement. At >50k miles, I’d really rather not.
If you want to upgrade to the Ohlins, I have a set with low mileage for sale. I was going to put them on my car but I upgraded to the 3.
Where and how much??
I’m in Los Angeles.
Are you on the Discord?
I appreciate the offer! However, I live on a dirt road and the standard suspension fits my use case pretty well as it is. (I also promised myself I wouldn’t mod my daily, hopefully I can follow through on that…)
Thanks William! That is undeniably a whole lot of EV for the money! Well bought! 🙂
I had no idea until today that EV insurance commands a significant premium. That’s non trivial given how much insurance has increased year over year.
Yeah, that’s pretty concerning. I pay very little on insurance (I guess because the insured value on a 31-year-old Geo is at rock-bottom), but if I was paying the ~$300 CAD/mo that a lot of my peers seem to be paying, and that went up by 40% to $420, that $120 insurance loss would be a huge hit. I probably average about $150 CAD on fuel each month, so even if that went to zero with an EV, adding another $120 in insurance would almost erase all savings
As with all things car insurance, it will depend upon my location and vehicle. I live in a rural area and when I bought my EV6 GT earlier this year, the premium was only slightly higher than the 9 year old Kia Niro it replaced. Areas with higher rates and vehicles that are more complex or expensive to repair will see the premium differential grow.
This is only sort of true. My Ioniq 5 is roughly as expensive to insure as my old X3, but I had to shop around. The insurance company I was with (Progressive) quoted me some insane rate, but Geico was withing about $10 of what I was paying.
Worth noting – always pay for 6 months or a full year upfront when insuring a car. That can save hundreds of dollars versus paying month-to-month.
That’s a ludicrous price for what it is.
I bought a C40 a year ago with 12k miles for considerably more, and it still feels like a steal.
Congratulations! My parents ended up liking my Polestar so much, I sold them a 2023 C40 just a month later. They’re a great alternative to the Polestar 2 if you are more comfortable with a more established dealer/parts distribution network!
WHat a grab for $15k! As you’ve shown in the photo…one of the P2’s nice selling points for people who want to road trip is that driver rear charge port location that means charging at any V3 supercharger compatible with non teslas should be easy…sure in 2026 there’s lots of other options in some parts of the country, but that driver rear charge port makes an EV compatible with the most chargers out there. Especially with something like a used P2 which didn’t have the greatest range(by 2026 standards) in the first place. compatibility with more chargers using only one parking spot is nice.
Congratulations, monster deal and lots of great info. You’ll also by now be enjoying the luxury of rarely to never visiting a gas station!
Used ev articles are always interesting to me. I love the depreciation monsters that aren’t mechanically totaled. EVs are great for that. The under $20k used EVs are interesting under $10k extremely interesting. Spending 10% or less of your former fuel bill with less maintenance is the reality for home charging.
The polestar services recommendations always seemed strange to me. Especially the full charge. Help calibrate the bms maybe. Still at $15k it’s interesting. I haven’t really looked at them that hard. Low mileage $15k Vinfast vf8 have caught my eye. Sort of interesting in that Vinfast will still be in the market but polestar might still be supported better.
As lifelong EV enthusiast, things keep getting better. First there weren’t any EVs available that could be daily driven. Then lots of EVs came out, but they were expensive. Now, there’s a glut of used ones, and I can buy whichever one I want for pennies on the dollar. Good times!
FINALLY, some used EV content! This was a great article that I thoroughly enjoyed reading.
I strongly suspect amazing EV deals on the used market are not long for this world as more and more people realize the benefits of EVs and figure out that used ones are wayyy less problematic that used ICE cars, especially at higher mileages.
I bought a 2024 Kona Electric with (at the time) 114,000 miles for $8,000 in April. It was barely two years old! Now, it’s a bit down on power compared to your Polestar (like, 280hp down lol), but it’s still quite quick in normal driving, quiet, spacious, cheap to run, and still gets at or above its EPA estimated range.
When my Ioniq 5 lease is up in a year, I’m likely going to buy another used EV instead of doing a lease again. I do all my own maintenance. This article gave me some good insight on common issues. I’d just hate to give up 800v charging speeds on my Ioniq 5. That said, 400+ hp might help make up for it!
More than 57,000 miles per year!
Yes! The PO was a rideshare driver. It lived a hard life. It was so dirty I actually broke out in hives driving it back home.
