Mercedes-Benz GLE-Class vs Polestar 3

What's the difference?

If you can get past the relatively steep asking price, the design appeals to you, and its slightly last-gen ergonomics work for you, then there’s a lot to like about the GLE. It’s a big, capable and comfortable cruiser, but given there are cheaper and more efficient options around, it would be a decision of the heart rather than the head.

There’s some clever design work here and some gorgeous detailing that gives the Polestar 3 a bit of an edge compared with some of its less inspired opposition. It features a truly spacious interior and it’s more than just decent to drive with, frankly, astonishing performance in 500kW Performance form. Even the entry-level Rear Motor has plenty of oomph and could be argued to be the more intelligent choice.

But the interior layout with its melange of menu-driven functions to control basic, everyday functions is annoying and does the car no favours. Not to mention it’s simply not the Scandinavian way to place form before function.

Meantime the overall performance, dynamics and accommodation of the Polestar 3 place it pretty high on the totem of electric SUVs that actually move the game forward somewhat, and that’s largely down to that 800-volt architecture that brings faster charging and better range.

It doesn’t solve all the issues of modern car making, but as a step closer to Polestar’s ultimate aim of a climate-neutral motor vehicle, it’s a move in the right direction.

Note: CarsGuide attended this event as a guest of the manufacturer with meals provided.

The GLE hasn’t changed massively since 2019, but sleeker lights and some tweaks around the face have helped it age relatively gracefully. As much as a 2.4-tonne SUV can be graceful.

There are still references to the original ML-Class the GLE succeeded, like the ‘coupe’ shape of the C-pillar that betrays the true SUV shape of the GLE.

The reshaped front-end has less black plastic on show, and its grille stays true to the pre-facelift design.

Inside, it’s just the steering wheel that’s new, everything else holds up well in terms of a design that’s also practical, though some would say it looks outdated given the many physical controls.

If you ignore the Scandi detailing, the Polestar 3 soon emerges as a fairly conventional looking family SUV. Again, the detailing is quite exquisite in places, and that’s what lifts this car a little above the pack. Interestingly, and even though there’s not a Volvo badge to be seen, the 3 retains the shouldered C-pillar design cue that Volvo made its own way back in the 1990s.

Inside, it’s all pretty minimal (in a luxe kind of way) with perforated trim materials, and seats designed with contrast colours to appear (we imagine) as though they’re floating in space.

The GLE is very easy to use because of those physical controls.

Save for the trackpad in the centre console that can be used like a laptop’s control mat - it’s a little fiddly - everything is easy to locate and adjust and the controls feel nice. The switches along the climate control row all feel nice and clicky, buttons in the centre console are big and obvious, and even the steering wheel’s haptic buttons are laid out sensibly.

The touchscreen’s software has been updated since launch during the facelift and it’s easy to navigate, but wireless Android Auto or Apple CarPlay are a good workaround.

The front seats, as well as being comfortable, are adjustable to an impressive degree for finding your driving position and there’s plenty of room and light to make the cockpit feel airy.

Storage isn’t at a premium, there’s plenty of space in door cards, the central storage bin, and the cupholders and phone charger can be hidden away.

Behind the front row, rear seat space is ample, though if you opt for seven seats the second row can be moved to accommodate a third row of passengers when needed.

In our test car, that isn’t the case, so the GLE’s cavernous 630 litres of boot storage is available. The second row can split 40/20/40, which is convenient for loading long items while four passengers are present.

Oh, but under the boot floor, despite some extra room for bits and pieces, no spare tyre. Big marks down for a car that absolutely has the space for one.

The 'skateboard’ construction of many EVs (including this one) where the motors are placed between the wheels and the battery is completely under the floor, gives great scope for novel interior layouts.

In the Polestar’s case, that means a flat floor that really opens up the space, particularly in the rear seat. Speaking of which, while there are three seat belts in the back, the rear-seat cupholders – housed in the fold-down centre armrest - are only available with the centre-rear spot empty.

The interior, however, is vast and Polestar’s decision to make this a strict five-seater with no third row means there’s acres of stretching room. It’s airy and light, too, thanks to the panoramic sunroof and the minimalist arrangement of screens and controls.

But that does have a knock-on effect when it comes to actually using the vehicle. That relative lack of buttons and switches means the Polestar relies heavily on its centre screen as a control panel. And for our money, that’s too much reliance.

