Polestar 3 | Review

The Polestar 3 has been making a positive impression in the fleet sector since its launch in October last year through its combination of style, quality, practicality and performance.

The arrival of a fleet-friendly Long Range Single Motor version, offering almost all of the benefits of the higher-power launch model but with a greater range and lower P11D price, should ensure it finds its way on to many more company car drivers’ driveways.

Overview

Since its launch in the UK in 2020, all-electric premium brand Polestar has made a big impression, becoming a fixture on many choice lists on its way to registering more than 40,000 cars by the end of June.

Much of this has been achieved with having just one model (Polestar 2), but towards the end of last year it trebled its range with the launch of the 3 premium large SUV – driven here – and the 4 SUV coupe.

At launch the 3, which rivals the likes of the BMW iX and Audi Q8 E-Tron, was available with just one powertrain – the four-wheel drive Long Range Dual Motor (P11D price: £75,845) which offers either 483PS in standard spec or 510PS in the Performance Pack models (£81,445).

These offer WLTP ranges of 390 miles and 349 miles respectively.

These have now been joined by a rear-wheel drive Long Range Single Motor (LRSM) model, which uses the same 111kWh battery pack as the LRDM versions, but offers a lower P11D price (starting from £69,845), and a range of up to 438 miles.

Comfort and practicality

Both comfort and practicality are key attributes for any SUV, and the Polestar offers a deceptively good performance here.

I say deceptively because from the outside it looks smaller than it really is. The 3 measures 4.9m long – the same as a BMW iX – but at just 1.6m tall is 10cm lower.

In fact, the Swedish model is just 5cm taller than mid-sized electric hatchbacks such as the Cupra Born and Volkswagen ID3.

What does this mean for interior space? The driving position is obviously lower than that of an iX, and more like a medium-sized SUV, but there is plenty of space inside.

Space for occupants in the front is plentiful, with the seats both comfortable and supportive with plenty of adjustment, while passengers in the back also have plenty of leg and headroom.

The middle seat on the rear bench is indented, but a completely flat floor means this does not impinge on their comfort.

Perhaps the most striking aspect of the classy interior is the large 14.5-inch central infotainment touchscreen – more on this in the safety and technology section – but such is the minimalist design of the cabin that the steering wheel and door mirror adjustments need to be done through this.

The quality of materials and build is consistently high, and occupants are left in no doubt they are in a premium car.

One of the compromises of combining the Polestar 3’s sleek styling with plenty of space in the back is that room in the boot suffers slightly. At 484 litres (including 90 litres of under floor storage) up to the rear seat back with the seats in place, it is 16 litres less than the iX offers and 42 litres less than in the Q6.

Safety and technology

As already mentioned, the Polestar 3 uses a large portrait-mounted touchscreen for its infotainment system, and its user interface is intuitive to use.

This is helped by its sharp graphics and ability to personalise shortcuts on the home page to help the driver access the feature they want easily, without any unnecessary wading through menus.

The driver display is also in keeping with the minimalist theme, containing just the basic information, but it also portrays a classy experience.

As with the Polestar 2, the Polestar 3 incorporates a lot of technology. The infotainment is powered by Android Automotive, so has a number of Google features (Google Assistant, Google Maps and Google Play Store) built in, with other highlights including Apple CarPlay, wireless phone charging, over-the-air software updates for life, Polestar app, and a 360-degree surround view camera.

It is also packed with a wide range of standard safety features, and these include adaptive cruise control with automatic emergency braking, cross-traffic alert, lane keep assist, blind spot monitoring, rear collision alert and road sign information.

In April, Polestar 3 was awarded a five-star Euro NCAP safety rating with an 87% score, achieving a record safety score for child occupant protection of 93%.

Driveability and efficiency

We have now driven both the LRDM and LRSM models and both offer plenty of performance.

As you would expect from a car with 483PS, the LRDM has plenty of performance – Polestar says it will take 4.8 seconds to accelerate from 0-60mph.

The power was, however, delivered smoothly so the acceleration never catches you by surprise through its abruptness, but instead eases you into its speed.

The LRSM has 299PS and a 0-62mph time of 7.5 seconds. This obviously means it is not as rapid as its higher-powered sibling, but there’s ample speed to more than meet day-to-day needs.

On my test drive, I achieved 3.4 miles/kWh, which means a real-word range of 350 miles is easily achievable.

As any premium SUV should, it rides really well, with high levels of comfort and refinement provided by its standard air suspension, to keep passengers isolated from the worst the UK’s roads can throw at you, while the weight and feel of the steering provides an engaging driving experience.

 As already mentioned, All Polestar 3s have a 111kW battery (107kW usable), and this is charged through either the 11kW onboard AC charger or from a DC charge point.

Polestar 3 can charge at up to 250KW from an appropriate DC rapid charge point, so it will take 30 minutes to go from 10% to 80% capacity.

Company car tax and running costs

For any company looking to add the Polestar 3 to its choice list, it provides class-competitive running costs.

The Fleet News company car calculator shows the LRDM models costs 73.23 pence per mile over a four-year/80,000-mile period. In comparison, an Audi Q6 E-Tron Quattro S-Line will cost 67.81ppm and a BMW iX xDrive40 Sport 79.39ppm, although these have 96PS and 157PS less respectively.

Over the same duty cycle, a LRSM will cost 69.66ppm.

A 40% taxpayer will face a monthly company car tax bill of £76 for the Polestar 3 LDRM, and £70 for the LRSM. These fall to £38 and £35 respectively for a 20% taxpayer.