If you attended the Fully Charged Show Live 2023 (South or North) then you may have seen the Polestar 3 on display. The long awaited follow-up to the Polestar 2 is quite a different vehicle. But is it any good?
In this blog post I will take a closer, scrutinising look at this new vehicle and see if it can live up to the, frankly, amazing Polestar 2.
Just Who Are Polestar?
Before getting into the nitty gritty of the cars themselves, you may not know too much about the people behind them. Polestar are still in relative infancy as a stand-alone entity. In fact, their first car, the Polestar one as you may have guessed, was manufactured in 2017 and only in a very limited quantity.
Polestar’s origins can be traced back to 1996 where they started off life as a racing team in Sweden. Their original name was Flash Engineering before they rebranded as Polestar Racing in 2000. Although they did not produce any production car until 2017, Polestar did come up with several concept designs involving Volvo vehicles.
In case you are wondering, Volvo and Chinese manufacturer Geely, currently own Polestar and are behind the current revolution of the brand. After seeing that the Polestar 1 showed real promise, work began on the Polestar 2 which was released in 2020. Three years later and we are ready for the third instalment of the production vehicles to hit the roads.
The First Mass Production Car
The Polestar 2 was the first production car to be released by the company and it was very well received. A cross between a saloon and a low backed SUV, the Polestar 2 showed just what the new EV manufacturer, albeit with vast car experience, could produce.
Not only did the car look pretty spectacular, it also had a fantastic performance to boot. There is a real world range of around 245 miles, a top speed of 127mph and a really quick 0-60mph time of 4.4 seconds. You can really feel the torque kick in when your foot goes down on the accelerator.
To demonstrate how good this car is, Jack Scarlett, the presenter from Fully Charged, is a proud Polestar 2 owner. This a man who not only understands electric cars, he is also quite particular about the cars that he drives. I would say that this is glowing praise indeed.
The Third Generation
Polestar was proud to show off their new baby at the Fully Charged Live events this year. They should be too. This is a fantastic car. Where the Polestar 2 was quite low at the back for an SUV, this version goes fully into the SUV territory with a much bigger rear end.
Polestar have gone all out for sustainability in their new vehicle. Most of the car is built using recycled materials. Plus, of course, it is electric, so no fossil fuel burning can be seen here. Safety is another great feature, which you would expect from a manufacturer which is part owned by Volvo. Plenty of cameras and use of a Lidar system means that the car is fully aware of the surrounding world. This is a vehicle that is autonomous driving ready.
The performance of the Polestar 3 is where it really impresses. Sitting underneath the vehicle is a whopping 107kWh of usable battery which really give the car some great stats. The quoted range, which I believe is the WLTP range, is an incredible 379 miles. Its 0-60mph time is only slightly behind that of the slightly smaller Polestar 2 at 4.9 seconds (or 4.6 seconds with the performance pack). This is a serious EV that is going to make a real impact in the automotive world.
Want a Polestar 2?
At the time of writing, we have a Polestar 2 available to buy straight away. This is such a fun car to drive and it has one hell of an acceleration kick to it. Comfortable and great performer all mixed into a stunning exterior. If you’re looking for a safe and high quality electric car, then this should be on your shortlist.
Missed out on this Polestar 2? Never mind. Keep an eye on our website and you may see some more appearing soon. We also have an excellent range of other electric cars that may tempt you while you wait.