I cleared the old stuff, lol 5 pages worth.
Ok, I am really starting to love this car now. I played around with the steering weight, first I did heavy, good at speed but too heavy at slow speeds, drove around all morning, then switched to medium this afternoon, perfect. Then I switched it to "ESC off" mode, that's when I fell in love. It totally transforms the car, the car feels more agile and the steering seems more responsive to driver input. I had a button I could turn off stability control on my old V50, but I never noticed much of a difference, so I always left it on. The Polestar is a completely different animal, the steering lightens up and I swear it sounds meaner. The car practically begs to be driven hard. I found out one thing inadvertently, the car will NOT upshift at redline in manual mode, my Acura would and so did the Porsche with PDK. I wonder if it does in launch mode?
I came into this really wanting another car with a manual tranny, but willing to take a chance on the Polestar since all reviews pretty much gave the upgraded P* tranny a thumbs up. I can certainly live with it, and this is coming from a diehard MT guy. I actually like it in manual mode, the shifts are crisp and immediate. I find the car a little too sedate in D, good thing we have a choice, paddles could be a speck taller, I just adjusted my hands a tad lower from where I normally put them on the wheel. I also like the fact you can shift into 1st before a complete stop.
I don't do a lot of freeway driving, if I did I would probably adjust the suspension to a softer setting, most of my driving is back roads getting into Seattle from the north, I avoid I-5 like the plague. But I went for a jaunt on I-5 just to see how the car is on the interstate and I went straight to an stretch of road even my Acura, a big floaty SUV with 60 series tires hates, the P* hated it too. The suspension reacts to bumps very quickly and feels very compliant but this stretch creates a constant rocking that is annoying, most of the time it was perfectly fine. The setting it comes as is meant for spirited driving, not cruising the interstate. If you spend a lot of time on the interstate, you might want it delivered with a softer setting.
Ok the bad.
My wife does not like it in sport mode, she thinks it's too loud, not her car, but I leave it in D when she's in the car. personally I think the exhaust is sweet. I could listen to it all day, and it does turn heads. I never drive in D alone, that exhaust note is intoxicating.
Not related to the car, but parking lot mishap put 12" scratch in rear panel down to primer, now I know Volvo uses white primer underneath the BSM color, I would have thought they used black or dark gray, probably all cars get the same primer, but chips will show white. It goes into the body shop next week for repair. I could rant about a certain uninsured ethnic group that shares a common border with our country, but I won't go there. I get a prize for first polestar in for repair, karma because I showed great restraint when it happened, I didn't even curse.
The sound system is fine, but it won't blow you away.
The suede or nubuck on the seats might be hard to keep clean, they are kind of a magnet for soil and debris.I wonder if there is some type of fabric protector I should put on? I ordered a seat cover from Volvo for the back seat. For now our 80lb. German Shephard is perfectly content in the back with the seats down.
In summary, the car is everything I hoped it would be. I spent a good chunk of change trying to make my V50 a car of this caliper, it's not even close, I've driven a V70R, not even close. This is beyond doubt the best driving car Volvo has ever made, does it compete and set a new standard? My experience is somewhat limited to Volvo, Audi, Acura and Porsche, so I can't really say, is this car fun to drive, I give that a resounding, YES.