Polestar 3

Published · Researched 2026-09-21

Polestar 3: Great Car, Shipped Unfinished

The Polestar 3 is the best-driving electric SUV almost nobody should have bought in 2024. Underneath the digital chaos beats a genuinely excellent car — sharp handling, a premium cabin, real presence. But Polestar shipped it before the software was done, and the owners spent the first year as unpaid beta testers.

What it is: Polestar's flagship SUV, built on the shared Volvo SPA2 platform, aimed squarely at the BMW iX and Audi Q6 e-tron. Dual-motor all-wheel drive, around 350 miles of range, priced from $67,500. For 2026 it got a serious under-the-skin overhaul: new batteries, new motors, 800-volt electrics, and — the tell — a whole new computer fitted specifically to fix the software bugs.

What's genuinely good: when the screens behave, this thing is superb. MotorTrend's testers say it handles like a Porsche — "only a half-step behind" the Macan EV — without punishing the ride. The long-term owner reports back it up: fantastic drive, comfortable enough to do 400 miles and step out fresh, a genuinely premium interior, 230 miles from an 80% charge in real use. The packaging, the materials, the design — all finalist-grade. Nobody disputes the hardware.

What's actually wrong: the launch software was a disgrace, and that's not too strong a word. Eight of the twelve steering-wheel buttons did nothing for the first year — volume, track skip, the basics — labeled "Coming Soon" on a $70,000 car. The digital key failed and needed dealer visits. Random sensor malfunctions. Software-imposed speed limits. MotorTrend's judges had to yank the exterior door handles up to five times to get in, and the Performance model's key card simply wasn't recognized — while it rained, with the windows stuck down because they won't roll up unless the car is on. InsideEVs was promised steering-wheel music controls "coming soon" in September 2024; eighteen months later they still weren't there, now deferred to an update after the 2027 refresh. A car company that can't make the volume button work is selling you a roadmap, not a car.

The hardware had its own horror story: one UK owner's 2024 car suffered water ingress into the main wiring harness, throwing warning lights and deactivating safety systems — then waited six months for a replacement loom. The onboard charger failed at three months. Months for parts, both times. And the recalls: 3,664 US cars recalled because the rearview camera software didn't show the camera when you selected reverse — part of a camera-software saga that also dragged in tens of thousands of Polestar 2s across three separate recalls. Polestar's software chief left the company this summer. Draw your own conclusions.

The social pulse: there is no big Polestar 3 owners club — the car's community lives on Reddit's r/polestar3 and in the comment sections, and the tone is weary rather than furious. Early owners sound like people who love the car and resent the company: proud of the drive, exhausted by the debugging. The press went from brutal (2024) to cautiously optimistic (2026 refresh), which mirrors the OTA trajectory — the updates genuinely helped, they just arrived a year late.

Value call: a new 2026 runs £69,990 to £91,990 in the UK (US pricing unconfirmed at this writing), and it's the first Polestar 3 I'd actually recommend — new computer, 800V charging, new batteries and motors. That's the car it should have been at launch. The sweet spot, paradoxically, might be a used 2024 at the right price: someone else endured the beta year, the OTAs have landed, and EV depreciation is brutal — but only if every recall is confirmed done, every update applied, and you go in eyes open about parts delays. Skip the 2024 at anything close to original pricing; that's paying full fare for the unfinished version. The 2025 sits in between — improved, but still the old computer. Against the iX and the EQE SUV, the Polestar 3's case was always design and dynamics; now, finally, the electronics might deserve the badge too.

The honest tradeoff: the best-driving EV SUV of the bunch, from the company least equipped to support it — buy the 2026, or buy someone else's 2024 at a discount and keep the service center on speed dial.