[Fishouttawater]

It's been quite the long and winding road ordering my first EV in 2020 and it finally culminated today with getting the keys to my very own Midnight PP Polestar 2. You know it's an adventure with ups and downs when that first EV ordered was a 2020 IPace back in the spring!

I submitted the order to LeasePlan, played the waiting game and eventually was told they couldn't fill it because they were about to announce the 2021 model, which they did, and while it has a new infotainment system, they pulled features from the SE model and generally made it even more expensive. So I went looking for options, and that's when the Polestar 2 showed up as the car of the week on the Leaseplan site. An invalidated quote later, months of delays while Leaseplan failed and failed again to get the car re-added properly in a condition where the car could actually be ordered and finally on August 17th the order was placed. It was approved by my company car scheme and confirmed by Polestar on August 20th. ....and then nothing....and then estimated delivery of October...and then suddenly little more than a week ago, the email and selection of Sept 30th as my delivery date.

Two days ago an email saying my delivery was confirmed for 2pm today....and then nothing. 2pm came and went. Sat by the window watching the minutes tick by, after an hour I did an online chat with customer services. They were very apologetic but the afternoon slot is 2pm to 6pm and they call an hour before they arrive. The email sent should REALLY have said that. Anyway, just before 4pm, Mike rang to say he was on his way but would be just after 5pm.

After seeing everyone getting their cars offloaded from a flatbed truck...this pulled up just after 5pm

Excited that it's actually arrived, I go out and meet Mike. Seems a good guy. Turns out he's been told this is dropping off a demo car, I assume a multi-day test drive. I assure him this is definitely my car, ordered through leaseplan and someone will be prying the keys from my cold dead fingers. Poor guy, seemed to know enough about the car but not sure he'd done an actual owned car handover before, didn't have the app to go through the signing process and all that. Took a picture of my drivers license and headed down the road...on foot.

Long story short, we gave him a lift to the nearest town with a train station as trying to get a taxi without pre-booking in our little village wasn't a great position to be in.

Car drives, handles and feels just like I remember the test drive, which is to say amazing. Unfortunately it only had 62% charge (side effect of the demo car mix-up) and because the notification of car delivery happened so fast, the electrician didn't have availability to install the commando socket for my Ohme cable until October 16th so I'm three pin granny cable charging it for the next few weeks.

Initial observations:

• Not sure I'd recommend the full Pilot assist on winding country roads, think I'll save that for motorway driving, it just didn't instil confidence during the initial trial run.
• Trying to work out how to enable the Auto wipers when it's already raining is a nightmare, even though I had read a thread about it a week or two ago. The 'button' on the stalk just does not look like a button at all.
• Some of the Android Automotive interface stuff isn't very obvious. Hunting down the settings menu, finding the Parking menu even after seeing Bjorn use it for doing pre-conditioning, etc. Not that hard to remember once you work it out, just not what I would call intuitive at first.
• While turning radius is good, coming from a smaller car, it still takes some getting used to
• Had no issues connecting the car to my Orbi guest network even though there isn't a way to specify only 2.4ghz on the guest network, but it couldn't see the main non-guest wifi at all
• Adding Google account if already using Android based phones is a breeze
• Rain + New car lead foot = a thirsty thirsty car

• Because of the above and my granny charger situation, I stopped at a 50kw Instavolt charger at a shell station. Despite having to pay a little over £7 for 21.2kw, it couldn't have been easier for a first charge. Contactless tap, plug the cable in and away it went.
• The headlights are really great, but like I shared in the Matrix headlight thread, they had problems with the reflective back of an Ambulance in front of me, causing them to appear to be flashing and so they pulled over in a lay-by thinking I needed help. I was slow to realise what was happening and with cars behind me, not in a position to stop and explain the mix up, so if you find yourself in a similar situation I'd turn the auto lights off!
• I didn't get flashed at first by anyone, but once on more hilly roads, cars meeting you as they come over a hill sometimes think your brights are on. I don't think you can flash the brights when in auto which is sort of annoying as it would be nice to be able to correct those who think you have full blown brights on.
• Seems to have come with updated software installed

