My Polestar 3 went from being a pain in the rear to the perfect family car overnight

Living with a Polestar 3 report 2: two months in

Cars never used to completely change part way through your time with them, I’m sure of it.

I’m hardly old, but having driven thousands of different cars as a motoring journalist over the years, cars used to start off a certain way and pretty much remain like that until you handed them back. Not any longer.

We took delivery of our Polestar 3 having driven two other examples extensively in our review and range test videos, and both behaved impeccably. However, the 3 dropped off for our six-month test was instantly a pain in the arse.

To explain, it still drove every bit as well and was just as spacious and high quality inside as those other 3s, but its software gremlins were enough to drive me mad. Literally, I suppose.

First the car wouldn’t always recognise the key, so you’d need to open Polestar’s app and manually unlock the car that way. No app, no getting in the car.

Then the car would make a decision each morning; can I be bothered to offer Apple CarPlay today? It might do, but it usually wouldn’t.

But by far the most infuriating was intermittently blank infotainment screen and driver’s dials. The car would open and drive as usual, but would display nothing at all on its displays.

And, because everything is operated through the main infotainment screen, that meant you could control…nothing at all.

I was a bit gutted. The cars we’d driven before didn’t suffer any of these problems, and so much of the car was still great. Thankfully, the solution was just around the corner.

I jumped online and found that there was an imminent software update, thanks to plenty of other owners complaining of similar problems. This was downloaded to the car overnight, over the air, and in the morning it was as though I had walked up to a different vehicle.

It opened immediately. It connected to my iPhone immediately. The system was quicker to fire, snappier to respond and I haven’t experienced a blank screen since. One update, one car transformed.

We usually write one of these updates one month into running a car, but I wanted to give it an extra month to make absolutely sure the update stuck, and I’m happy to report it certainly has.

And now the 3 is back to its best, we’ve lined up its direct rivals – the BMW iX, Kia EV9, Hyundai Ioniq 9 and Volvo EX90 – to compare it against in every area, from the way it drives to its software and what it’s like to be a passenger.

The video will go live on our YouTube channel very soon. I’ll be back here to update you on how it went plus how the 3s range is holding up this winter after a few more hundred miles on mixed roads.

Living with a Polestar 3 report 1: introduction

I am a huge fan of Polestar and what it stands for. Of all the manufacturers that sell electric cars, I think it does the best job of being honest with its impact on the environment.

I think its cars look great on the outside, and because they are based on Volvos and use similar materials, they are superb to sit in too.

It’s also a brand that doesn’t attract bad vibes on the road – for whatever reason, people don’t seem offended by Polestars as they often can be with certain German motors.

We’ve already filmed the 3’s review and we all loved it. We’ve also filmed an electric car range video and the 3 went the furthest of any SUV we’d ever tested. So, I am really excited to spend some more time getting to know it.

In fact, that range test is why I opted for the single-motor version with its 111kWh battery, a combination that should mean nearly 400 miles of range, even on the motorway.

The car looks great in its silver-gold paint called ‘Jupiter’ and I love a light-coloured interior, so it had to be the white leather, which Polestar calls ‘zinc’ – although I might regret it with my three kids.

Of all the options available, though, there was one that could not be ignored. I love music and after driving the 3 briefly on our other tests I found it had the best sound system of any car on earth. No, really, the entire earth.

This incredible Bowers & Wilkins system costs £3,400 as a standalone option or can be had as part of a pack. It has 25 speakers, produces 1,610 watts of power and brings noise cancellation tech, speakers in the front headrests and even Dolby Atmos surround sound.

At this point you are essentially sat in a moving cinema, plus the system was dialled in at none other than Abbey Road Studios – you may have heard of it. It’s expensive if you’re paying cash, but doesn’t add much if you’re paying monthly and will really help the car’s residuals.

With so many positives, I’m struggling to see how this Polestar 3 could annoy me, but let the next six months of Polestar life commence to find out.

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