2025 Polestar 3 hits an electric-SUV stride

• 5-seat, two-row luxurious electrical SUV

• 0-60 mph, 4.8 seconds (base); 4.5 seconds (Efficiency Pack)

• High velocity: 130 mph 

• Vary: 315 miles (base); 279 miles (Efficiency Pack)

• Launch Version prices at the very least $80,300; may qualify for Federal tax incentives
  

The Polestar 3 has 5 seats, an electrical powertrain, and regardless of a stunning Polestar 1 plug-in hybrid coupe and Polestar 2 electrical sedan, a badge that’s all however unknown to U.S. drivers. 

Even the Spaniards who eye me with rightful suspicion as I streak north from Madrid need to know what that is, and for good purpose. The pickaxe emblem doesn’t say a lot in regards to the automotive’s nation of origin—and nearly nothing about it says “electrical automotive.”

However, boy, is the Polestar 3 ever electrical, in every kind of the way.

It’s an excellent effort on behalf of the startup EV automaker that’s based mostly in China, with engineers outposted in Sweden. With its foot down firmly on the facet of acceleration, grip, and a stunning subdued inside, the 2025 Polestar 3 feels very a lot akin to a clarified Volvo SUV. That is smart, because it’s associated to the upcoming EX90.

Polestar pitches the three as competitors for the Tesla Mannequin Y and the Porsche Cayenne, however with its masterful street manners and hotwired velocity, it’s extra a rival for a sizzling political take of the second. It’s the automotive I’d put an electric-car denier in to get them to alter their minds.

2025 Polestar 3 Efficiency Pack, check drive, Madrid

2025 Polestar 3 Efficiency Pack, check drive, Madrid

2025 Polestar 3 Efficiency Pack, check drive, Madrid

2025 Polestar 3 Efficiency Pack, check drive, Madrid

2025 Polestar 3: Pioneering “Fuselodge”

Partially that’s as a result of it does all the things properly—particularly, in type. Its aero-keen exterior mates to a cabin that would come from the pages of the Swedish version of Dwell. Name it “Fuselodge,” and don’t neglect my royalty verify.

Take an SUV physique, taper the ends and the physique sides, and hone down all the small print that get in the best way of easy airflow, and that’s the place the Polestar 3 begins. With all its seams Frenched, door handles made flush, and spiked LED headlights faired in easily, it presents a clear path for air to stream previous. A putting wing marks this mission—and it sits on the SUV’s nostril, the place its three nostrils divide and conquer the slipstream, just under its LED-lit emblem.

It’s extra tradcore on the rear, the place the tall tailgate and muscular haunches get aero blades and spats to maintain that air hustling round and away in neat, laminar streams. The upkick on the rear roof pillar brings to thoughts that different Swedish model (not IKEA), however the rear wing’s all Polestar, sitting atop a gunslit slice of glass throughout the rear finish, which itself rests on a bar of LED taillights. 

The cockpit makes current Volvo interiors look Rococo by comparability. A single line crosses the sprint like an equator, with a soft-trimmed sprint cap above and slim vents behind, on a pedestal of black ash or aluminum trim. The motive force faces a low-set 9.0-inch digital gauge cluster, whereas a 14.5-inch tablet-style touchscreen sticks to the middle of the sprint as if on a MagSafe adapter. 

Polestar gives a knob on the vast middle console for some ancillary features, and buries the remainder of the controls in on-screen menus rendered in a skinny, pale font. That’s annoying on setup: the mirrors have to be positioned by means of a mix of touchscreen swiping and steering-wheel fussing that lack precision and ease of use, whilst distraction will get restricted and centered on these crisp shows. 

Each different floor will get muted as if it have been laptop wallpaper. The Polestar 3 thus teeters between sparse and starved of element; satisfying supplies and shade selections, just like the gold seatbelts on the Efficiency Pack automotive, hold it on the best facet of that fulcrum.

2025 Polestar 3 Efficiency Pack, check drive, Madrid

Polestar 3: An area ship

• General size: 192.9 inches

• Wheelbase: 117.5 inches

• Cargo area: 1.1 cubic toes (entrance), 17.1 cubic toes (rear), 49.8 cubic toes (behind entrance seats)

Match and end elevate the inside into the elegant, however the electric-car fundamentals give it the area to outpace gas-powered rivals. A 311-mile sprint by means of herds of cyclists towards Segovia sorted out my impressions of the Polestar 3’s consolation and utility.

It will be tough to call a car with higher entrance seats amongst its aggressive set. The eight-way power-adjusting entrance seats put on artificial leather-based in base spec, however both nappa leather-based or wool could be discovered throughout the lineup. Within the two leather-clad fashions I drove, the three’s cinching facet bolsters, tilting backside cushion, and increasing lumbar padding let me fine-tune a driving place that left a terrific view of the street forward, a transparent have a look at the digital shows, ample headroom and kneeroom—and sufficient area to sit down behind myself in row two. 

At 6 toes tall, give or take, that’s an accomplishment rendered even higher by the Polestar 3’s flat flooring and vast door cuts. The rear seatback reclines for swell consolation, and high editions have napworthy nappa headrest pillows. The 60:40 cut up seatbacks fold down to permit the Polestar 3 to hold a 5-foot ladder dwelling, whereas a charging cable tucks away beneath the hood. It does all of this with the solidity of a $100,000 automotive, which it isn’t, from the delicate thunk of the doorways closing to the hushed hustle of its electrical motors laborious at work. Going electrical means you by no means have to fret about loud exhaust noise and what which may say about you.

