Numbers game

The Polestar 3’s competition pool is an interesting one. At 4900mm long and 1968mm wide, it comes close to mirroring the size of a Porsche Cayenne. And that’s no accident. Unlike the Tesla-targeting Polestar 2, the 3 takes aim at a much more premium set of rivals. Polestar noted that the 3 is seen as a rival for a mix of both EV and petrol SUVs, ranging from the aforementioned Cayenne to the BMW iX. Indeed, Polestar noted that it benchmarked the 3 against the Cayenne during development.

But the 3’s creation wasn’t necessarily about following the exact path of its competition. Chief designer Max Missoni underscored this by saying that there was “less focus on consumer consultancy” and “more focus on consumers wanting to buy into Polestar’s philosophy” — a philosophy led by design and sustainability. And performance too, of course.

New Zealand gets two different Polestar 3 variants; the $169,990 dual-motor AWD Long Range and the $184,990 Long Range Performance Pack (Polestar confirms that a rear-wheel drive Long Range variant is also in the pipeline).

The standard model develops 360kW/840Nm, whilst the bulked-up flagship makes 380kW/910Nm. Both source their power from a 111kWh battery, enabling a range of up to 610km on the WLTP cycle. Its charging speeds peak at an impressive 250kW, and it is V2L (vehicle-to-load) capable.

Polestar is clearly very proud of what it has created with the US-made 3. It’s a sizable rig but doesn’t look it. Polestar has deployed a plethora of tricks to reduce the 3’s visual weight and give it a racier-looking silhouette than the average, boxy SUV. The way the rear spoiler and floating C-pillar melt into the taillight unit, for example, or the black cladding’s creation of a Coke-bottle-effect when you look at it side on.

Perhaps most noteworthy is its low-slung height: it’s almost 100mm shorter than a standard Cayenne. From certain angles, it looks more station wagon than SUV — almost like a distant relative of a Volvo XC70.

There are plenty of fantastic little details. The ‘dual blade’ headlights are a neat alternative spin on the ‘Thor’s Hammer’ Volvo headlights of old. Perhaps more interesting is the SmartZone panel in the front grille; Polestar electing to ‘celebrate’ the sensor technology in the front end of the 3, as opposed to hiding it. It’s an athletic looker.

Not that ‘athleticism’ is necessarily the Polestar 3’s lead motivation. Whilst the 3 has, in Polestar’s terms, ‘sports car proportions’ on the outside, it retains a massive cabin on the inside. Foregoing a third row of seats benefits the amount of space for those in the second row, a deliberate move on Polestar’s part to differentiate the 3 from more trad proportioned large SUVs, while still emphasising its luxury chops.

The cabin itself is exactly what you’d expect from a design-led group like Polestar. It’s clean and minimalist — Scandinavian sparse, without quite going off the deep-end Tesla style. Like a Tesla, there are almost no buttons, although thankfully you do still get indicator stalks, a drive mode stalk, and a volume dial. But essentially everything else is controlled via a 14-inch tablet touchscreen that dominates the dashboard. It runs on Polestar’s Android Automotive-based operating system, which the brand has been meticulous with in its design and layout.

The Polestar 3 launch took journalists from the hustle and bustle of Madrid’s city centre to the quiet municipality of Valdeprados — its gorgeous labyrinth of traditional brick buildings home to less than 100 people. Ordinarily it’s a one-hour drive from Madrid, but Polestar sent us out via a much more scenic route.

It shouldn’t be a surprise that, despite its size, and inevitable 2.5-tonne weight, the Polestar 3 is an excellent drive. Many of these kinds of EVs often are — defying physics thanks to their low centre of gravity and instantaneous torque delivery. The Polestar is no different, launching off the line with the urgency of a sports car (it can hit 100km/h in under five seconds).

What the 3 has in its favour is excellent chassis tuning. Adaptive air suspension with a surprising 60mm worth of height adjustment, Ohlins dampers, and a Borg Warner-sourced mechanical torque vectoring dual clutch (TVDC) system all work together to make the 3 quite darty and light footed on a twisty road. Its driving experience felt similar in some ways to the Lotus Eletre (a much more performance-orientated SUV), blending generally smooth ride quality with well weighted steering that’s communicative and precise.