• No scratched piano black so far
• No jack, haven't confirmed the first aid kit yet
• Rear tyre pressure was set to 41, can't check the front because my 12v tyre pump with gauge doesn't have a long enough cable to run from the boot!
• Speaking of 12v socket, it seems to be sitting around 13.3 volts
• Granny cable works but seems to sit around 10 amps even though I've raised the limit to 14 (in the hopes of maxing out all 13amps
• Still need to check glove box, manual, plugsurfing card and any play in the rear windows
• Sound system is great, though I find the highs a little fatiguing so will be dialing the treble down a few notches and signing the request to get Spotify to up their bitrate

Loving the car so far. Can't wait to get it out in better weather. The seat is very comfy and the arm rest, steering wheel, door sill rest and everything else seems to be right where I want them.

She's all tucked up in the drive for the night, sipping on Economy7 power

 

[I_Kent_Spelgud]

Good stuff, great night shot of the Midnight Rider!

 

[polerad]

Anyway, just before 4pm, Mike rang to say he was on his way but would be just after 5pm.

Dude Mike gets around. I thought he was NYC based?

 

[ProfessorCook]

Normal voltage in a 12 volt socket when an ice car is running is 13.8 volts. That's what charges a 12 volt battery.

 

[JMP2]

Dude Mike gets around. I thought he was NYC based?

LOL

 

[ProfessorCook]

Need more pictures! How do you like the color?

 

[dave]

Car looks cool cool coooooool!
With each pic of a delivered car I think "maybe I should've gone for that colour?" - basically there isn't a bad option as far as I can tell.
Here's hoping for a rich harvest of October deliveries for us all!

 

[skwark]

Mine arrived yesterday.... only managed 15mins in the car in between work, kids and appalling weather! But I could cut and paste that review from Fishouttawater
Handover from Russell's Transport was superb. Arrived in a covered trailer, which was appreciated.

 

[ricisbest]

Looking good, @Fishouttawater and @skwark !

No delivery date for me yet , but I had my smart meter installed yesterday, and the DNO came out to do a survey before unlooping / upgrading to 100A supply. And am doing a test drive tomorrow. So some progress to keep me happy at least.

 

[Bazza77]

It's been quite the long and winding road ordering my first EV in 2020 and it finally culminated today with getting the keys to my very own Midnight PP Polestar 2. You know it's an adventure with ups and downs when that first EV ordered was a 2020 IPace back in the spring!

I submitted the order to LeasePlan, played the waiting game and eventually was told they couldn't fill it because they were about to announce the 2021 model, which they did, and while it has a new infotainment system, they pulled features from the SE model and generally made it even more expensive. So I went looking for options, and that's when the Polestar 2 showed up as the car of the week on the Leaseplan site. An invalidated quote later, months of delays while Leaseplan failed and failed again to get the car re-added properly in a condition where the car could actually be ordered and finally on August 17th the order was placed. It was approved by my company car scheme and confirmed by Polestar on August 20th. ....and then nothing....and then estimated delivery of October...and then suddenly little more than a week ago, the email and selection of Sept 30th as my delivery date.

Two days ago an email saying my delivery was confirmed for 2pm today....and then nothing. 2pm came and went. Sat by the window watching the minutes tick by, after an hour I did an online chat with customer services. They were very apologetic but the afternoon slot is 2pm to 6pm and they call an hour before they arrive. The email sent should REALLY have said that. Anyway, just before 4pm, Mike rang to say he was on his way but would be just after 5pm.

After seeing everyone getting their cars offloaded from a flatbed truck...this pulled up just after 5pm View attachment 938

Excited that it's actually arrived, I go out and meet Mike. Seems a good guy. Turns out he's been told this is dropping off a demo car, I assume a multi-day test drive. I assure him this is definitely my car, ordered through leaseplan and someone will be prying the keys from my cold dead fingers. Poor guy, seemed to know enough about the car but not sure he'd done an actual owned car handover before, didn't have the app to go through the signing process and all that. Took a picture of my drivers license and headed down the road...on foot.

