[Wolf]

Don’t even get in it, as it will lower the value by the same amount.

 

[Dark-Fx]

Just got an e-mail today about it. Not sure if I want to take it or not. Leaning towards no, since it's kind of impractical to have in my area.

Hello Brian,

This is Elleighs from Polestar HQ. I'm reaching out to inform that you have been selected from our waitlist to seize the opportunity to own an expertly tuned, limited-edition, hand-finished Polestar 2 BST edition 270.

Production of this vehicle is extremely limited, and there are very few Polestar 2 BST's available. Please contact me as soon as possible if you intend to purchase.

 

[Wolf]

Just got an e-mail today about it. Not sure if I want to take it or not. Leaning towards no, since it's kind of impractical to have in my area.

Sounds like you’re making a wise decision.

 

[Dark-Fx]

Sounds like you’re making a wise decision.

Yeah I passed. I don't want to give up the ventilated seats.

 

[Wolf]

Yeah I passed. I don't want to give up the ventilated seats.

Yeah, I was surprised it wasn’t an option. But at least it comes with the darker colored seats.

I touched a sample of the Napa Leather in grey, it was super soft. Would have been a great addition.

 

[Dark-Fx]

Yeah, I was surprised it wasn’t an option. But at least it comes with the darker colored seats.

I touched a sample of the Napa Leather in grey, it was super soft. Would have been a great addition.

Apparently all of the cars are configured and presumably built already, so one would only be able to choose from what was left that orders fell through for. The 4.8" ground clearance seemed pretty risky with all of the dead animals we end up having on the roads around here.

 

[LBJeff]

I was at Cars & Coffee in San Clemente, CA this morning and got to see this BST in the metal and sit in her. Dimitri, who is the GM of the South Coast Space, gave me a heads up that the car would be there, so I made the drive down. Car had been delivered the night before to Anthony, who works for Polestar corporate. He said he would only have the car for less than 24 hours, as immediately following the event it was heading out to get the matte racing stripe installed and then off for a press tour. Auto journalists will be driving this exact vehicle and we should start seeing more articles on the BST in the next 3-4 weeks. I'm looking forward to that, as there has been a lack of new information for the past three months.
I had a chance to speak at length with Dimitri and Anthony about the BST and will be happy to share tomorrow. Wife needs me to walk the dog and get ready for dinner. More to follow...

To follow-up on the conversations I had with Dimitri and Anthony at this past weekend's Cars & Coffee event where they were showing off the BST, Dimitri had some good intel, which is not surprising, as he's the General Manager of the South Coast Space. He shared that the BSTs for the west coast were likely already sitting at Port Hueneme, so they may hit customer hands a bit earlier than anticipated. There's a chance we may see deliveries starting as early as late November, but nothing has been confirmed yet. Dimitri has a Battleship Grey with no stripe on order, so he's part of the club and an enthusiast.

Dimitri was nice enough to introduce me to Anthony, who was the gentleman from Polestar corporate who had the BST on a short 24 hour loan. Anthony daily drives a P2 Performance, so he had some great initial feedback on how the BST differed in his brief time with the car. I think everyone knows this car was tuned for handling, so the assumption is it will handle like an unforgiving racecar that is only comfortable on a perfectly smooth track. To my surprise, Anthony gushed over how compliant and comfortable the BST is compared to the regular P2 Performance. He said the new suspension set-up feels extremely solid but less harsh than the P2P. The steering is more direct in its normal mode, and feels like a P2P in Sport (hopefully, minus the weightiness). The car corners flatter in the default relaxed suspension settings, and would likely have zero body lean if dialed down low, which would probably only be appropriate for track use. Maybe others know this already, but I learned that you use the Ohlins dampers under the hood to adjust the front suspension (no need to adjust in the front wheel wells), but rear suspension adjustments remain in the wheel well. This will make it easier to adjust the front end quickly, but rear suspension will still be a chore. I guess your Space will do two complimentary adjustments on the customers' behalf, so that was a tidbit I also learned.

As for power, Anthony mentioned that the BST and 2023 Performance models pull much harder through the entire range than pre-2023 Performance models. The older Performance cars are peppy up to 70 mph but then power starts to taper off, but he noted that the BST pulls hard all the way to the top speed limiter. It sounds like the BST and new P2P will be faster off the line, but they are considerably faster when already at speed, so they will have far more usable power and acceleration.

In visually comparing the BST and P2P that were parked next to each other, I didn't perceive much difference in ride height or width (the BST looked marginally lower). The body color trim pieces were the most noticeable difference, as well as the 21" black wheels, which look quite sharp.

Anthony mentioned the exclusivity aspect of ownership, which he feels confident will help with retaining value. He believes that 6 or 7 of the 47 allocated BST units for North America will be going to celebrity and high net worth Polestar investors, so about 40 will make it to regular folks like us. These will certainly be rare birds out in the wild.

I'm definitely excited to see some forthcoming auto reviews. If the review car is Snow with matte stripe, you saw it here in the thread first.

 

[ttocsffej]

I received an email from Ellieghs Jones today offering me a BST 270! I can only surmise that they have had a lot of people back out because I am surprised to be offered a car this late. I know some people on this board have mentioned that the BST 270 can only be purchased, but as a current lessee, Ellieghs confirmed to me that I can lease the BST 270. I think I may accept the offer, but not crazy about no leather/ventilated seats. A lot depends upon the colors available. Biggest issue will be disposal of my current lease, which does not sound promising from what I've read here...

 

[Hellraiza]

I received an email from Ellieghs Jones today offering me a BST 270! I can only surmise that they have had a lot of people back out because I am surprised to be offered a car this late. I know some people on this board have mentioned that the BST 270 can only be purchased, but as a current lessee, Ellieghs confirmed to me that I can lease the BST 270. I think I may accept the offer, but not crazy about no leather/ventilated seats. A lot depends upon the colors available. Biggest issue will be disposal of my current lease, which does not sound promising from what I've read here...