In all, the Polestar 3 is an impressive new model. But it’s only part of the picture…

Like the Polestar 3, the Polestar 4 signals the brand’s intent to move upmarket and challenge a more aspirational set of premium rivals. Indeed, as with the 3, Polestar benchmarked the new model against a Porsche — only this time it was the Macan.

Its silhouette, dimensions, and how it sits on the road make the Polestar 4 difficult to put in a box. The brand calls it an SUV, with the idea being that this is an ‘SUV coupe’ in the same vein as a Volkswagen ID.5 or Skoda Enyaq Coupe. But it’s almost a sort of four-door grand tourer too. Photos don’t really do its size justice. It’s almost 200mm longer and 300mm wider than a Polestar 2, while only being a smidge taller.

The Polestar 4 is an intriguing car. Much has been written about the fact the 4 doesn’t feature a rear windscreen. Because of this, Polestar’s engineers were able to shuffle the cabin’s layout around — giving it a low nose, a much roomier set of back seats than you’d expect, and a coupe-like silhouette.

New Zealand is set to get two Polestar 4 variants: the $119,900 200kW/343Nm single-motor, rear-wheel drive and the $129,900 guns blazing 400kW/686Nm dual-motor all-wheel drive that media drove in Madrid. Both come equipped with a 100kWh battery (11kWh less than the Polestar 3, DC charging speeds up to 200kW), with range set at 620km (RWD) and 580km (AWD), respectively. Local deliveries are expected to kick off around September.

First thing’s first: the Polestar 4 is a fantastic looking thing. Its minimalist detailing is instantly recognisable as ‘Polestar’, perhaps with a few lingering hints of Volvo here and there. What the photos don’t convey quite so explicitly is the 4’s excellent proportions. The sleek front end contrasted with the wider-than-you’d-think rear give it a surprisingly muscular, almost raked appearance.

Just like with the Polestar 3, the carmaker pitches the 4 as being an ‘SUV on the inside, a sports car on the outside’. But unlike the 3 — which is still essentially an SUV in profile, but with some clever nipping and tucking — the 4 manages to not really look like an SUV at all. Which brings us to its interior…

Polestar’s claim is that the lack of a rear window enabled its designers and engineers to push the C-pillar backwards and elongate the interior space enough to offer rear passengers’ segment-leading amounts of headroom and comfort, without completely butchering the Polestar 4’s silhouette with stunted proportions.

The Polestar 4’s lack of direct rear visibility is made up for by a 1920px by 1280px high-definition wide angle Gentex camera mounted to the roof. Its vision is beamed to the car’s large 8.9-inch rear-view mirror (which the driver can toggle from screen to mirror, if they want to check in on their rear passengers). The view the camera presents is impressive and very legible. It felt more intuitive using the digital rear-view mirror than using digital wing mirrors available from other brands.

Headroom is particularly impressive, as is the amount of light that leaks in. There’s no claustrophobia back there despite the lack of glass, in part thanks to the lengthy panoramic sunroof. The back seats recline independently, there’s a generous arm rest, and a touch display for climate control adjustment. Polestar says it was gunning for a business class vibe back there, and it has achieved this.

Beyond its back seat, a big cornerstone of the Polestar 4’s cabin is its use of recycled, low-emission materials. Its tailored knit upholstery uses 100% recycled polyester, the floor carpets use recycled plastic from fishing nets, the door cards are made from natural fibre polypropylene, or NFPP. The list of recycled, space-age textiles goes on and on and, importantly, it all looks and feels appropriately of quality for something that aims to go toe-to-toe with Germany’s best.

On-road, the Polestar 4 is very strong. It’s easy to forget that design-focused Polestar was once the motorsport-focused performance arm of Volvo. Even though this is the quickest model Polestar has created to date (0–100kph is over in 3.8 seconds), it’s not necessarily framed primarily as a performance flagship. Yet Polestar’s abilities to create a car that can chew up apexes have not been lost. The dual-motor 4 goes from corner to corner with aplomb and minimal drama. Its low centre of gravity, neatly weighted electric steering set-up, capable Brembo stoppers, and low, sports-car-like driver seat position makes the speedy stuff feel very natural.

The Polestar 3 and 4 offer an impressively solid foundation for the forthcoming Polestar 5 and 6, which are set to crank up the brand’s exclusivity push even further.