Our car is still off the road while we wait for a back-ordered drive shaft (the result of a brief conversation I had with a lamppost). We had trips planned over Christmas and New Year to see Richard’s family in Margate and for a holiday in Buckinghamshire, so we decided to hire a car. I deliberately chose an EV because that is what feels familiar to us now.

On Christmas Eve morning, we turned up at our local Hertz and were handed the keys to a Polestar 2. It’s a big car, and certainly a lot larger than we’re used to. One feature I really liked was the aerial view for parking. It felt pretty essential in a car of that size.

The integrated Google Maps display was another highlight. I haven’t actually used Google Maps for driving before, as I usually rely on the in-built TomTom navigation system, or sometimes Waze or Apple Maps. It was helpful to see the expected battery percentage as part of the route, and it offered eco-friendly routes as standard. I think I’ll be giving Google Maps a go in our car when we eventually get it back to see how we get on.

One thing that did bother me was the gear lever. I’ve been told it’s quite common in these cars, but I found it counter-intuitive. To reverse I had to move the lever forward, and to drive I had to pull it back. I had to stop and think about it every single time. In our Fiat, we just have buttons to press.

It was an interesting chance to live with a different car for a while. The extra storage was incredibly useful over the holidays because the boot space was enormous. While I would obviously rather have my own car back, I’m glad we treated the hire as a bit of a learning opportunity.