Polestar 3 review: Large and in charge
Can practicality and scintillating performance lift this sleek Scandinavian above its imperfections?
DO YOU need or even want to know that the Polestar 3’s upholstery is made of “bio-attributed” Micro-Tech material, whose production involved emissions of 3.9 kg of CO2 per square metre? Only if you’re a prig, probably, in which case you’ll be chuffed to see all that info printed on the car’s seats, presumably with some sort of sustainably-sourced ink.
That’s just how Polestar rolls, and it is one way it tries to stand out as a newish brand that wants to steal sales from the likes of BMW and Mercedes.
At S$433,000 with Certificate of Entitlement, this rival to the BMW iX (the German brand’s flagship electric vehicle) is definitely priced at the swish end of the market, but it does pack in a lot of hardware.
For starters, there’s a massive 107 kWh battery that delivers an impressive 636 km of range. If you can find a 250 kW rapid charger, you can charge it from 10 to 80 per cent in just 30 minutes. With an 11 kW AC wallbox, a full charge takes 11 hours.
Relying on public chargers means you’ll probably end up like most EV drivers, and treat your weekly charging session as a background task while grabbing groceries or tucking into Sunday lunch.
While Polestar has Chinese masters (namely Geely), the Gothenburg brand’s Swedish DNA is written all over this car’s design. The exterior lines are so clean, the entire thing looks like it was carved from a giant bar of Cussons Imperial Leather.
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In fact, Polestar feels ruled by tyrannical designers. The 15.4-inch touchscreen’s interface looks fabulous, but it operates with the kind of menu logic that suggests its creators have never actually used a touchscreen while trying to keep a car on the road.
Want to adjust the air suspension’s firmness? That’ll be at least four taps, thank you very much. And who on earth thought it was a good idea to have one menu for changing the cabin temperature, and a different one for setting the fan speed?
Don’t think you can use voice control as a fallback, either, because the Polestar’s system is ditzy. At least the navigation software offers some redemption. It not only shows you charging points, but also details how many plugs are available and how many are currently in use.
It’ll even plan your charging stops on long drives, which makes it way more forward-thinking than I am, if my wife is to be believed.
Meanwhile, any spouse would love the car’s size and practicality. The backseat is super spacious, though at 484 litres (90 litres of which is under the floor), the boot is only reasonably big. Folding the rear seats expands it to a very usable 1,411 litres, at least.
There’s also a 32-litre frunk for stashing smaller items, but the Polestar misses out on some of the finer details of versatility. The backseat doesn’t recline, nor can it slide back and forth to trade legroom for boot space.
And if you remove the luggage cover, you’ll quickly find there’s nowhere to store it, leaving you to awkwardly decide what to do with it. That’s not a deal-breaker, but no one wants to pay big money for a car and put up with small oversights.
Yet, if anything will incline you to forgive the Polestar its flaws, it is the way it flies up the road. The twin motors mean business, biffing out 489 horsepower between them, enough to ripple the tarmac under the tyres.
Thus endowed, the Polestar 3 blasts from rest with a silent ferocity that makes combustion cars feel like relics of the past. Its accelerator pedal is well-calibrated, too, allowing you to unleash all that power with smoothness and precision.
The chassis shines, as well, allowing the Polestar to switch between serene relaxation and spirited excitement according to your mood. City driving is a light, fingertip affair, but on the open road there’s genuine satisfaction to be found in taking things with a firmer hand.
Once you realise just how much grip the tyres have, you’ll find yourself swinging into corners with the enthusiasm of Tarzan on meth. The rear axle’s torque vectoring system adds to the car’s ferocity, quietly sending power to whichever wheel needs it most, so that blasting out of bends feels like someone’s laid invisible rails under you.
The suspension’s sporty setting is a bit too harsh, the comfort mode a touch too floaty, but the middle setting hits that Goldilocks sweet spot, so that’s where you’ll set it and forget it.
Whether that leaves you thinking of the Polestar 3 as a sporty car that’s big on sustainability, or the other way round, it’s ultimately a futuristic and practical machine that feels premium and drives like it’s on steroids. No matter how “bio-attributable” the upholstery is, all that is something you don’t have to be a prig to appreciate.
Polestar 3 Long Range Dual Motor Motor power/Torque 489 hp / 840 Nm Battery type/Net capacity Lithium-ion / 107 kWh Charging time/Type 30 minutes, 10 to 80 per cent (250 kW DC), 11 hours 0 to 100 per cent (11 kW AC) Range Up to 636 km (WLTP) 0-100 km/h 5.0 seconds Top speed 210 km/h Efficiency 21.8 kWh/100 km Agent Wearnes Automotive Price S$433,000 with COE Now
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