That is very interesting, until now they've been very particular about this being a purchase-only vehicle. A lease option may have helped keep some people on board originally.

If you have a '22, you'll definitely be upside down on your current lease. I'd call Polestar Financial so they can get you exact numbers on dealer payoff and lease termination.

 

[natman316]

Did not see a lease option on the Polestar portal...should probably check with the Space again though. I would lease if available just because of sales tax advantages in CA. Another option is 3rd party leasing, works for exotics but not sure if BST Polestar is "exotic" lol

 

[ttocsffej]

That is very interesting, until now they've been very particular about this being a purchase-only vehicle. A lease option may have helped keep some people on board originally.

If you have a '22, you'll definitely be upside down on your current lease. I'd call Polestar Financial so they can get you exact numbers on dealer payoff and lease termination.

Guaranteed at least $8-$10K upside down. I specifically asked about leasing. Perhaps they're doing so because they are finding it difficult to offload these. One wouldn't think it would take so long to get rid of 47 cars??

 

[ttocsffej]

Did not see a lease option on the Polestar portal...should probably check with the Space again though. I would lease if available just because of sales tax advantages in CA. Another option is 3rd party leasing, works for exotics but not sure if BST Polestar is "exotic" lol

I wouldn't go to the trouble of third-party leasing. My residual was so high on my current lease that buyout is as dumb as being upside down by $10K....

 

[Wolf]

Guaranteed at least $8-$10K upside down. I specifically asked about leasing. Perhaps they're doing so because they are finding it difficult to offload these. One wouldn't think it would take so long to get rid of 47 cars??

It’s an enthusiast’s car. Not many are willing to put an extra $20k into a car that looks/is similar to one that costs much less, but an enthusiast will.

My thinking is that a lot of folks jumped at the opportunity of reserving a better iteration of an already cool car when given the opportunity, even though they may have been on the fence about it, because why not. Now that it’s come time to be serious about it, they have the chance to fully evaluate and change their minds, which is totally fine and reasonable.

 

[ttocsffej]

I politely declined today. It’s not the price for me—I actually think the extra bits are worth it — rather, I’m not going to burn $10k just to get out of the lease on a perfectly nice ‘22 PP with leather and 8500 miles…

They need to target NEW buyers (or owners looking for a second one) because most current lessees or owners are not willing to take a bath on the deal (which they would). The offer is just not set up for the average owner of the current car, and I’m not sure how much it appeals to someone not already very familiar with the car. If it was reasonable to get out of a lease or resale values were better, I think they’d already be gone.

BTW, I was offered one in “Snow”, which I don’t really care for. I also think these should have had leather as standard or at least available…I don’t like the weave tech. Still, I would probably have taken it if it wasn’t for the huge negative equity issue. So, there is still one out there for someone. 😊

 

[LBJeff]

I received an email from Ellieghs Jones today offering me a BST 270! I can only surmise that they have had a lot of people back out because I am surprised to be offered a car this late. I know some people on this board have mentioned that the BST 270 can only be purchased, but as a current lessee, Ellieghs confirmed to me that I can lease the BST 270. I think I may accept the offer, but not crazy about no leather/ventilated seats. A lot depends upon the colors available. Biggest issue will be disposal of my current lease, which does not sound promising from what I've read here...

It's strange that the Napa leather seats aren't included or available on the BST. Due to the high cost, I'm not sure there has been a huge uptake on the leather seats, which makes those vehicles equipped as such rather rare. If this is a fully loaded special edition, the inclusion (or availability) of Napa leather would further bolster the exclusivity of the model. Strange decision to exclude it. It couldn't have added that much complexity to the manufacturing process - there are only two factory options (Snow or Thunder paint) C'est la vie.

 

[natman316]

What if I swapped the leather from my lease into the BST and returned the lease with Weavetech seats 😂

 

[ttocsffej]

It's strange that the Napa leather seats aren't included or available on the BST. Due to the high cost, I'm not sure there has been a huge uptake on the leather seats, which makes those vehicles equipped as such rather rare. If this is a fully loaded special edition, the inclusion (or availability) of Napa leather would further bolster the exclusivity of the model. Strange decision to exclude it. It couldn't have added that much complexity to the manufacturing process - there are only two factory options (Snow or Thunder paint) C'est la vie.

Might depend upon the market. In the US, most cars in the $45k+ range come with leather and most certainly those in the $60k+ price point. Austin space had a LOT of cars with leather, and told me the ordered ones (not from stock) were mostly with leather interiors. Mine had been a special order car that buyer backed out of and was in dealer stock as a result.

 

[Hellraiza]

My main reason for not getting leather on my '22 was the contrast it had with the yellow seat belts. I hated it when I saw it.

The '23 with black leather and ventilated seats would have been a no-brainer.

 

[ttocsffej]

Unfortunately no black leather in any year. ‘23 is light grey only. In any case I love the look although I’d have been fine with black seatbelts too. Black leather would make the cabin very dark and claustrophobic IMHO.

 

[Hellraiza]

Unfortunately no black leather in any year. ‘23 is light grey only. In any case I love the look although I’d have been fine with black seatbelts too. Black leather would make the cabin very dark and claustrophobic IMHO.

My bad, dont know why I thought I saw a Charcoal leather option at some point. Grey / yellow would be similar to the WeaveTech I have now, so it would still be better to me than the tan / yellow combination lol.

Also, my delivery date seems to have gotten pushed to end of December, it was supposed to be this week from what the Space have told me. Boo.