Polestar 3 (2025)

Alex on Autos is highly enthusiastic about the Polestar 3, especially its exceptional handling, grip, braking, and refined torque-vectoring rear axle. He calls it more dynamically polished than the BMW, Mercedes, Audi, and Tesla alternatives, while praising its comfortable seats, spacious back seat, quiet cabin, accurate navigation, and relatively attractive pricing. The trade-offs are meaningful: range is merely adequate, the frunk is tiny, several controls are frustratingly buried in software, and the early tester suffered frequent infotainment reboots and missing features. Still, Alex views the Polestar 3 as an unusually compelling, Porsche-inspired luxury EV SUV.

Redline Reviews is highly impressed by the Polestar 3, calling it a stylish, genuinely sporty luxury EV with excellent technology and surprisingly strong ride comfort. A week of testing produced a brisk 4.1-second 0–60 mph run, precise steering, supportive seats, and real-world range around 240–250 miles. Wireless Apple CarPlay, Google-based software, premium materials, and spacious rear seating also earn praise. The compromises are meaningful: limited cargo space, no third row, disappointing range versus the EPA estimate, finicky controls, and an expensive $89,000 test car. Still, Redline considers it a standout and recommends it, especially around $75,000.

Savagegeese is mixed on the Polestar 3, admiring its driving dynamics but struggling to justify its price. The Performance model feels quick, natural, and engaging, with excellent throttle, brake, steering calibration, torque-vectoring, quietness, and a strong Bowers & Wilkins audio system. However, efficiency and real-world range lag behind rivals, while the largely touchscreen-based controls are frustrating and unfinished. Its generic styling, limited dealer support, and software still being patched further weaken the case near six figures. It’s a genuinely good-driving EV, but not an especially compelling luxury SUV overall.

MotorWeek is highly impressed by the Polestar 3, especially its stylish design, comfortable cabin, refined ride, and genuinely sporting performance. In cold-weather testing, the dual-motor AWD Launch Edition managed 193 miles on 72% of its battery, while acceleration reached 60 mph in 4.3 seconds and braking was excellent. MotorWeek appreciates the generous rear-seat space, premium features, and adjustable driving modes, but criticizes the overly touch-focused controls and somewhat limited cargo room. Despite those usability compromises and its high starting price, the Polestar 3 earns strong praise as an SUV that makes everyday driving feel special.

Matt Maran is impressed by the Polestar 3’s design, comfort, range, and exceptionally sharp handling, but not fully sold. After a week, he praises its smooth air suspension, spacious rear seat, excellent 25-speaker Bowers & Wilkins audio, strong real-world range, and engaging torque-vectoring AWD. Still, software glitches, an electrical warning, awkward key-card system, missing rear sunshade, touch-heavy controls, and cost-cutting window switches frustrate him. He considers it one of the best-driving luxury electric SUVs, yet believes the Genesis Electrified GV70, Cadillac Lyriq, and Audi Q6 e-tron offer better value.

Mat Watson is highly impressed by the Polestar 3, calling it a genuinely excellent all-round luxury electric SUV. He praises its striking design, beautifully finished interior, comfort, quietness, effortless maneuverability, and surprisingly agile handling despite its 2.5-ton weight. The 517-hp Performance Pack feels extremely quick and confidence-inspiring, though steering feedback is limited. Practicality is good but not class-leading, with a smaller boot, tiny frunk, limited rear-seat pass-through, and awkward touchscreen controls. Apple CarPlay is also missing, and real-world range appears closer to 270 miles. Even so, Mat enthusiastically recommends shortlisting it.

Tom Voelk is clearly impressed by the Polestar 3, especially its sleek design, quick performance, refined ride, spacious back seat, and excellent seats. He finds the dual-motor model nimble despite its size, with strong range and 250-kW charging, though the Performance Pack’s benefits may not justify its $6,000 cost. His main reservations are the buggy software, overreliance on touch controls, mediocre rear visibility, and limited cargo space versus some rivals. Overall, Voelk views it as a stylish, enjoyable, genuinely competitive luxury EV—provided buyers can tolerate its interface quirks.

Doug DeMuro is pleasantly surprised by the Polestar 3, calling it a genuinely cool and competent luxury EV. He enjoys its clean styling, excellent Google-based technology, configurable displays, spacious back seat, quick acceleration, comfortable ride, and sharper-than-expected steering. The minimalist cabin feels distinctive, though putting climate, mirror, steering-wheel, and rear-window controls on-screen creates needless friction, while materials fall short of BMW’s polish. His central question is whether Polestar has earned an $84,000 luxury-brand reputation. Overall, it’s appealing and well-rounded, but he considers Tesla’s Model Y a stronger value unless Polestar offers meaningful discounts.

Auto Focus is highly impressed by the Polestar 3, especially its striking Scandinavian design, comfortable cabin, excellent air-suspension ride, strong acceleration, and exceptional Bowers & Wilkins audio system. The reviewer calls its best details—functional aerodynamic wings, yellow accents, and cohesive materials—nearly dreamlike, but criticizes the inconsistent interior execution, gloss-black trim, limited window controls, and touchscreen-heavy interface. Its roughly 270-mile real-world range in dual-motor form is the biggest concern, making it less appealing for road trips. Overall, this is a beautiful, compelling EV with an unusually wide gap between brilliant design and frustrating usability.

