Polestar 3 Arctic Circle review: Polestar builds a one-off polar special, simply because it can

Polestar didn’t look too far for inspiration here, did it?

What, you mean ‘Swedish car company designing cars to excel above the Arctic Circle’ isn’t exactly a radical departure? Whatever next – Ikea designing a store that’s confusing to find your way around? Volvo claiming safety kinda matters?

Exactly, and the mods are fairly route one by the look of it.

What, you mean a Swedish car company fitting a roofrack and lightbar isn’t exactly… sorry. This is the Polestar 3 Arctic Circle, one of a collection of three specials (the others being built off a 2 and 4), each designed to emphasise the characteristics of the standard car.

The 3 is Polestar’s chunky family SUV, so it gets kitted out for backcountry adventure, while the more dynamic 2 and 4 are equipped with features such as fully switchable traction and launch control, a hydraulic handbrake and lower suspension lifts.

Bet they’re fitted with Ohlins dampers too?

… and OZ rally wheels, studded Pirelli Scorpion winter tyres, fixed back Recaro seats, Stedi spot lights and gold tow hooks. All that’s missing is a roll cage and an entry to Rally Sweden. Your move Polestar.

If these cars could be said to have a father, it’s Polestar’s mildly obsessive, entirely cheerful Head of Driving Dynamics, Joakim Rydholm. This is a man who has been known to travel around test tracks harnessed in the boot of cars while trying to track down squeaks and vibrations, “and sometimes sat in the frunk too, touching damper mounts and bushings with my fingers”. Rallying since he was in short trousers, Polestar’s reputation for clean, crisp dynamics is entirely down to him.

Can we expect rallying Polestars in the future, then?

I suspect Rydholm’s desire to give us exactly that runs into conflict with several departments at Polestar, including finance, product planning, sales and design. What Polestar offers is cool, calm design with cool, calm dynamics. And despite appearances, these don’t stray too far from that template.

Of course not, because not much has been done to them!

Well, you say that but as I mentioned earlier Rydholm is an obsessive. He could have just fitted longer springs to get the suspension lift and had done with it – these are one-offs after all, we’d have understood and forgiven him.

But no, during development of the standard cars he’d worked out exactly where he’d put extra suspension bracing if he was ever allowed, and now he’s done it. Despite the CEO specifically telling him not to mess around with bits of metalwork that would interfere with practicality, the 2 now wears a strut brace across the boot and the frunks of all three are interrupted by strengthening bars linking damper mounts to crash structure.

Does all this make a difference?

Mainly to the car’s attitude and your confidence. The road-going 3 is low slung for a full size SUV, but the Arctic Circle has been lifted 40mm using bespoke springs and three-way adjustable Ohlins dampers. Each tyre wears 300 4mm studs – the knuckle dusters of tyre technology – over 20-inch OZ wheels. Overall it looks tough. Not aggressive, but built for the conditions.

Admittedly not as go-anywhere as a snowmobile, but as long as there’s some form of track, it’ll crack on. Getting in is a squeeze between fixed Recaro and steering wheel, and you sit noticeably higher. Otherwise the cabin is little changed, it’s clean and elegant in here – treading a great line between Tesla’s simplicity and the overwrought approach of most German brands.

How does it drive?

It’s peaceful in the far north of Sweden. So still and quiet that even the landscape seems to be hibernating. Electric power is perfect here, no nasty, polluting hydrocarbons pumping into the pristine air, no vapour clouds or noise.

Apart from a crackle of studs on the surface at low speed, handing over to a slight roofrack whistle, progress is super smooth. A coating of snow on the roads has that effect, dulling noise. But the ride is majestic, gliding above the surface on those expensive shocks (“they’re ten times the price of conventional dampers” Rydholm tells me). It comes across as plush and composed, dignified without being aloof.

But that’s not the only point here. This is Polestar proving it can build cars capable of coping with Arctic conditions. “There’s no better test environment for cars than this,” Rydholm says. “If they can cope with -35 Celsius, if the rubber bushings are still good and heating pipes are quiet, if it all works here, it’ll work anywhere else”.

Any intention of putting it into production?

It’s a bit of fun, but no. This is not an indicator of future direction. But as a car to deliver confidence in an environment that quickly turns hostile when the sun goes down, the temperature plummets still further and the nearest town is an hour away, it’s hard to beat. Next time let’s have some heating elements in the Recaros, though.

And yeah, range does suffer up here. But this is Sweden, the charging network rocks.