However I used to detail cars professionally and it looks amazing after a full interior detail, paint correction, and ceramic coating. It required so little work to get it back to almost like—new status and now drives like a dream.
Ummm,standard options?
Lol I noticed that too. Seems like it’s been fixed now.
Rented an AWD one of these in Europe once and can confirm it slaps. Family did not appreciate me flooring it out of the blue though. Killer deal for under $20k.
The near total lack of automotive literacy in this article is astounding. The Polestar 2 was available in a single motor or dual motor configuration. The single motor config was FWD from 2021 to 2023. They changed to RWD for 2024+.
Peak power output on the performance trim was 469hp, and that was only for the extremely limited 2025 run in the US. Prior year performance trim (or performance software optimized) units had a peak output of 449hp. Both had 546 ft lbs of torque.
Deleted
Looks like William should have mentioned 2023 as well for the front-drive cars, so that’s a good catch.
I appreciate the feedback, but please provide it in a more respectful manner in the future, especially given that the Polestar performance figures are all over the place, with numerous outlets quoting the 469 figure for 2023s as well, and also quoting the torque figure of 502. (BTW, the 469-476 thing appears to be a bhp->hp conversion issue that Polestar itself made).
Yes, a quirk of this is FWD and RWD were available in different years. But, I think it’s ok that this isn’t mentioned on the menu in the article.
(Maybe the article was edited since it was originally posted. We lowly commentariat members don’t have access to the article version history.)
It’s easy to provide helpful corrections without being a troll.
Thank you for the feedback! Admittedly, it was a little confusing even from Polestar’s literature to determine the correct outputs/changeover from models.
Additionally, I should have mentioned that my car was not originally shipped with the performance software upgrade (350kw). The first owner of my car added it after the fact and left the upgrade stickers and grill badge in the glovebox. I elected to leave them off for the sake of subtlety.
Ok, so this and the Chevy police spec EV are on my list of used EVs.
Is that a weird cross shopping?
Not really? Singapore government loves their volvos and polestar. Polestar 2 makes a great highway pursuit vehicle.
https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/transport/traffic-polices-electric-highway-patrol-cars-to-be-rolled-out-from-second-half-of-2025
I think the brits have a few too. I wouldn’t be surprised if other European countries use them too.
There was some upfitter shopping a US spec one around a while ago not sure if any departments took them up on it. Sort of opposite of the slow Volvos some departments bought in the 80s and 90s.
Great article! How are SDG&E’s rates so much lower than PG&E??? My off-peak in the Monterey Bay Area is 30¢ per kWh. Or did you mean 12¢ per mile? Because that’s about what my per-mile costs are.
No, $0.12/kWh sounds about right. I pay $0.116/kWh, and that’s a flat rate.
CA electric rates are completely insane compared to the rest of the country, except for MA where they’re even higher somehow.
That is sad but true (CA electrical rates being insultingly high). There are various tiers/rates/providers, etc… but generally it ranges from about .30 per kWh to as much as .41 per at the highest tier. I put solar on my roof about 30 years ago, so I usually buy zero net kWh averaged over the course of a year, but still pay a base connection charge, as well as all the other stuff on DWP’s bill of course.
The weather’s real nice here mostly year round though, if that’s any consolation. Also, mosquitoes are pretty rare. Citrus trees grow everywhere. And there are lots of cool cars and car shows. Crime’s not bad here at all outside of specific trouble spots: I’ve lived here for decades and have never had a car broken into, whereas I had cars broken into three separate times in less than a decade in NYC.
In addition to the high cost of kWh, real estate and general cost of living is pretty pricey in SF/LA/SD, and there’s as much commuter traffic here as in any other big urban center like NYC, the Bay Area, or Atlanta. If you don’t commute much/far, you’ll be a lot happier.
I live in the Bay Area and keep ending up with longer commutes. When I first moved out here, I drove 80 miles round trip, so I moved closer and only drove 24 miles. Then a couple years later I got laid off and was settled in so ended up with 50 miles, got laid off again and now I’m back up to 70 miles. The only silver lining is my new gig pays double what my last job did.
Thats interesting maybe closer to generation. So many of the high fee utilities have so many transport and junk fees. Songs proximity probably helped. The Edisons and national grid have a way with junk fees.
Yeah my point was I’m very surprised rates in San Diego are somehow that much lower than the rest of the state. $.12/kWh is what my family in MN pay.