Polestar 3 review

Polestar currently offers all 3s with the important option boxes pre-ticked, so prices do look on the high side, but it also means the car feels pretty chockful of stuff. There’s a delightful parity across the range, too; the Rear Motor car naturally sacrifices AWD, and does without the fancy air suspension, but you’re otherwise treated to all the same goodies as Dual Motor and Performance buyers. If you don’t give two hoots about how fast you’re going or how gnarly the handling is, it’s the one to have.

The Rear Motor kicks the range off at £76,540 – or five grand less as we write, thanks to a ‘Seasonal Offer’ – which gets you 329bhp, 374 miles of range, 20in alloy wheels and all the kit you could feasibly need. We’re talking pano roof, B&W audio, a whole suite of drive assists and parking cameras, and heated everything (steering wheel, seats front and rear, and wiper blades – how very Swedish).

An £8,000 leap to the Dual Motor brings air suspension, a bigger battery (106 rather than 92kWh) and – of course – a front motor. Its peaks are 536bhp and 402 miles of range, while it charges quicker on a DC hook-up (350 versus 310kW). Want to spot one? The seatbelts gain a yellow (sorry, Swedish Gold) stripe, as does the central touchscreen control.

Another £7,500 (for a £92k total pre-discount, or £87k as we write) gets you into the Performance, which perks up both motors for a 670bhp peak and a sub-4.0-second 0-62mph sprint, both offset by a slimmer 373-mile range. The problem with Polestar’s generosity of kit is that, in most day-to-day driving, it won’t feel its £15,500 premium over a base Rear Motor. Good job there’s fully Swedish Gold seatbelts, Brembo calipers painted the same hue, and a set of attention-grabbing 22in wheels, all to aesthetically signal your additional spend. Just watch those kerbs.

Leasing deals start at around £675 per month for a Rear Motor and £725pm for a Dual Motor.

What about rivals?

They’ve multiplied in the short time between the Polestar 3’s introduction and its first big update. BMW performs a pincer movement on the 3 with its award-winning iX3 and the utterly impressive (if aesthetically less appealing) iX. Likewise Audi with its Q6 and Q8 e-trons. Lexus offers the RZ, which is a minor tech showcase (and arguably a novelty) in its yoke-steered, virtually shifted RZ550e F Sport trim. The Hyundai Ioniq 9 and Kia EV9 are both mightily impressive (and mightily sized) alternatives that sacrifice the Polestar’s sportier handling for utmost practicality, each offering a choice of six or seven seats within their vast footprint.

Polestar’s Scandi cousins at Volvo offer the ES90 saloon and EX90 SUV, between which the 3 seems to sit in size and stance. If sportiness is your absolute priority, then a Hyundai Ioniq 5 N is a landmark EV in driver’s car terms and undercuts the entire Polestar 3 range – as does the subtler, more glamorous Alpine A390. A heck of a lot of choice, then…