Polestar 3: The Video Review - Tasmanian Road Trip

If our recent Polestar 3 story seemed like a glowing love letter to Polestar, it was, just a bit, because Polestar 3 does everything right, absolutely everything. I suggest you also read that article to get a properly pucker picture of the charismatic carriage.

The 2024 launch model is to be updated in 2025 with the addition of a couple of tasty inclusions such as the debut of Lidar and active noise cancelation. Are you better off waiting for MY 25? Hello no! The MY24 Polestar 3 has a whole pack for free, a big one. And, who doesn’t like a big package?

Cheeky Polestar is sticking two fingers up at the Germans, daring them to follow, but will the punters buy in to the ideal? Polestar 3 is the most expensive Polestar ever and a huge risk to the fledgling car maker.

Outside:

The 2024 launch edition comes as a well equipped large electric SUV with hints of Bauhaus, Art Deco, and mid-century Scandi chic.

Designer, Nahum Escobedo (think Karl Lagerfeld but younger and cuter, with black hair), had a Chanel moment, removing anything that wasn’t needed, including mirror knobs and much of the vehicle height. While cleverly keeping feet dry with 201mm of ground clearance, Polestar 3 makes a mockery of the clumsy coupé-style SUVs from Mercedes, BMW and Audi. The latter manage to half-bake their puddings by trying to make an SUV into a sports car, and failing miserably. Polestar seems to have gone about it the other way round with a big, blousy, HOORAH! Nahum insisted the Volvo P1800 was not part of his inspiration, but when I asked him, I detected a glint in his eye. We had just finished a vegan dinner so perhaps it was just gas.

Polestar 3’s exterior highlights include discrete wings front and back, with smaller wings at the lower rear corners and all are functional as well as beautiful. Nahum explains that he had to fight to get the wing along the upper edge of the bonnet, so he’d probably been told it hadn’t been done before, good enough reason to actually do it.

We’re told that there are soft-close doors as befits all kings and queens, but we were too cold to notice.

Everything about the exterior is architecturally precise, executed with artistic mastery that even Davinci would admire. If the bodacious body prompts passion, then the cabin is the apré session cigar

Above: This Week’s VIDEO Car Review – 2024 Polestar 3 Launch – full review and drive. BEST EV YET? TASMANIAN ROAD TRIP

@polestar, #polestar3, #gaypolestar, #alanzurvas, #gaycarboys

ABOVE: 2024 Polestar 3 Launch – full review and drive. BEST EV YET?

The cabin:

The EV’s SPA2 debuted in Volvo’s EX 90 and will carry both brands into a sunlit future. It allows Polestar 3 to inherit technology from Volvo while adding the performance, and a certain je ne sais quoi.

Materials inside and out are eco-friendly. There are eco-leather and eco-plastics, aluminium that has been recycled or repurposed, and wool fabric that has been prepared with a kind-to-polar-bear ethos in mind.

Entering Polestar 3 is sensed remotely by the car if you carry the key fob or the (soon to be available) electronic phone key. There are 2 credit card sized tokens that can be touched against the door handle for entry, then placed on the phone charger to activate the system. Using the former means the car can be put in gear as soon as a driver is in the seat and a foot on the brake.

Thankfully Polestar did not try to shove a 3^rd row in the boot. It is never a success, becoming a place to put people you dislike as a cruel and unusual punishment. 2^nd row travelers are treated to heated seats and privacy glass, as well as a 3^rd climate zone. There is no luxury more welcome than space, and Polestar 3 has bags of it for back seat passengers. The floor is high enough that you can easily execute an elegant egress even though the roof slopes noticeably as it arcs towards the rear. You might think it ruins accommodations back there, but not a bit of it. It is a cosy spot for 2 (3, if you’re into that that sort of thing)

The front seats have been lavished with both heating and cooling, and massage added for good measure.

The Drive:

Unlike ICE cars, EVs (also known as BEVs) retain grace at pace without the ludicrous caterwaul of exploding dinosaur. In its place is an elegant machine with only one moving part. It spins so fast that a single gear reduces an effect that would otherwise paint the rear window with bits of passengers.

The CATL battery could well be a game changer as the new versions seem to be outlasting expectation with rumours of a million KM warranty. The 250kw DC charging should make road trips easier, provided the fast-charging outlets cooperate.

When you park, the Polestar 3 will monitor the cabin, and if it detects a pet or child will turn the AC on. But you would never be that careless, would you?

Our drive through some of the most beautiful Tasmanian countryside is the stuff of bucket lists

Our true Heathcliff and Cathy moment came as we glided along in near silence with air suspension set in comfort. The bright sun was enveloped by dark and brooding clouds, and within moments we were lashed by sheets of freezing cold rain. Polestar 3 noted the drop in temperature and acted accordingly.

Unless you upgrade to ethically sourced Nappa, you ride on material made without fossil fuels or wool that is kind to dolphins. The gentle massage is aided by cooling or heating inside the cushion, and hands are kept toasty with steering wheel heating. The weather turned turtle but the Zen of Polestar 3’s cosy cabin shrugged it off, shielded from reality.

1-pedal driving has a virtual button on the centre screen but it was far nicer to coast, unless in the city.

As for the afore-mentioned air suspension, it can raise or lower depending on need, which includes loading the boot. For our purposes it kept the hefty SUV both comfortable and tidy in even the most urgent of bends. Although there was no thumping or banging, the noise cancellation of the MY 25 Polestar 3 is an alluring offer too good to refuse.

My driving companion preferred a firmer steering feel (and country and western music, god forbid) so we just left it there. Since electric steering can only simulate road feel, I want the lightest of touches because I know the big SUV will go where it is commanded.

Driving from the top to the bottom of Tasmania was a proper shake-down. There were no rattles and the body was tight and firm. If there were any annoyances, they were soon seen off by a frisky frolic. Only now and then was the 2.5 tonne heft noticed, and even then, was controlled and well-tempered.

Conclusion:

Volvo and Polestar have been skirting the garden fence of the luxury estate, looking longingly through the locked gates as it passed. Now it can park smugly next to the Roller with pride. Polestar is trying to redefine the meaning of luxury, showing us that wood and leather needn’t mean ruining the environment. The metals use recycled content too, so “Eco” is not just a word.

Have I found my new favourite car?

@polestar, #polestar3, #gaypolestar, #alanzurvas, #gaycarboys

#polestar, #polestar3, #gaypolestar, #alanzurvas, #gaycarboys

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