Polestar 3 review: What can the electric SUV with a powerful 111 kWh battery do?

Turbo, supercharger, 16V, W12, V6, V8, or 5.0 – these are combustion engine attributes that sometimes still appear on car bodies today as "Weisste-Bescheid" lettering. Polestar applies this badge tradition to its electric cars: "111 kWh/360 kW" is written on the doors of the Polestar 3 Long Range Dual Motor – meaning plenty of power, equivalent to 489 hp.

The large SUV certainly packs a punch: from a standstill to 100 km/h (62 mph) in 4.8 seconds, and then on to 200 km/h (124 mph) in 16 seconds. On the highway, the driver display now shows 215 km/h (134 mph), and because there are only a few trucks cruising along this early morning, the speed doesn't change for a long time. But at 40 percent battery charge, a few km/h (mph) are lost on uphill climbs, followed shortly thereafter on flat terrain, and at 16 percent, the Polestar slows to 176 km/h (110 mph).

All right, let's get behind a truck, start a voice memo, and dictate what's still possible at full throttle: 80 to 140 km/h in roughly 14 seconds instead of the 5.2 we measured on a closed track. Sure, the power loss sounds significant, but firstly, the Polestar sprinted through six 0-to-200 km/h runs on the test track without slowing down – something a BMW i7 M70 xDrive and a Ford Mustang Mach-E GT can't claim. Secondly, it's practically never the case that you end up on a deserted highway, so we lack the experience to know how a longer stretch of driving at full power affects the electric drives of other cars.

A positive consequence for the Polestar: The 400-volt battery has warmed up and now charges faster. Before the motorway, it took 31 minutes at an outside temperature of 4°C to go from 30 to 80 percent with a maximum charging power of 127 kW. Now the display climbs to 191 kW, and the SOC increases from 14 to 51 percent in 17 minutes.

For entertainment while charging, you can use the YouTube app. Or, in this case, the consumption statistics, which show an average of 65.7 kWh for the last 100 kilometers. The ams test consumption was 26.9 kWh/100 km, resulting in a range of 434 kilometers; 500 km on our fuel-efficient Eco route.

Now we turn onto a mountain road, perhaps to discover unexpected entertainment in the new, larger Polestar. In the relaxed ESP mode, the drive system happily gives the all-wheel-drive car a bit of rear-end thrust, livening up the ride. However, the agility isn't consistent, with some oversteer impulses coming unannounced. A nice try, but it's still as expected with a 2,579 kg curb weight: The driving pleasure is primarily driven by the powerful engine duo, which can also tow a trailer load of up to 2,200 kg.

When setting off, the cars always start in range mode, in which the rear motor only operates when needed. Even at full power, they don't really move forward quickly in this mode; for a quick sprint, you first have to activate full power on the touchscreen. A lot of touching is involved anyway: Check out the test of the Volvo EX30 in this issue; most of it also applies to this related Polestar. Okay, its steering wheel buttons work a bit differently, and if you look at the bottom of the large, portrait touchscreen, you can see a lot of the footwell but nothing of the road.

The monitor also controls the activation of the single-pedal mode. In this mode, recuperation kicks in quickly enough, and the SUV usually comes to a stop smoothly. With the brake pedal, however, it's almost never completely smooth, even with full concentration, which reduces comfort in city driving. However, deceleration performance is very good: 100 to 0 km/h in 34 meters.

Suspension comfort is also decent, except for a somewhat firm note. The front seats are comfortably contoured, and the outer seats in the generously sized rear are heated. The cabin also remains podcast-friendly at 70 dB(A) up to about 180 km/h (112 mph); only above that do you have to crank up the volume a bit.

The Polestar 3 offers comfort assistance with active lane guidance, which, despite the capacitive steering wheel, sometimes fails with the message "No hands detected on the steering wheel." The infotainment system is also a bit of a nuisance: While the smartphone pairs reliably, on some trips the music played through the phone speakers even though the controls were running on the screen. And if the Polestar 3 is plugged into the charger overnight, it displays a battery level of 99 percent after the door is opened and then starts charging again. Polestar is working on a solution. Software developers would probably stick "Beta" on the doors for such errors.