[PeterL]

Sorry to revive this thread after a few months. The Mach Es are shipping at the moment, so I'm wondering. Does anybody here have experience with both cars? How's the range of the Polestar vs. the standard and extended battery versions?

How do you feel about split-screen Android Auto (MME) vs Android Automotive (Polestar)? How about the sound of B&O (MME) vs Harman Kardon (Polestar)? Drive? Seats? I can go see the MME end of this month when it's in town on a road trip but I don't think I'll be able to drive one. Hearing good things about it, though.

 

[PeterL]

Wow, great response. The Mach E forum isn't so talktativ-ehrm-helpful! I'm asking the view on both sides. So far, the main point against the Polestar they mentioned was range. So I did a simulation on ABRP with more realistic ranges (based on ev-database). There are two extremes. On the one hand, the MME ER and the VW ID.3 Pro S 77kWh are very similar. On a 1300km trip, they're about 10 minutes apart. The Mustang drives faster in Germany but needs more time to charge The other side has the MME SR and the Kia. While the Kia has a longer range, it charges much more slowly so you're stuck on the side of the road a lot. The MME SR needs 2 more charging stops. It needs 7, all the other just 5. They are both about 1h30min slower. Bang in the middle comes the Polestar, at about half an hour slower than the faster cars, so 1 hour faster than the slow ones. So in (simulated) practice, it's not an issue except with the Kia and the standard range Mustang.

As for the sound, I'm rather an audiophile and I listen to classical a lot. So the Harman Kardo, being a very good consumer grade system, sounded boomy. I fixed that quickly with the equalizer, which works great, but just to show. High hopes for the B&O here.

As for the rest, well, I really liked the overall design of the Polestar during a test drive. There was much thought out into making things work in a simple and elegant way. Ford will have to do some work here to convince me. The Polestar trunk was fine for me, bigger isn't necessary. And the seats... my back is not the best and a bit picky. @GDank what do you mean with 'cushion exertions'? Looking forward to getting some tips and testing it out in the showroom again. It's one problem I’d like to see sorted out by fine tuning the settings of the seat, not by having to switch car.

 

[PeterL]

Very impressive indeed... skipping to the remarks:

RWD - SR - Solid Roof
RWD - LR - Panorama Roof
AWD - SR - Solid Roof
AWD - LR - Panorama Roof
Polestar - Panorama Roof

But the panorama roof of the Mustang is a paying option in the tech pack 2, no?

SR - Manually Folding Mirrors
LR - All other models Power-Foldable Door Mirrors
Polestar - Power-Foldable Door Mirrors

The Polestar's mirrors are also without a border. Takes some getting used to and I had the impression they caught more rain this way?

SR - Some unspecified speakers.
LR - B&O 10-SPEAKER AUDIO SYSTEM
Polestar 2 : Harman Kardon premium sound - I think it's 12 Speakers but could be mistaken.

They can put in a thousand speakers but if they all suck, the sound will suck The HK in the Polestar comes with a subwoofer (so it says in the audio settings).

SR - Rear Camera only.
LR - 360deg Camera
Polestar 2 : 360deg Camera

What would the quality of the Mustang 360 be? I have only a BMW 4 of a colleague to compare to, but it seemed to lose the surroundings into blur a lot less than the Polestar one.

LR gets these over the SR for £6k:
+20kWh Battery, Glass Roof, Powered Mirrors, 8 Way Power Seats, B&O Speakers, 360deg Camera, Hands Free Tailgate, & Park Assist.

Good to see this summary. Initially, I thought it was only a bigger battery and wondered where the €9K pricetag from that came from. So there's a bunch of options, too... VW asks very little for the 58kWh to 77kWh upgrade: around €3K.

In the configurator on the Ford.be website (Belgium, here), the difference between an AWD SR and AWD ER is €9K just like for the RWD version. Base prices RWD SR €48K, ER €56K, AWD SR €55K and ER €64425 to be precise!

Honestly I'd recommend the RWD-SR model to anyone ... £10k less than the Polestar 2 for similar range but slightly less features & toys.

This competes directly with the Kia e-Niro / Hyundai Kona which many people love, but it's bigger and while the spec is probably a bit less, that large screen and cool factor I'd say makes up for it - although personal choice.

