First ride: 2024 Polestar 5 prototype review
Polestar 5 is "an opportunity to mature" the brand in dynamic terms
Porsche Taycan rival to get ultra-stiff platform and new battery tech – we sample it from the passenger seat
As a means of getting familiar with an all-new car, passenger rides are a bit of a blunt instrument. But sometimes the car in question does something so novel, and does it so effortlessly, that it doesn’t matter which seat you’re sitting in because the cat’s just as far out of the bag.
This is what happens during our passenger ride in a leggy, pre-production Polestar 5 on the Dunlop dry handling circuit at the MIRA proving ground – a circuit Autocar road testers know quite well because it’s where we set the magazine’s benchmarking lap times.
After some chit-chat about the Porsche Taycan-rivalling 5 being "an opportunity to mature the Polestar brand" in dynamic terms, the project’s chief dynamic engineer – 31-year-old Chris Baguely – without warning delicately backs its low, camouflaged form into one of the course’s two inviting hairpin bends, unsticks the back axle with an injection of torque and then rides out an enormous, graceful powerslide.
To onlookers, the sight would be akin to what you’d get if you parsed a fully lit 'E39' BMW M5 through Syd Mead’s imagination. More to the point, it’s the kind of antic that flies in the face of the controlled but po-faced dynamic identity Polestar has so far shown with the superb-looking but transverse-engined 1 PHEV and the Volvo XC40-based 2 EV.
Getting something so rippling with torque, and with such a long wheelbase, to behave like this isn’t hard, but what’s surprising – and noticeable even from the passenger seat – is the sense of finesse. Pedigree, even.
Perhaps this isn’t too surprising, either, given the 5 is being developed not from an existing Volvo platform at Polestar HQ in Gothenburg, or in China, where it’ll be assembled. Instead, it’s being brought to life here at MIRA, from scratch, by a predominantly British team of engineers with backgrounds at Lotus and McLaren, among other AAA-grade handling schools – and it shows.
The way the 5’s tail moves out of line then slips back in is, sorry for the cliché, buttery. This purely rear-driven example also seems the forgiving sort. Baguely can boot it mid-corner, when we’re already very sideways, and on its bespoke Michelins the 5 – sustaining yaw all the way – punches out of medium-speed bends at a rate you’d be happy even were you not frittering drive away by showboating. The 5 feels hooked up, composed, and on the way into bends resists understeer better than expected.
Concrete technical details about the 5 are currently scarce and will remain so until we’re closer to the car’s 2025-model-year launch. However, beyond a BMW M-car-esque penchant for oversteer, our passenger ride unearths some intriguing elements as well as giving a fair glimpse of the car’s broader character. One unexpected thing is that the 5 will ride on a passive suspension set-up – no, no air springs here, or even selectable modes. This feels like a big call for a car with what will surely be a six-figure price, though on the far from smooth Dunlop circuit, the 5 does show a natural poise with good suppleness. Potholes and poor roads will be harder to subdue.
Next up is rear passenger space, which is enormous. Honestly, in the back the Polestar makes the Taycan feel like a Volkswagen Lupo, and not just in terms of leg room but also in terms of atmosphere. The glass canopy is vast and visibility through the front of the cabin, then out of the massively raked windscreen, is excellent. If – if – the car’s ride quality at MIRA translates onto public roads and is matched with fine isolation (at MIRA the pared-back cabin of our development car is predictably whiney and roar-y at speed) the 5 will be a class act. Special mention also goes to the low dash scuttle: up front there’s just a touch of supercar to the ambience.
I just hope the steering is up to the mark. In this area, Polestar’s efforts so far have been lacklustre, but clearly the 5 is like no other Polestar so far.
Will it really stand up to the outstanding Taycan? On this evidence, quite possibly. The mechanical recipe is disarmingly simple – no air springs, or rear steering, no active anti-roll bars, and in this case just one driven axle – but clearly it’s all very deftly tuned. There’s something appealingly old-school about this method, though the aesthetic will be anything but. As Baguely puts it: "We want to challenge the Taycan in this space – to do something differently and prove that a bit of a refresh is not always a bad thing."
*Everything you need to know about the Polestar 5*
The Polestar 5 made its public debut at 2022's Goodwood Festival of Speed, where the Swedish firm revealed technical and powertrain information for the upcoming production model.