Long story short, we gave him a lift to the nearest town with a train station as trying to get a taxi without pre-booking in our little village wasn't a great position to be in.

Car drives, handles and feels just like I remember the test drive, which is to say amazing. Unfortunately it only had 62% charge (side effect of the demo car mix-up) and because the notification of car delivery happened so fast, the electrician didn't have availability to install the commando socket for my Ohme cable until October 16th so I'm three pin granny cable charging it for the next few weeks.

Initial observations:

• Not sure I'd recommend the full Pilot assist on winding country roads, think I'll save that for motorway driving, it just didn't instil confidence during the initial trial run.
• Trying to work out how to enable the Auto wipers when it's already raining is a nightmare, even though I had read a thread about it a week or two ago. The 'button' on the stalk just does not look like a button at all.
• Some of the Android Automotive interface stuff isn't very obvious. Hunting down the settings menu, finding the Parking menu even after seeing Bjorn use it for doing pre-conditioning, etc. Not that hard to remember once you work it out, just not what I would call intuitive at first.
• While turning radius is good, coming from a smaller car, it still takes some getting used to
• Had no issues connecting the car to my Orbi guest network even though there isn't a way to specify only 2.4ghz on the guest network, but it couldn't see the main non-guest wifi at all
• Adding Google account if already using Android based phones is a breeze
• Rain + New car lead foot = a thirsty thirsty car

View attachment 939

• Because of the above and my granny charger situation, I stopped at a 50kw Instavolt charger at a shell station. Despite having to pay a little over £7 for 21.2kw, it couldn't have been easier for a first charge. Contactless tap, plug the cable in and away it went.
• The headlights are really great, but like I shared in the Matrix headlight thread, they had problems with the reflective back of an Ambulance in front of me, causing them to appear to be flashing and so they pulled over in a lay-by thinking I needed help. I was slow to realise what was happening and with cars behind me, not in a position to stop and explain the mix up, so if you find yourself in a similar situation I'd turn the auto lights off!
• I didn't get flashed at first by anyone, but once on more hilly roads, cars meeting you as they come over a hill sometimes think your brights are on. I don't think you can flash the brights when in auto which is sort of annoying as it would be nice to be able to correct those who think you have full blown brights on.
• Seems to have come with updated software installed

View attachment 940

• No scratched piano black so far
• No jack, haven't confirmed the first aid kit yet
• Rear tyre pressure was set to 41, can't check the front because my 12v tyre pump with gauge doesn't have a long enough cable to run from the boot!
• Speaking of 12v socket, it seems to be sitting around 13.3 volts
• Granny cable works but seems to sit around 10 amps even though I've raised the limit to 14 (in the hopes of maxing out all 13amps
• Still need to check glove box, manual, plugsurfing card and any play in the rear windows
• Sound system is great, though I find the highs a little fatiguing so will be dialing the treble down a few notches and signing the request to get Spotify to up their bitrate

Loving the car so far. Can't wait to get it out in better weather. The seat is very comfy and the arm rest, steering wheel, door sill rest and everything else seems to be right where I want them.

She's all tucked up in the drive for the night, sipping on Economy7 power

View attachment 941

Thanks for taking the time to fill us in on your first run out. Please let us know how you go on over the weekend. Feedback regarding Instavolt chargers was extremely helpful. We need to know which charging network we can trust to work seamlessly. 11 days and counting for me!

 

[dave]

You’ve hit the big-time

 

[PCR]

I’ll check my tyre kit tomorrow... if it can’t reach the tyres.....!!!

 

[Toby]

I’ll check my tyre kit tomorrow... if it can’t reach the tyres.....!!!

Yeah I went out at lunch. I didn't need to plug it in to get tyre pressure but I'm counting in pressing the support button and making it someone's else's problem if it doesn't reach

 

[Jonno]

Looking good, @Fishouttawater and @skwark !

No delivery date for me yet , but I had my smart meter installed yesterday, and the DNO came out to do a survey before unlooping / upgrading to 100A supply. And am doing a test drive tomorrow. So some progress to keep me happy at least.

