Polestar Polestar 3 SUV (2022 - ) Electric review

Starting at around £75,000 the Polestar 3 is a jump up in price from the Polestar 2 but you get a lot for your money. Underneath the Polestar 3 shares its groundwork with Volvo’s EX90 which starts at over £20,000 more making the Polestar look great value for money, all things relative. If you are considering the Polestar 3, you’ll likely also be looking at the BMW iX, Audi Q8 e-tron or the more expensive Mercedes-Benz EQE SUV against which the Polestar can easily hold its own. You’ll be able to keep costs down if you can top-up at home and company car drivers will also benefit from the Benefit In Kind advantages for running a zero tailpipe emission vehicle.

As this is an all-new model it’s too early to make a judgement on reliability, but sharing parts with Volvo should help give confidence. So far as a brand Polestar has established a reasonably good reputation from customers, winning Most Loved Car at our New Car Awards in 2022 for the Polestar 2. We were driving pre-production cars, and the software was still due a final tune before going on sale, so we did experience a few glitches. However, there’ll be more work done before customer deliveries take place and the Polestar 3 will then receive regular over-the-air updates. Each car comes with three years of scheduled maintenance and roadside assistance included and will be covered by a three-year or 60,000-mile general warranty with eight years of cover for the battery.

The Polestar 3 inherits many of its safety features straight from Volvo, so it’s packed with the latest tech to keep you protected. Using an array of cameras and radar the Polestar 3 continually gathers information about the external surroundings of the car to avoid any accidents. It monitors what’s going on inside the car too, checking the driver is alert and ensuring children aren’t accidentally locked in. Like the Tesla Model 3 the Polestar will also allow you to keep the climate control on if you need to leave pets in the car. The Polestar 3 comes with blind spot monitoring, adaptive cruise control, emergency automatic braking, lane keeping assistance and cross traffic alerting will stop the car from reversing into obstacles. Should the worse happen the Polestar 3 is built out of ultra-high strength steel and has nine airbags. Additionally, you can opt for a three-dimensional liDar system which maps out objects up to 250 metres away. This is particularly helpful in the dark or when visibility is reduced. Adding the Pilot Assist function will allow the car to steer for you and there’s a Park Assist Pilot option allowing the Polestar 3 to park itself.

The Polestar 3 has been designed to maximise comfort and space for five occupants, so unlike the Volvo EX90 it will not be available as a seven-seater. While the boot remains large, Polestar has borrowed a bit of space to increase rear legroom. The vibe is minimalist, Scandi chic and there’s a range of different textiles and materials to choose from, each with their own sustainable credentials. Whether you go for soft, environmentally conscious Bridge of Weir leather, animal welfare-certified wool, or recycled polyester upholstery, the Polestar 3 has a premium feel. While on the outside Polestar has tried to disguise the sheer size of the 3, inside you’ll be in no doubt this is a big car. Active air suspension automatically helps smooth out the road surface, and you can choose to prioritise performance or comfort.

Just like Tesla, Polestar really wants you to think of it as a tech brand and this is at the forefront of the Polestar 3’s design. A ‘SmartZone’ replaces the traditional front grille advertising the front sensors proudly on the outside, while the interior is dominated by a large infotainment screen in the centre of the car. This Google powered system will look very familiar to Android users, but wireless CarPlay is also available for those who prefer an Apple interface. All controls for the car are via this screen, including the climate controls making them more challenging to change on the move, but there is a “Hey Google” voice assistant to help. While navigating through various menus and submenus for driver and car setting can be fiddly, owners will be able to save their seating, steering wheel, and mirror positions in a profile so they’ll only need to do this once. We did like the way Polestar has added moving graphics within the setting menu to show what each feature controls. Additionally, the driver gets a nine-inch display behind the steering wheel, so unlike the Volvo EX30 you have information in your line of sight. Opting for the optional Plus Pack adds a head-up display to project navigation and speed warnings onto the windscreen too. This Pack gives you extras such as a crystal-clear Bowers & Wilkins sounds system, heated rear seats, steering wheel and wiper blades and soft-close doors to add to the plush feel of the car. Regardless of the packs you choose, all Polestar 3s will come with a heat pump as standard to help maximise range when it gets cold.

We drove the Long Range Dual Motor Polestar 3 with the Performance Pack giving us more power than the standard version. Acceleration was effortless and smooth, hiding the weight of the car well as it glided round corners, adjusting the power delivered to each wheel as we went. The Polestar 3 is still no featherweight, but it does feel more dynamic than many other large SUVs. It stays planted to the road without leaning around bends. Depending on your preference you can customise the weight of the steering to maximise the sporty feel or making it lighter around town. There’s also the option of one-pedal driving bringing the car to a stop when you take your foot off the accelerator. While the WLTP was 349 miles, we think you’re more likely to achieve 260 to 290 miles with the Performance pack and slightly more with the standard model, so if range is your priority it’s worth waiting for the Single Motor version coming soon. We haven’t driven it yet but in our experience the single motor variants are often the best balance of power and range, so we look forward to trying it out when it arrives.