Although development of the car's powertrain is still ongoing, Polestar confirmed it is aiming for a power output of 874bhp and 663lb ft of torque.
It uses two electric motors attached to the front and rear, connected to 800V architecture.
Polestar CEO Thomas Ingenlath described the four-door grand tourer, which will go on sale in 2024, as a “company-defining project”.
“Its progressive design and advanced engineering set the tone for Polestar’s future,” said Ingelath. “We have great talent on board enabling us to create truly iconic EVs.”
The 5 is an evolution of 2020's imposing Precept concept. As such, it will arrive in dealerships with familiar coupé-esque proportions and a lengthy wheelbase that line it up as a rival to the Mercedes-Benz EQS.
Only the concept's most outlandish features – its heavily accentuated side creases, ultra-slim digital wing mirrors, reverse-opening rear doors and oversized alloy wheels – look to have been casualties of the homologation process.
The firm also unveiled the Polestar 2 BST Edition 270: the new high-performance, limited-edition version of the popular 2 electric fastback.
Speaking about the launch, Polestar CEO Thomas Ingenlath said: “Goodwood is our favourite place to show our cars in an enthusiast environment.
"This year, we're thrilled to showcase the Polestar 5 going up the hill. Our UK R&D team is doing an amazing job developing the car, and we're proud to be able to highlight their hard work at this early stage.”
A full production-spec unveiling of the 5 isn't anticipated until late next year, but Polestar has already confirmed its saloon flagship will get “supercar levels” of body stiffness from an all-new platform being developed at a new engineering base in Warwickshire.
The 5 is the first Polestar car to be developed in the UK, as well as the first “developed by Polestar for Polestar”, rather than derived from a Volvo base, according to then-vehicle engineering director Steve Swift, speaking to Autocar earlier this year.
The 5’s body is constructed chiefly from bonded aluminium, with other sections made from hot-formed, cold-formed, die-cast and extruded aluminium. It’s this bonded aluminium construction that affords the car “supercar levels of torsional stiffness, which is fundamental to class-leading ride and handling dynamics”, said Polestar UK chief engineer Dave Kane.
UK R&D boss Pete Allen added that a goal for the 5 is to “deliver best-in-class levels of dynamics, and that starts with the structure”. To that end, the 5’s body offers “carbonfibre levels of torsional stiffness, like a two-door sports model”.
Discussions are under way to establish exactly how to tune the 5’s stiff underpinnings to give it its dynamic character. “It’s still to be confirmed where it sits,” said Swift. “We’re looking for sophistication, rather than to take a Volvo and make it handle [like a Polestar].
“If you have a vehicle that rides well and is relatively isolated from road noise and then you get the handling right, you will appeal to those who love driving and also those who just like driving the car without articulating it.”
The Porsche Taycan is an obvious rival to the 5, and Polestar is understood to have one at its MIRA facility for benchmarking purposes. However, the Chinese-Swedish manufacturer wants to create a car with more everyday compliance and a rounded edge, rather than chasing truly sports car-like handling.
“It needs to be engaging but also comfortable,” said Swift. “We can push the car in a dynamic direction or a comfort direction without totally sacrificing one or the other.”
Further developments include motorsport-derived underbody aerodynamics and a slippery body shape. Polestar isn’t yet discussing the powertrain and battery details of the 5 – prototype testing of which is already under way in the UK and in the Arctic Circle – but performance levels are expected to be prodigious given its range-topping position in the Polestar line-up. However, Swift disclosed that there’s some “interesting IP [intellectual property]” in the battery technology.
Polestar engineers have managed to maintain the look of the Precept concept car through to production.
Allen said they look “pretty much identical”, adding: “We use our ability to deliver cars as close as we possibly can to [Polestar CEO and designer] Thomas Ingenlath’s designs inside and out.”
To that end, the large panoramic roof remains, as do the long wheelbase and low roof height.
“It’s an extremely low car [for an electric car],” said Allen. “Not as low as an internal- combustion-engine car but close, and they don’t have batteries underneath. That has been a particular challenge.”
Much of the engineering work on the 5 is being done with future Polestar products in mind.
There’s “a lot of scalability” in the new platform, said Swift. “You start with a car first, then look at the products in other spaces, then how many of those spaces we can play in while designing it once. It’s part of the future, definitely.”
*Mark Tisshaw*