Polestar 3 Long range Dual motor review

Driving position

Sitting in the Polestar 3, it’s clear you’re in a family SUV, but it does a really good job of hiding just how big it is.

Consider it a rival to the BMW iX and Audi Q8 e-tron, and you start to understand where it sits in the market, but when we spent a week with the Polestar 3, it felt no bigger to drive than the smaller Tesla Model Y.

All models have electrically adjustable seats with plenty of customisation, and being a relative of Volvo, you can be sure that the Polestar’s seats are incredibly comfy and tailored in all the right places.

Standard cars come with animal welfare-certified wool upholstery, but our test car had the upgraded seats which are only available with the Pilot and Plus packs, but they’re probably the first options we’d recommend.

Besides premium Nappa leather, you get the full works – heated, cooled and massaging front seats with additional headrest speakers, heated rear seats and even a heated steering wheel.

Tech and features

All models come with a huge 14.5-inch portrait-oriented touchscreen in the centre, and that’s where almost all of the controls are found. It’s also the feature we got the most comments about when people stepped inside the car.

It runs Android Automotive OS, so it’s as easy to navigate as your smartphone and has plenty of built-in Google features. Some of these, including Google Maps, are integrated with the nine-inch digital driver’s display behind the wheel.

On that note, we loved how the display is fitted to the steering column so that moving the wheel to your desired position doesn’t obscure the cluster at all.

Like its equally high-tech electric rival, the Tesla, adjusting the steering column and wing mirrors is done via the touchscreen. It’s a bit fiddly, but because you’re only likely to do it once or twice, we can forgive Polestar for wanting to create the ultimate minimalist interior.

Unfortunately, like some Volkswagen models, Polestar only fitted two window controls to the driver’s door and a switch to toggle between front and rear, making opening the rear windows a two-step affair. We’re not a fan and would much prefer four separate switches.

What we did love was being able to use the app-based digital key, which works with Apple and Google ‘wallets’ to lock and unlock the car hands-free without needing the actual key.

The list of standard features continues, but to summarise, all models get three-zone climate control, a heat pump to help with efficiency, nine exterior cameras, active high beam headlights and a UV-protected panoramic sunroof.

Our test car also had the Plus pack, which includes the upgraded 25-speaker, 1,610-Watt Bowers & Wilkins sound system, active road noise cancellation, Dolby Atmos 3D surround sound and soft-close doors. It also had the Pilot pack with some semi-autonomous driving aids, including automatic lane change assist.

Electric motors and power

Performance for the Polestar 3 Long range Dual motor is perfect – in a world where electric cars are already nippy, this model stands out for being just that little bit quicker.

The two motors produce 483hp and 840Nm of torque through all four wheels for a 0-60mph time of 4.8 seconds. There’s not a lot of need to upgrade to the Performance pack, which has 517hp and 910Nm, because it only saves 0.3 seconds.

The biggest difference is between the Dual motor and Single motor variants. The least powerful still produces 295hp and 490Nm, with a single motor driving the rear wheels – its 0-60mph time of 7.5 seconds is noticeably slower (but still respectable).

Handling and ride comfort

The Long range Dual motor model is the one to go for. You get dual-chamber air suspension that opens up three different ride height/firmness settings for you (plus a fourth raised option for off-roading at up to 20mph).

It’s best left to its own devices, where it adjusts 500 times a second and even lowers at speed to reduce drag (and boost efficiency).

The soft ride combined with the Plus pack’s active road noise cancellation made for a magic carpet-like experience on our long motorway drive from Cardiff to Coventry, but where this car really stands out is softening the ride over poorly surfaced town roads.

Boot space

Polestar gives two different measurements for the 3’s boot space – 484 litres up to the parcel shelf or 597 litres up to the roof lining. That’s about on par with the Audi Q8 e-tron (569 litres) and BMW iX (500 litres).

There’s also a 32-litre froot (front boot). It might not be as big as some rivals, such as the Model Y, but it’s enough to keep your chargers out of sight yet easily accessible.

Rear seats

Reat seat space is exceptional thanks to the Polestar 3 sitting on a dedicated electric vehicle (EV) platform. It’s packaged very well, and the floor is pretty flat, which helps when you have three adults in the back.

You’ll probably only ever have one or two in the back, and they’ll love folding down the plush, wide armrest from the middle seat. Even the pop-out cupholders have a high-quality finish to them.

Thankfully, the standard-fit panoramic sunroof doesn’t hurt headroom, so even adults will be comfortable back there.

Storage solutions

Interior storage includes a bin beneath the centre console armrest, which is best for smaller items due to its square opening, but it’s actually surprisingly deep.

The glovebox is pretty average, but the front door bins are spacious enough for a lot of odds and ends.

There’s more storage under the floating central armrest, which has two cupholders beneath a sliding panel.

Towing

Single motor models can tow up to 1,500kg, with Dual motor versions capable of towing 2,200kg.

Unfortunately, we didn’t get to test the Polestar 3’s towing capabilities because we didn't have the electric tow bar fitted – it’s a £1,200 factory option.

Safety

Polestar is a relative of Volvo (it was once the Swedish brand’s performance subdivision), so it should come as no surprise that it has outstanding safety credentials.

The car itself hasn’t been officially tested, but the Polestar 2 (which is a much older vehicle with an older design and architecture) scored extremely well in each of the four categories.

Standard equipment includes blind spot monitoring with steer assist, a torque vectoring system for corner traction control and the usual array of beeps and bongs, including the speed limit assist (which can be turned off pretty easily from the touchscreen).

Range

All versions of the Polestar 3 have the same 111kWh battery (107kWh of which is usable – the rest is reserved for crucial electronic components).

It gives you a theoretical range of 392 miles in the Long range Dual motor model (438 miles for Single motor and 352 miles for Performance versions).

250kW rapid charging is supported, so a 10-80% charge takes as little as 30 minutes with a compatible charger despite the huge battery size.

It’s also fitted with 11kW AC charging, but because most houses are limited to 7kW, it’ll take just under 16 hours for an empty-to-full charge.

Admittedly, we were using the Polestar 3 in the worst possible conditions – single-digit temperatures and fast motorway driving – so any EV would see a pretty sizeable drop in real-world range. Still, the 270-mile range we were getting was slightly disappointing compared with the official figure.

The reality is that not many people will need to do 270 miles in one sitting anyway, and this is right on the upper end of current possibilities, so it’s not too much of a grumble.

Reliability

The Polestar 3 is too new to assess its reliability. It’s built on the same platform as the Volvo EX90 and ES90 models, which are even newer, so there’s not an awful lot of data available.

On the whole, Polestar builds high-quality cars that are manufactured very well, and its software is generally much more capable than other mainstream rivals in the age of so-called ‘software-defined vehicles’ – cars that run on advanced computers for all manner of controls and sensors.

A lot of the software can generally be fixed remotely or over-the-air (OTA), which improved the accessibility and affordability of repairs, and being an electric car, there aren’t many moving parts in the drivetrain to go wrong in the first place.

Insurance groups

The Polestar 3 is in insurance group 50, regardless of trim or motor. It might be the highest option, but there are plenty of other factors that determine the annual cost you’ll pay.

Plus, remember the other cost savings you could make with a Polestar 3 – a full charge for anywhere up to 400 miles could cost as little as £8 on a cheap off-peak rate (7p/kWh).