The Car Care Nut is impressed by the Polestar 3’s build quality, comfort, distinctive styling, and smooth, quiet performance, but ultimately remains skeptical. He praises the beautifully finished interior, capable suspension, usable frunk, and thoughtful aero details, while criticizing the complicated thermal-management layout, extensive plastic cooling hardware, sparse controls, generic infotainment, awkward digital-key and emergency-access systems, and questionable long-term serviceability. The Performance Pack offers little meaningful advantage over the Dual Motor version, and the $93,000 example compares poorly with faster, longer-range alternatives such as the Tesla Model Y. He recommends considering the cheaper Single Motor model instead.

Kyle Conner is enthusiastic about the Polestar 3’s comfort, quietness, distinctive design, and unusually polished ride. He calls it a genuinely great-driving SUV, praising its smooth clutch engagement, confident lane centering, and strong upgrade to NVIDIA’s Orin computer. However, his excitement is tempered by the 2025 model’s troubled launch, including charger failures, software glitches, and a return to turtle mode during testing. The outdated 400-volt architecture also means slower charging and less power than the forthcoming 2026 version. His practical advice is clear: lease the heavily discounted 2025 if you need a comfortable daily driver, but buyers should wait for the substantially improved high-voltage model.

Micah Muzio is highly impressed by the Polestar 3, calling it stylish, exceptionally comfortable, practical, and genuinely fun to drive. He praises its warm, distinctive cabin, spacious rear seat, family-friendly cargo and car-seat provisions, excellent ride, stable handling, strong acceleration, and intuitive driver-assistance features. The enthusiasm is tempered by frustrating touch controls, rear window switches, shiny trim, limited visibility, occasional software glitches, slow-speed one-pedal behavior, and the lack of Android Auto. Still, he sees no deal-breakers and recommends the dual-motor version for its performance and character, making this an enthusiastic but credible luxury-EV endorsement.

Zip Tie Tuning is wildly enthusiastic about the Polestar 3 despite calling it deeply flawed. After a week, the reviewer praises its brutal acceleration, remarkably composed handling, quiet ride, excellent Bowers & Wilkins audio, effective driver assistance, and superb cameras. The enthusiasm feels genuine, especially during launches and cornering. However, the keyless entry, touchscreen-heavy controls, limited app support, awkward steering-wheel interface, lighting condensation, tire concerns, and occasional tailgate behavior create frustrating “unforced errors.” At $79,000, it demands too many compromises to earn an easy recommendation, but for buyers prioritizing performance, comfort, and refinement, it would be the reviewer’s personal choice.

Autotrader is highly impressed by the updated Polestar 3, calling it brilliant to drive. The dual-motor SUV feels genuinely quick, comfortable, composed, and surprisingly sporty for its size, while its smoother ride, sharper handling, faster 800-volt charging, more responsive infotainment, and improved driver-assistance technology make it feel properly premium. The main reservations are meaningful: exterior styling is unchanged, the boot is merely adequate, and losing the previous long-range version leaves it well behind the BMW iX3’s claimed range. Even so, Autotrader considers it a smarter, stronger purchase than before and a compelling luxury electric SUV.

Realistick is impressed by the Polestar 3, but worries its unfinished technology undermines an otherwise excellent luxury SUV. The review praises its quiet, comfortable ride, precise handling, supportive massaging seats, practical range, strong acceleration, and upscale Scandinavian design. Real-world testing produced 311 miles of estimated highway range, though charging peaked around 150 kW and requires scheduled battery preconditioning. Persistent software bugs, confusing controls, limited driver assistance, missing promised features, and an outdated processor are the major concerns. Realistick considers it phenomenal overall, but recommends leasing rather than buying until Polestar resolves the platform’s problems.

Jonathan Crouch is impressed by the Polestar 3’s agility and distinctive character, though he stops short of calling it class-leading. The updated 800V model feels unusually wieldy for a 2.7-ton SUV, with strong performance, vast rear legroom, useful storage, and a minimalist cabin that feels more convincing than Tesla’s. However, the coupe-like shape limits boot space, the interior has some low-rent details, and the base rear-motor version misses the air suspension he considers valuable in town. Overall, Crouch views it as a refreshingly different, stylish luxury EV rather than a groundbreaking one.

Howard Ritchie is highly enthusiastic about the Polestar 3, calling it a beautiful, distinctive “masterpiece” with few compromises. He praises its 800-volt charging, 680 horsepower, rapid acceleration, refined ride, excellent sound system, spacious rear seat, quietness, and unusually engaging handling for a 2.5-ton SUV. He also sees updated models and used examples as compelling value. Still, UK pricing feels excessive, range trails some rivals, driver-assistance features require too much prompting, connectivity can be unreliable, and the Tesla Model Y offers more cargo space for less. Overall, his recommendation is passionate, especially for performance and originality.