Let’s start with adjusting the mirrors – what should be an easy, simple and quick job. To do that in the Polestar, you first need to find the mirror/steering-column button on the centre screen (the two functions are on the same `circuit’). You then need to tap the mirror button, identify which mirror you want to adjust and then move to the toggles on the steering wheel to actually manipulate the mirror in question. That makes it a five or six button job when there was noting wrong with a small toggle on the driver’s armrest in so many other cars.

Then there’s the gear selector and cruise-control lever. Yes, they’re one and the same. Once you’ve selected Drive on the wand and the car is moving, the same lever becomes the cruise switch. You pull it down to engage cruise and then switch back to the steering wheel buttons to control the speed setting. Annoyingly, the lane-keeping assistance is hard-wired on when ever the cruise control is engaged, too.

But the proof that somebody has thought about this too hard comes in the form of a button on the centre screen (which you need to be on the correct page to find) to open the glove box! In a world where carmakers like VW are promising more buttons and less menus, this move by Polestar seems destined to be short lived. Let’s hope so.

Boot space is pretty substantial with 597 litres that includes a 90-litre storage area under the boot floor (where the CCS2 charge cable lives). Fold the rear seat down and that opens up to 1411 litres and there’s a storage space in the frunk that holds just shy of 24 litres of gear and has its own luggage cover. The rear seat is split 60/40 and there’s a ski hatch and a 12-volt socket in the cargo area, too.

The 800-volt architecture also has some practicality implications, too, starting with the potential for faster charging (up to 350kW). But 800 volts also makes for the same power output at lower current, meaning there’s less electrical resistance, so greater overall efficiency. The Polestar 3 is by no means the first to market with 800 volts up its sleeve, but it’s still a step up from the previous version with its more common 400-volt tech.

The Polestar 3 range in Australia is a three-tier deal, kicking off with the Rear Motor, Dual Motor and Performance with prices of $116,700, $131,100 and $146,700 before on-road costs. That makes the entry-level car cheaper (down $1720) than the one it replaces, but Polestar has also moved to make the previously optional (at $9000) Plus Pack standard across the range now.

As well as the driveline and battery pack differences which we’ll get to, one of the main trim variations includes seat-belt colour (true). But there’s also a long list of standard kit, including:

• 20-inch alloy wheels (22 inch on the Performance version)
• Glass roof panel (a sunshade is a $390 option)
• Active LED lighting
• Puddle lights
• Daytime running lights
• Soft-close doors
• Rain sensing wipers with heated blades (thank you Scandinavian winters)
• Kick-operated tailgate
• 10-way powered seats (12-way if you choose the Nappa leather option)
• Heated, cooled and massaging front seats
• Tri-zone climate-control (which uses a heat pump)
• Power-adjustable steering-column
• Wireless phone charging
• Wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto connectivity
• 60/40 split rear seat with a ski-port
• 9.0 inch driver’s screen
• 14.5 inch centre screen
• Head-up display
• Digital radio and Bluetooth

The now-standard Plus Pack is a great addition, too, and brings the 1610 Watt Bowers & Wilkins stereo with no less than 25 speakers and active noise cancelling. The Pilot Pack which includes adaptive cruise-control, a 360-degree camera and 3D view, pilot assist, curve speed assist, lane change assist and park assistant will also be standard on Australian-delivered cars.

To put it all into perspective, the similarly fleet-of-foot Kia EV6 GT is much cheaper at $99,660, and then there’s the Ford Mustang Mach-E GT at $98,490, both offering their own take on fresh, cutting-edge design.

On a dollar-for-dollar basis, the Polestar 3 Performance’s closest competitor is the BMW iX at $141,000, which provides a similar (but different) experience.

The mechanically related Volvo EX90 is more family friendly and that's priced from $124,990 to $134,990.

Then there's the forthcoming Porsche Cayenne Electric, but that's pricier still at $173,600 and topping out at $272,100.

The GLE 450d’s 3.0-litre inline six-cylinder diesel engine is turbocharged, with a healthy 270kW and a brawny 750Nm to its name. That torque peaks all the way from 1350rpm to 2800rpm, by the way. Handy.

A nine-speed automatic transmission sends drive to all four wheels ('4Matic' in Merc-talk), while a 48-volt ‘mild-hybrid' system ('EQ Boost' in Merc-talk) means take-offs and shifts are aided by a bit of electric power.

Mercedes says the GLE can dispatch the 0-100km/h sprint in just 5.6 seconds, and that feels about right.

The three specification grades of the Polestar 3 all have different performance levels, and one – the entry-level car – has rear-wheel drive versus all-wheel drive on the other two.

