This EV weaves in attributes that are subtle but significant fusions of form and function

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Design

Test Drive: 2025 Polestar 3

This EV weaves in attributes that are subtle but significant fusions of form and function

Michael Frank

23 September 2024

When Christian Samson, Polestar‘s head of product identity, talks about cars, it’s from the perspective of a serious petrolhead. The all-electric Swedish carmaker—which is amidst a growth spurt, launching both the Polestar 3 SUV and Polestar 4 fastback this year—is a tiny spinoff of Volvo. This has allowed Polestar to push boundaries, even for an EV maker. For instance, it lists the entire cradle-to-grave CO2 footprint of its cars, which Samson describes as the minimum any EV brand should be doing—and Polestar promises to be carbon neutral by 2030, a fast approaching deadline.

Ffor Samson (who came from chassis development at brands like Alfa Romeo), the attraction to Polestar is what he characterizes as an “analogue” way of thinking about EVs, even though they are increasingly more computerized. He says that for the Polestar 3, which we recently drove ahead of delivery to customers, the idea was to push handling to the edge of GT performance but then to back off a bit. The idea is to get to that small, happy place that lives between spirited feel and nervous aggression—and to have the cars drive naturally in a way he describes as “that super simple steel-sprung core.”

This is an interesting philosophical position for the Polestar 3, a roomy crossover that’s hardly inexpensive (the base price of our Launch Edition bled right up to $78,900) and not as huge as rival three-row EVs that are priced in the same general segment. Luckily there’s plenty of performance to like. It’s not just that you’re starting with 489hp and 620 lb. ft. of torque, but that you can spend $6,000 more for a performance pack that bumps this gumption to 517hp/671 lb. ft.. That shaves 0-60mph times from 4.8 seconds to 4.5. This is fine, but all EVs in this segment feel exceptionally fast, and Polestar isn’t trying to out-dual Tesla with acceleration.

The distinction with the Polestar 3 is that the car feels far lighter than something that weighs almost three tons. One reason is that Polestar’s engineers brilliantly apply torque vectoring, which over-drives the outside rear wheel through corners, giving you quicker response and less understeer (the likelihood of a car to steer wide of your intended apex). That’s a huge deal; this is a vehicle based on the same architecture as Volvo’s new three-row EV90 and while it’s just a little smaller it’s still 1.5-feet longer than a Genesis GV60, and a half-foot longer than a Hyundai Ioniq 5, but drives more like a smaller car. It’s closer in size to the target Polestar says they’re chasing: The new electric Porsche Macan, which is very close in price, too, and that means it has to be reasonably sporty as well.

Polestar isn’t trying to be Porsche—or Lucid. Samson explains that the company has been careful not to follow peers chasing extreme range. He says that would be a mistake, and that as you add more batteries you spiral into a heavy car that also has a lot more harmful C02 and industrial impacts. The Polestar 3’s range is pretty good, at 315 miles, and Samson says they targeted real-world driving, for instance a lot of 75mph interstate dashes, not a uniquely European cycle that’s more skewed toward city driving.

Samson shrugs off the potential hazard of being the “EV du jour,” which is where Rivian seems to be in certain zip codes these days, and ticked through a number of attributes of the 3 that are subtle, but significant fusions of form following function. For instance, the door handles fit flush—but approach the crossover with the key card in your pocket and these deploy upward. And they’re scalloped from the underside. He says that any minimal loss in aerodynamics is more than made up for by making the car easier for the driver or passengers to open the door easily, and cited a simple Polestar ethos, noting that too many carmakers add adornment—or take it away—without thinking about the impact to user experience.

Some small design features on the interior of the Polestar 3 are easy to miss because Polestar so heavily stresses minimalism. Higher end versions get an incredibly crisp-sounding, 25-speaker Bowers & Wilkins sound system, but while other carmakers might make the speakers more prominent, Polestar hides most of them in the headrests and in concave door sections. Likewise, a 14-inch touchscreen houses most of the car’s controls. This takes a little getting used to, though we’re happy there’s an oversized volume/play/pause central controller between the driver and front passenger, and D-pad style toggles on the steering wheel that switch function depending on various modes.

It’s good that, unlike Tesla, Polestar gives the driver an instrument cluster, which can double up the Google Maps function on the central screen. There are some missing pieces, however, because Polestar relies on Android Automotive OS for its interface. That means no Apple CarPlay. Some apps you might rely on for entertainment on your phone will play through Bluetooth pairing, but that still leaves some functionality out of the equation.

Step out of the Polestar 3 and the tour of subtle design continues. Sideview mirrors are frameless, with the glass integrated directly into the housing (the whole housing moves when you adjust the driver’s view). A front nose wing atop the hood is almost imperceptible, but it’s crucial because it lowers drag, increasing range and keeps the cabin quieter. But there’s another benefit Samson stresses, “You get this initial impression of a prouder hood. You want this upright face on an SUV.” Of course you could solve the aerodynamic conundrum other ways, like with a more sloped windshield, but in turn you’d have to lengthen the cabin to achieve the same roominess.

Another visual cue you might miss are C-shaped finishers at the back fender. These puzzle into a concavity at the trailing edge of the bumper, and they offer a kind of punctuation at the back of the car that’s similar to how designers use dual tailpipes on gas cars. Here they act like scissors, cutting off the vortex of air that otherwise would swirl and create instability at the rear of the Polestar 3. In turn, that would require a much more prominent rear wing, which would be very un-Polestar.

Speaking of the brand’s ethos, Samson directs us back to the front of the car to observe its SmartZone, which supplants a conventional grille. The SmartZone houses cameras—and in 2025, LiDAR that can see people, bikes and other cars up to about 800 feet in the distance. Samson says the challenge was making it blend with the car’s paint, because sensors have to see through this section—and metallic paint would blindfold the sensors. Eventually Polestar’s experimentation led to careful color matching so that the polycarbonate SmartZone blends fluidly with every color option available. It’s a very Polestar win, much like the rest of the 3.