BMW iX vs Polestar 3

The BMW iX costs £1,865 more than the Polestar 3. For that premium it adds 52 miles more WLTP range, 155 kW more power and a 2.9s quicker 0-62mph time. The Polestar 3 is not just cheaper - it also offers 115 kW faster peak rapid charging. On EVcarsguide's combined category scores, the BMW iX comes out ahead overall.

The Polestar 3 is £1,865 cheaper to buy. The BMW iX is cheaper to charge, roughly £152 a year versus £192 for the Polestar 3, at 8,000 miles on an off-peak home tariff. Add 5 years of charging and the Polestar 3 comes out roughly £1,665 cheaper overall. These figures cover list price and home charging only - insurance, servicing, tyres and depreciation will move the real total.

EVcarsguide estimates a real-world motorway range of about 355 miles for the BMW iX and 257 miles for the Polestar 3 - both below their WLTP figures, because sustained high speed is the hardest case for an EV. The BMW iX goes roughly 98 miles further between charging stops. A rapid charge to 80% takes around 35 minutes in the BMW iX and 22 in the Polestar 3, so the Polestar 3 loses less time at each stop. So the BMW iX stops less often while the Polestar 3 stops for less time - pick on which you would rather do.

The two are within 2 mm on width, so neither is meaningfully easier to thread into a tight space. In a standard 2,400 mm bay that leaves about 432 mm of total clearance for the Polestar 3 and about 430 mm of total clearance for the BMW iX. The Polestar 3 also turns in a 1.0 m tighter circle, which helps with U-turns and multi-storey ramps.

Over a 8-year ownership window EVcarsguide's degradation model projects roughly 84% battery health for the BMW iX and 84% for the Polestar 3. That is close enough that capacity loss should not decide between them. Both use NMC-type cells, so for daily use keep the charge limit near 80% to slow degradation. Both batteries carry a 8-year manufacturer warranty.