In the case of the Rear Motor variant, the single electric motor is located between the rear wheels and drive through a single-speed transmission. Power for the Rear Motor is 245kW, there’s 480Nm of torque and Polestar claims a 0-100km/h time of 6.5 seconds.

The Dual Motor is the first of the all-wheel-drive variants and uses an extra motor on the front axle to achieve this. When both motors are running flat out, there’s 400kW of power, 740Nm of torque and a claimed 0-100km/h time of 4.7 seconds.

With the same motors and layout – but a more aggressive `tune’ – the Performance variant features 500kW of power and a storming 870Nm of torque. Polestar says it will get you to 100km/h from rest in 3.9 seconds. When the extra performance of the second motor is not needed, the Polestar will automatically decouple that motor to improve efficiency.

The 3 uses brake-by-wire technology (where the brake pedal is electronically, rather than physically, linked to the brake hardware) and the Performance model gets adaptive air suspension versus the standard steel springs of the Rear Motor and Dual Motor versions.

A single-speed transmission is used across all Polestar 3s.

Proving that batteries are still not significantly lighter than they’ve ever been, even the single-motor version of the 3 weighs in on the wrong side of 2300kg.

Mercedes claims a 7.4L/100km combined cycle (urban/extra-urban) fuel consumption figure for the big lug, but achieving that and making the most of its large 85-litre tank is a challenge.

We averaged 8.7L/100km on test but the trip computer showed as low as 8.0L/100km at one point. Get the GLE on the highway and fuel use plummets.

Theoretically you should be able to get about 1150km from a single tank, but realistically we wouldn’t plan trips any longer than 900km between fuel stations. 

Still impressive, given that’s about the distance between Melbourne and Sydney, or Sydney and Brisbane. Roughly.

Polestar has fitted the new 3 with different drive modes aimed at maximising either acceleration or range (at the expense of each other). Even so, the range claims are based on WLTP testing and start with a claim of 604km for the Rear Motor, 635km for the Dual Motor and 593km for the Performance. The latter’s shorter range is explained by its fierce power and torque outputs which simply take more from the 106kWh battery pack. The Rear Motor’s range, meanwhile, is a function of its somewhat smaller, 92kWh battery.

Charging at home on an 11kW socket will take the battery on either variant from fully discharged to 100 per cent in about 10 hours. But part of the value of the 800-volt architecture can be seen in the Polestar’s ability to charge on a commercial fast-charger at up to 350kW. At that point, the 3 can go from 10 to 80 per cent charged in just 22 minutes, about 25 per cent faster than before.

The other side of the upgrade to 800-volt tech is an efficiency improvement during the WLPT test of about six per cent.

A trip in the GLE feels like a welcome step back in time. Sure, coming in close to five metres long and two-and-a-half tonnes means it’s not a nimble steer, but the GLE strikes a nice balance of comfort and tactility that’s getting rarer.

None of it feels particularly sharp in terms of inputs or feedback, but it’s easy and predictable to a point where even winding back-roads are effortless to flow through.

The big diesel engine feels almost lazy, but it’s just so effortless in getting things moving as it strives to sit close to idle whenever possible. Because of that, there’s little noise from the engine bay even under reasonable acceleration, and the powertrain is helped by that 48-volt system which makes stop-starts from the lights super-smooth.

The mild-hybrid also helps smooth out power delivery, to the point where the only time the GLE feels clunky is the occasional lag when shifting from Drive to Reverse or vice versa.

The test car’s suspension isn’t the optional airbag set-up, but the non-adaptive steel does fine in terms of comfort and soaking up harsh surfaces. And even the big 21-inch wheels aren’t too bad over sharp bumps.

With smaller wheels (more tyre cushioning) and the air suspension, it feels like the GLE would ride gorgeously.

Its body control is predictable on smooth roads, and if you’re careful you steer the hefty SUV through tight, winding roads easily, but consistently rough surfaces can make the GLE feel unsettled for a short period of time.

There’s an overall softness to it that means gentle off-roading is possible, and the tyres are thick enough to make it comfortable. You won’t find yourself being tossed around on a flat enough gravel road.

If the only Polestar 3 you ever drove was the entry-level Rear Motor version, you’d never think twice about the adequacy or otherwise of its performance.

Like all EVs, the step-off from a green light is a no-messing-about experience and it continues to wind out in a linear and spritely manner. Actually, spritely is underselling it somewhat as there’s more than enough oomph to get you motoring very quickly.