The RWD-LR seems to want to compete with the Model 3 LR, future Y, and the Polestar.

I mostly agree, but my estimate of the range of the SR is not as good as yours. The Polestar seems to be closer to the ER than to the SR. I think the RWD ER is the sweet spot. After adding Tech Pack 2, which adds the pano roof, and a colour, price is extremely close to the Polestar. You win some range, lose AWD, and the style is very different. BTW, all prices I mention are without grants, incl.VAT. So very close cars, indeed!

 

[PeterL]

1. No idea on your countries spec options. In the UK you cannot spec anything that what comes as standard. The LR Models do come with the "TECHNOLOGY PACK +" .... where the SR comes with no pack. Hence the differences.

Here's the description of the Tech Pack, which seems to upgrade the SR with the options that are already present in the LR:

• 10 B&O speakers; Hands-free boot lid; Pre-Collision Assist, incl. Intersection assistance, with pedestrian and cyclist detection: warning and distance indication and active emergency braking assistance, including Evasive Steering Assist; Adaptive Cruise Control with Stop & Go, Traffic Jam Assist, Lane Centering Assist and Highway Assist (if permitted by law); Traffic Sign Recognition (recognizes and displays traffic signs); Active Park Assist 2: automatic parking assistance system; 360 ° camera system

And the Tech Pack +:

• (idem) + Sensico in "Black" with micro-perforations and gray stitching Electrically folding exterior mirrors Front seats 8-way electrically adjustable (front / rear, height, back, seat), with memory function; Electrically operated lumbar support on front seats; Fixed panoramic roof

2. I drove in the rain and snow, both times fine. Never had a problem with the frameless parts.

I noticed it was getting pretty hard to see while I was in a reasonable rain cruising between 100-120km/h.

fAssuming 10% loss in the wet, that's Spring/Autumn Range of 245miles in the dry. Wow that's a lot less than my generous guessing. I'll need to update the estimates.

Motorway Ranges - Summer / Winter Miles
Polestar 2 : 300 Claimed - 240ish (untested) / 200 (tested) (by me)
RWD - SR : 273 Claimed - I suspect more like 250ish / 210ish 210 / 150
RWD - LR/ER : 379 Claimed - I suspect more like 320ish / 270ish 280 / 220
AWD - SR : 248 Claimed - I suspect more like 230ish / 200ish 180 / 150
AWD - LR/ER : 335 Claimed - I suspect more like 280ish / 250ish 250 / 200

Therefore I'll say now ... the RWD with the Extended Battery is the best buy.

With these new figures, the Polestar seems to be closer to the ER RWD than to the SR. Which is my very scientific crystal ball estimate based on reading up. But EPA seems to disagree (SR 370km, PS2 375km, ER 483km). WLTP idem. But ev-database, with their own crystal ball, does agree (SR 345km, PS2 395km, ER 440km).

As for range, the most important for me is to be able to visit family without having to charge there. Round-trip for the one living furthest away is maybe 220km highway, so that seems to be OK with all these cars, even in winter.j

I don't do many car holidays at present. My wife's never done them as a child so the car is not her first idea when planning a holiday. I'm planning to change that and a comfortable car will be more important than sheer range. So for the moment, I'm fine with the range estimates.

I have a Kia test drive tomorrow & VW on Friday. Then a second Polestar drive later this month, probably 29th, followed by a Mustang visit (sans drive, most likely) on 30th. Then I'll decide. First time I am buying a car for myself since 1997, so pretty excited 😁

 

[PeterL]

When I asked the same comparison question on the Mach E forum, some were a bit cynical about the Polestar problems. I'm not surprised Ford is facing delays themselves. The Mercedes EQA has been delayed... twice by now? ID.3 was later, too, IIRC. I'm actually a bit surprised because I know for a fact Ford had a prototype number of cars that could trail each other automatically on an airfield befor 2000. So I'm guessing it's integrating this tech into production and scaling up things like connectivity is the problem.

 

[PeterL]

I'm interested in learning more about it; any articles or videos you can suggest?

It's preheating the battery to make it charge faster. On my test drive today, the sales representative advised me to do a couple of quick accelerations and brakes to engage regen before going to charge. I told him that was not a good idea, because I’d have to charge during holiday and the wifey and kids would most likely not approve... That's why the car should do it, not the driver.