Few brands have needed a car as badly as Polestar needs the Polestar 3. The Polestar 1 was cool in a wholly irrational and impractical way, more of a statement of intent than a viable product. The Polestar 2 was a much more serious market proposition and a legitimately great car. But a tall, sporty sedan was never going to be more than a niche contender. It certainly wasn’t something to build a brand upon.

The Polestar 3 was meant to be the thing that would really open doors — a mass-market machine to fill the needs and wants of buyers looking for an all-electric SUV with proper dimensions, avant-garde styling and bright yellow seatbelts. But it was supposed to be here in 2023. Now, as the clock starts to wind down on 2024, it's finally arriving at dealerships.

The good news is that it's great. But is it great enough?

The Polestar 3 can be cynically thought of as the five-passenger flavor of Volvo's three-row EX90. The EX90 has likewise had a troubled gestation. It’s almost a fraternal twin to the Polestar, similarly tangled up in a mire of software delays, then further complicated by an evolving set of international tariffs targeting Chinese-built EVs.

Tim Stevens for Engadget

The Polestar 3 shares the same platform, motors, basic layout and technology as the Volvo. Its specs are, therefore, quite similar: The EX90 makes 402 horsepower and 568 foot-pounds of torque on the base model, stepping up to 510 hp and 671 lb-ft of torque in the Twin Motor Performance trim.The Polestar 3, meanwhile, makes 489 hp and 620 lb-ft in the base, Long Range Dual Motor version, or 517 hp and 671 lb-ft when you add on the Performance Pack. While the Polestar 3's base has considerably more shove, on the top-shelf flavor, they're basically neck-and-neck.

The pricing is significantly different, though. Where the EX90 starts at $79,995 for a base Plus and goes up to $84,345 for the Plus trim with the Performance option, the Polestar 3 starts at $73,400 for the base Long range Dual motor model. When you factor in the Performance pack, that brings the starting price up to $79,400. You can also add on a few upgrades, including the Plus pack with a Dolby Atmos sound system from Bowers & Wilkins for $5,000.

I drove both models, starting with a non-Performance Launch Edition, which includes the Pilot and Plus options packages, all the active safety goodies and many other lifestyle features. Add on $2,300 for 22-inch wheels, and that SUV came to $82,800 after a $1,400 destination charge.

The Performance model that I drove had yet more options, including $1,300 for the metallic Thunder paint (an evocative name for dark gray). With a whopping $5,500 for the ventilated Nappa leather, the price goes up to $93,100 after the $1,400 destination charge.

Why the price difference for basically the same car as the Volvo? The primary difference is the Luminar Lidar pod on the roof of every EX90. That'll be an option on the Polestar 3 for those who really want to spend $5,000 more. Its absence makes for a considerable cost reduction despite having no loss in immediate functionality. On the Volvo, that sensor won't even be switched on until sometime next year, and who knows when it'll actually start feeding into the safety system.

Even without the Lidar, the Polestar 3 has a comprehensive set of sensors, including a 360-degree camera, ultrasonic sensors for parking and even active driver monitoring. The Pilot package, which comes standard, does a nice job of keeping the vehicle centered on roads of all sorts. It also includes active driver monitoring to ensure you stay focused on the road ahead and not the beauty of the Grand Tetons, which often distracted me on my day behind the wheel of this new SUV.

Polestar

The in-car experience is dominated by a 14.5-inch portrait touchscreen in the middle of the dash. The look and feel is quite similar to the current Polestar experience but with refreshed visuals and more comprehensive functionality. Thanks to Android Automotive, you have things like Google Maps, YouTube Music and Google Assistant baked right into the car. For the Android faithful, this is a boon. One sign-in means you have everything from your address book to your guilty pleasure music playlists at your fingertips, even if you forgot your phone in your office.

The UI refinements are subtle but welcome, making it easier to get to common controls, like increasing brake regen or cycling the heated and ventilated seats. There's also a small gauge cluster behind the wheel, which has a few different views, and thankfully now includes a proper navigation view. If that's not enough, a heads-up display is standard on the launch edition.

That's, again, all quite similar to the EX90. The most significant difference between the two is the look. While the Volvo has a clean and fresh exterior, which is a robust new face for the brand, its stately air won't resonate with everybody. The Polestar 3 is much more aggressive, from the cheeky wing on the hood to the pronounced fenders at the rear. Despite being roughly the same size, it looks far more svelte and offers a fair bit more character than the Volvo.

The Polestar 3 also feels much roomier inside. That's the benefit of shifting from three rows to two. Obviously, it won't do you much good if you need to haul more than five people, but if your shuttling duties are less demanding, the Polestar 3 offers more commodious seating.

It's also slightly more engaging to drive. While the throttle curve is surprisingly relaxed, requiring a deep application of the go pedal to get the car going, once you get in there the SUV leaps forward. The steering is wonderfully sharp, if a bit numb, paired with engaging handling for a machine of this stature.

Polestar

I have to say, though, that I didn't find the extra horsepower and torque of the Performance model particularly compelling. It definitely accelerates more quickly, but both models run out of steam at higher speeds, surging forward and then falling a bit flat. It was quick and fun when zipping through traffic though, or making the most of short passing zones.

The Polestar 3 is just as good at cruising calmly. It's quiet and smooth at speed, providing a great sound stage for the optional 25-speaker, 1,610-watt Bowers & Wilkins sound system with Dolby Atmos. The front seats are supportive yet comfortable. Heating and ventilation are great, and the ability to enable both simultaneously is a rare treat, giving a bit more intensity to the warmth. The heated steering wheel is also quite toasty, but annoyingly, it is not a standard feature. It's part of the Plus pack.

Thankfully, a heat pump is standard fare, something that should help this SUV deliver better range in cold weather. In ideal conditions, the Polestar 3 will do up to 315 miles on a charge, per the EPA, out of its 111-kilowatt-hour (107 usable) battery.

Like on my first drive of the EX90, I did experience a few software glitches here. Early on in the drive, the Polestar 3 said it could not detect my hands despite them definitely being on the steering wheel. Thankfully, that issue righted itself quickly, but later in the day we got another, more troubling warning: "Driver support system fault. Book a service." That alert, too, disappeared a moment later.

As with the Volvo, I'm sure these issues will be fixed in short order. They'd better be, at least, because the first Polestar 3 SUVs are hitting dealerships any day now. The first shipment was built in China, but future models will come from Volvo's factory near Charleston, South Carolina, where they'll share a line with the EX90.

Which is the better of the two SUVs? It really comes down to how many seats you need and whether you're willing to spend more for a Lidar sensor that might, someday, provide more advanced driver assistance functionality. Both models are shaping up to be solid SUVs, and that's excellent news for Polestar. It desperately needed this car to be great, and minus those few software glitches, it is.