2025 Polestar 3 Efficiency Pack, check drive, Madrid

How briskly is the Polestar 3?

• 0-60 mph: 4.8 seconds; Efficiency Pack, 4.5 seconds

• High velocity: 130 mph 

• Vary: 315 miles; Efficiency Pack, 279 miles

You have been ready to know the way it performs? Brilliantly. Threading the needle between batches of mountain bikes and velocity cameras, the Polestar 3 proved swift and poised, although extra direct management of its driving habits can be a welcome improve.

The three places a 180-kw motor on the entrance and one other on the rear, and powers them with a 111-kwh battery pack (107 kwh usable power). In standard-issue 3 SUVs, the mix pours out 489 hp and 620 lb-ft of torque good for a 0-60 mph time of 4.8 seconds, Polestar says. Go for the $6,000 Efficiency Pack and output rises to 517 hp and 671 lb-ft, whereas the 0-60 mph time drops by 0.3 second, to 4.5 seconds. High velocity, both means, will get restricted at 130 mph.

Silent and speedy, the Polestar 3 can decouple the rear electrical motor for higher effectivity. Because it stands, it’d ship 315 miles of EPA vary (or 279 miles in Efficiency Pack trim) when it attains last, official scores quickly. That hits a candy spot for drivers who don’t need to surrender the scorching acceleration of, say, a Porsche Cayenne or the utility of a machine that may drive all week on a single tank, whether or not it’s crammed with gasoline or electrons.

Although it weighs as a lot as 5,886 kilos in its portliest configuration, the Polestar 3 surges and hustles urgently, however with none brittle journey motions or wonky steering interjections. Agility comes baked into its suspension design, with dual-chamber air springs and adaptive dampers that take in all its heft with out throwing unfiltered velocity bumps and potholes straight into the physique construction. The three doles out little in the best way of extraneous steering weight, however lasers in on course adjustments with out going overboard on overzealous turn-in (like a Stelvio Quadrifolgio, for instance). Polestar credit the torque-vectoring, twin-clutch rear axle with efficient and lower-effort energy distribution than a 3-motor design might need induced. 

Choose one-pedal mode by means of just a few faucets on the pill, and the Polestar 3 adopts a extra informal regenerative braking really feel than I’d like. Nevertheless it backs that up with 15.8-inch vented discs and at the very least 20-inch wheels and tires. Choose into the Efficiency Pack and the brakes upconvert to 4-piston Brembo calipers painted gold, the tires to 22-inch Pirelli P Zeros. 

Slipping by means of the mountain passes to Segovia and again, the base-spec 3 felt comfy properly past the standard family-SUV cornering limits, although it rode on EV-specific treads. It paid off to flick by means of its screen-accessible drive modes, which might toggle between efficiency energy supply and battery preservation, in addition to steering and suspension responsiveness. Even after I chosen agency springs and steering really feel, nothing intruded on the SUV’s balanced strategy to journey and dealing with. However since they’re buried, these modes develop into a set-and-forget prospect—and nobody desires the identical mode when these snakelike routes flip into the highways that drill again towards central Madrid. That’s the place the three’s adaptive cruise management with restricted hands-free help took over for just a few dozen miles, although I used to be unable to actuate its computerized lane-change operate on the prototype I drove.

Left on the desk: a check of the three’s Off-road mode, which lifts the air springs nearly two inches above the usual 8.3 inches of floor clearance, or the self-leveling help that offsets a possible towing capability of three,500 kilos.

2025 Polestar 3 Efficiency Pack, check drive, Madrid

What’s the 2025 Polestar 3 worth?

It’s a high-end machine, with out being ludicrously costly. Launch Version Polestar 3 SUVs value $80,300, together with a $1,400 vacation spot charge—decrease than initially anticipated, as Polestar desires this one to be eligible for a $7,500 federal EV tax credit score (although the earliest batch will probably be assembled in China).

These early Launch Editions include all the usual expertise we anticipate on this set: computerized emergency braking and adaptive cruise management, a surround-view digital camera system, 20-inch wheels, artificial leather-based trim, and energy options. In addition they carry what is going to develop into the Plus Pack and Pilot Pack on future 2025 model-year automobiles—options starting from the air suspension and head-up show to a 25-speaker Bowers & Wilkins audio system.

A separate Efficiency Pack has 22-inch wheels wrapped in Pirelli P Zero tires, gold seat belts, and gold-painted brake calipers. A Pilot Pack with lidar provides extra sensors to spice up future hands-free driver help when it turns into accessible by means of OTA updates.

A 4-year/50,000-mile guarantee pairs with a 3-year/30,000-mile complimentary service plan.

Down the street—philosophically, to not the guts of Madrid the place I valeted the automotive and the place gawkers continued to interrogate its origins—a base Polestar 3 will carry a worth of $74,300. When absolutely stocked with the Plus, Efficiency, and Pilot Pack with lidar, that worth will surge to at the very least $91,300. 

There’s extra on the best way. We’ll let you know all in regards to the Polestar 4 sedan on the finish of the month. Then, a Polestar 5 and 6 will emerge, on a brand new platform developed in-house and assembled within the firm’s personal manufacturing unit. A Polestar 7 mannequin will in the future exchange the Polestar 2. A renaming train is likely to be a superb addition past that.

The names will fall in line, in the future. Polestar’s rising in a jagged means. As long as vehicles as well-executed as the three lead the cost, that thriller emblem on the entrance wing received’t be a thriller for lengthy. 

Polestar paid for journey bills to Spain in order that we may carry you this check drive overview.