Do you know what's involved in upgrading to 100A? Do they have to dig up the old cable supply and install new cable? My house was built in 1959 with no indication on the consumer unit what the amps are.

 

[ricisbest]

@Jonno for me this will involve them digging a hole in the pavement outside next door and doing something to a junction box or cable or something that we share with our neighbours, and then replacing the supply fuse near my meter (currently labelled as 60A). The DNO (Electricity Northwest) are doing all this for free though (in 4-6 weeks apparently). Installer can’t/won’t fit my 7kW (30A) Andersen charger until it’s done! Though some other chargers I think can downgrade their power or do active load monitoring.

FWIW I am on an estate where all the houses were built in the 50s.

 

[Fishouttawater]

You’ve hit the big-time

Well I better capitalise on my 15min of fame! Since I don't have a soundcloud I'll just overshare a bunch more photos from this mornings 40+ mile cruise around local B roads.

 

[ProfessorCook]

'Love it! I sacrificed my place in the queue to change to Midnight as the color and your pictures reaffirm that decision. Beautiful!

Do you find the color seems to change in different light?

Beautiful corner of the world, btw.

I trust you find the frustration in waiting etc... was worth it in the end? At least so far?

 

[Fishouttawater]

After

'Love it! I sacrificed my place in the queue to change to Midnight as the color and your pictures reaffirm that decision. Beautiful!

Do you find the color seems to change in different light?

Beautiful corner of the world, btw.

I trust you find the frustration in waiting etc... was worth it in the end? At least so far?

Thanks, yeah, it definitely looks lighter (possibly lighter than I would prefer) in certain light and nice and darker in others but on the whole I'm very happy with the colour. In a clean room with no dirt or rain I'd probably go Void but don't think I'd be good at keeping black obsessively clean without a convenient garage to store it in.

We like this corner of the world too! We moved north away from the big city back in December to get some more space and be able to enjoy the outdoors more, couldn't have come at a better time with covid!

Yeah, from time of order until it arrived was the shortest I've had to wait for a company car lease so can't fault Polestar in my case...Leaseplan / Salaryplan need some serious investment in their web department and whatever poor sap has to input spec and upgrade info on each car model as it takes them ages and they never get it right.

Very happy with the car though. Any of the negatives, niggles whatever, are all minor and the car is beautiful, fast and a joy to drive.

More general update on the car. Bjorn mentioned two rattles in his Polar trip, one behind the steering wheel and the other overhead and behind him somewhere. I heard both today on the very rough single track roads I was on. I pressed around the steering column and that seemed to go away and the one in the back I couldn't quite pinpoint as it only did it when bouncing around.

Speaking of, as there are a fair few bumpy roads around these parts I might have a play with the dampers at the weekend. It wasn't bad, but a slightly smoother ride in that situation would be nice. Motorway and city driving were plenty comfortable.

The rear windows do move a little, but it takes a fair amount of force. I'm not worried about them. They move but unless they let water in I think it's a non-issue.

I need to get a full bootliner for our two border collies. Please shout if you find a place that does them, need it to cover up the sides as their hair sticks everywhere.

Had a play with the stereo EQ and bass up and treble down in the advanced EQ definitely helped. The change was subtle though.

34.6 on the back roads was better than I got yesterday in the heavy rain, as expected I suppose.

 

[Fishouttawater]

Oh man....the (ex 🤣 ) girlfriend just backed the car into the garage door. Miraculously there isn't a scuff, scratch or anything on the car despite it making a horrible bang and it buckling in and splintering part of the wood. Was able to knock most of it back together and the heavy iron hinges appear ok. Bit of carpentry to reinforce the inside and should be ok. Bloody miracle.

To be fair, their is a sizeable initial incline to get up and a very short distance from which you can back up once up it. I've been close to doing the same and it takes patience to give the peddle just enough push to get it up the lip but not too much.

How it didn't mark the car at all I have no idea. ...and breathe.

 

[dave]

It would be useful to learn about spare parts deliveries in the event of a bump or worse. Remember that if/when she does it again.