It is, of course, also silent and Polestar’s decision not to introduce a manufactured engine noise really pays off, we reckon. The only noise is a small amount of suspension bump-thump at very low speeds and some tyre roar on coarse surfaces.

So, you would perhaps think the Performance version will simply be more of the same. On paper, yes it is, but in reality, the sheer brutality of the power delivery overshadows everything else about it. Very, very few production cars will be able to stay with a Polestar 3 Performance in a straight line.

The shunt is immense and makes you wonder if you’re really in a road-registered car at all. Even snapping the throttle open and shut in a split-second sees the digital speedo add a full 10km/h to the tally. Holding the pedal down for any extended period will see you in either the next parish, or jail, before you’ve had time to think about the consequences.

Once you’ve got your head around that (and it will take time) you start to understand that the air suspension on the Performance model, while offering distinct modes, doesn’t really make the car ride any better than the Rear Motor with its conventional steel springs but smaller wheels and tyres (20 inch plays 22).

And even if the performance of the 3 makes the impression of kerb mass go away, the rest of the package is not so deceiving, and the car never shrinks around you even as speeds rise. The brake-by-wire system feels commendably neutral and natural, but the steering suffers, one imagines, at the electric-assistance calibration. It’s extremely remote at the straight ahead and seems neither keen to be deflected from that attitude initially, nor return to it as you exit a corner.

We’ll also take exception to the lane-keeping assistance which makes the steering feel even more alien due to its eagerness to keep a wide car in a narrow lane on the regional roads on which we mostly drove it. The constant gnawing away at the wheel by the electronics is both distracting and unnecessary.

As a sister company to Volvo, you might imagine the Polestar’s safety credentials are top-notch. And you’d be right. The standard driver assistance systems include:

• Adaptive cruise-control
• Autonomous emergency braking
• Blind-spot monitoring and assistance
• Lane-departure and lane-keeping assistance
• Park pilot
• Curve speed-assist
• Road sign recognition
• Trailer stability assistance

It also comes with a range of other algorithms to keep you on the bitumen. Twelve ultrasonic sensors and a forward-facing (and heated) radar unit make this possible. Active lighting is also part of the safety package and there’s pedestrian and cyclist recognition built in as well as forward crash mitigation.

The Polestar 3 also features no less than five exterior cameras for a 360-degree view, as well as a pair of infra-red eye-tracking interior cameras as part of the driver monitoring system. Interestingly, Polestar points out that these interior cameras are closed loop units and don’t record or store any data (in case you were wondering if Big Brother was keeping tabs on you).

On the passive safety front, the 3 has nine airbags (including centre airbags) automatic unlocking after a crash, ISOFIX child-restraint points and a whiplash protection system built into the front seats.

The Polestar 3 hasn’t been locally crash tested, but the previous 400-volt model was tested in Europe in 2025 and scored five stars for safety.

Servicing isn’t cheap at Mercedes, even in the context of this market segment. A three-year service plan for the GLE costs $4045, while five years is $8055. That’s $1348 or $1611 per service respectively. The later services in those five years will of course be much more expensive and bring the average up.

Intervals are every 12 months or 25,000km, but Mercedes’ five-year/unlimited-kilometre warranty means anything major that goes wrong in that time should be covered - always read the fine print.

The brand’s Australian website lists 67 Mercedes-Benz dealers that can service your car.

As with any EV, the Polestar 3’s running costs will be closely linked with the way you charge the vehicle. Charging at home from a solar array will bring day-to-day running costs down to almost nothing, but using commercial fast-chargers will bump that up significantly.

The 3’s warranty stands at five years/unlimited kilometres for the car itself, with eight years/160,000km of cover for the EV battery. But it’s not just total battery failure that’s covered: Should that EV battery fall below 70 per cent of its original capacity in that period, it will be replaced free of charge.

Service intervals are EV-typically long at two years or 20,000km, and Polestar can upload software updates over the air as they become available. There’s also five years’ worth of 24/7 roadside assistance for the 3.

Service pricing is $765 at year two and four and $721 at year six. That averages out to $375 a year for servicing which isn't bad at all.

Of course, Polestar is also concerned about the planet as well as its owners’ hip pocket, so the Polestar 3 picks up on company policies of sustainable and ethical sourcing of materials. That includes sourcing recycled textiles and plastics for some of the interior surfaces, recycled cobalt in the batteries and even recycled aluminium for various trim parts.