Polestar 3 Review: Stunning drive in a luxury electric SUV, but at a price

The first thing you should know about the new Polestar 3 electric SUV is that it is big. Very big. It has a big price tag, it is long, it is heavy, and it’s got very big wheels, so big that they look almost like they were put on the wrong car.

But here’s the weird thing. The Polestar 3 doesn’t actually look big. And it doesn’t feel big either, particularly in the driver’s seat. It is light and easy and a real joy to drive, particularly on the windy, hilly roads that took us across the north-east of Tasmania and then down its east coast in a media drive event.

And that, I suppose, it’s what you might feel you deserve if you are willing to pay $132,000 (plus on roads) for an electric car (or $141,900 plus on roads for the performance version).

In this price range, electric wins over fossil fuels hands down. Polestar’s advantage is that most of its competitors in this price range are asking their customers to pay a significant premium for the “brand”, so the value of the Polestar 3 is what is actually in the car, and the thought that went into its design.

I have driven high priced EVs from many legacy premium automakers and gosh, most are very nice. But in almost all the cases – with the notable exception of the Genesis GV60 – I’ve seen X amount of value, and been left to wonder what made up the rest of the asking price. I guess it was the logo.

Polestar impressed a few years ago with the launch of its electric fast-back, the Polestar 2 – whose performance, handling and styling turned a few heads away from its biggest competitor, the Tesla Model 3.

The Polestar 3 is to the Polestar 2 what the Tesla Model Y is to the Model 3 – a higher ride,  in terms of handing, and a premium performance – and Polestar has decided to throw in luxury, a lot of extra goodies, thought and design innovations – both in looks and handling – that make it good value for money for those with deep enough pockets.

The Polestar 3 is an important venture for Polestar, the Swedish-based offshoot of Volvo that still has strong links with its motoring blood-lines, and which is now majority owned by China’s Geely, which seem to own just about everything.

It’s been a tough year for the brand, given delays in its product launches and a tumbling share price that has taken its toll on management both at HQ and abroad, including in Australia.

The Polestar 3 is soon to be followed by the Polestar 4, a smaller SUV at the end of this year, and a sportier Polestar 5 in 2025. There is even a Polestar 6 roadster promised for 2026. Much depends on their success.

The first thing you notice about the Polestar 3 is that the company has finally got the interior sorted. The Polestar 2 seemed like a missed opportunity to create extra space on an electric platform, with its tight, cock-pit style front seating arrangements and cramped leg room in the back.

The Polestar 3 avoids that failing – firstly by producing a flat floor, sorting out the middle console and taking advantage of its length (4.9 metres) to offer plenty of leg room both front and back.

There is a lot to like about the interior, from the big screen and the simple, easy to follow lay out of controls and icons that rival Tesla in their elegance and usability. The route planning is excellent, and it has 5 radar, five external cameras and 12 ultrasonic sensors as standard. So if you look like you might hit something, you will be told.

It has much better seats – quality, fossil free materials and adjustments that include multiple supports and even massage options. And there is a 25-speaker Bowers & Wilkins audio system, so the sound is sorted, and the road noise is minimal, which makes it all worthwhile. This is after all, a luxury vehicle. Like the Polestar 2, it has a glass roof.

The Polestar 3 really is heavy, coming in at 2.6 tonnes (compared to 1.9 tonnes for a Model Y), courtesy of the whopping 111 kWh NMC battery. But you don’t feel it. The Polestar engineers have done a lot of work on torque control and suspension, and that’s aided by the low centre of gravity that the battery delivers.

What I liked most about driving this EV was the one pedal driving. It’s as good as Tesla, and better than any other EV offering. In a 90 km drive up and down dale across the north of Tasmania, I don’t think I needed to touch the brake pedal once. And that’s the way it should be.

For the life of me I can’t understand why other car makers cut corners on this magnificent feature of electric car driving. Perhaps that is because, like Tesla, Polestar is an electric only car company.  They don’t feel obliged to make compromises for consumers struggling with the idea of doing something differently.

What it means is that the handling of this vehicle is really quite extraordinary. It’s so fun to drive. The performance variant will get you to from 0 to 100 kmh in 4.7 seconds and it really does has some pep, but it is the steering through bends and corners that delivers the most pleasure.

Those big 22″ wheels help, as does the extended 2.9 metre wheelbase, but mostly it is the result of some clever work including an “active chassis” and the torque vectoring system, which uses clutches on the rear axle to move power from one side to the other to help cornering and deliver stability. It is extraordinarily responsive.

The exterior is very Polestar: Distinctive, slightly boxy but with elegant lines, attention to detail, and fine and aerodynamic touches that you would expect from a designer team of Swedes wearing skivvies and leather jackets.

There is even a winglet at the front, and at the back, but for all the aerodynamic touches it still consumes a hefty 22 kWh per 100 kms. We clocked up 24 kWh in the performance version, but that’s partly because we spent a lot of time testing its acceleration. But who wouldn’t. It was fun.

That big battery delivers range that Polestar puts at up to 700 kms (WLTP) for the less powerful single motor version that will arrive next year (from $118,420 before on roads). That battery is more than twice the size of my original Model 3 (50 kWh) and it does make you wonder about the sustainability of these big vehicles and these big batteries.

It does seem at times like the answer to a problem that doesn’t exist. Do we really need 700 kms range?  And the size?

It’s like a never ending spiral – big cars require a big battery to deliver the performance and the range. Polestar puts a lot of store on its green credentials, and uses aluminium and manufacturing produced by green energy only, and is careful about its choice of materials and the sourcing of minerals.

It says the carbon footprint for the Polestar 3 is 24.7t/Co2 equivalent, which it notes is a less than the much smaller Polestar 2 when it was first rolled out in 2020. But it is more than the updated 2023 version of the Polestar 2..

Polestar has a “moonshot” goal to produce a “climate neutral” EV by 2030, without offsets. That would mean eliminating all greenhouse gas emissions from every aspect of the supply chain and production. It’s a moonshot goal because it means that every part of a Polestar must sourced and produced in ways that currently don’t exist.

That’s probably not going to happen in that time frame, and as worthy as the goal is, Polestar needs to be careful to show that it is more than marketing spin, a splash of greenwash over an already admirable product. But all that being said, if you must buy a high performing and sizeable SUV, then this stands out as the best choice.

Polestar has chosen to focus on being a premium luxury electric brand, perhaps because it has decided that it can’t compete with the Chinese brands, despite its Chinese ownership.

But if Polestar 3 does as well as hoped, and the Polestar 4 and Polestar 5 and the Polestar 6 electric roadster deliver as expected, perhaps it would be nice to take those learnings and build a low cost, zero footprint and small EV. Just to show it can be done. Our future might depend on sustainability being affordable.

In the meantime, if you do have the dollars, you will struggle to find better value for the money than the Polestar 3. It is extraordinarily fun to drive, looks good, and has the trimmings and comfort to suit.

Giles Parkinson

Giles Parkinson is founder and editor of The Driven, and also edits and founded the Renew Economy and One Step Off The Grid web sites. He has been a journalist for nearly 40 years, is a former business and deputy editor of the Australian Financial Review, and owns a Tesla Model 3.