BMW i7 (2022-2026) vs Polestar 3 (2024-2025)

The BMW i7 costs £40,645 more than the Polestar 3. For that premium it adds 180 kW more power. The Polestar 3 is not just cheaper - it also offers 50 miles more WLTP range and 55 kW faster peak rapid charging. On EVcarsguide's combined category scores, the Polestar 3 comes out ahead overall.

The Polestar 3 is £40,645 cheaper to buy. Running costs are almost identical - about £176 a year either way, at 8,000 miles on an off-peak home tariff. Add 5 years of charging and the Polestar 3 comes out roughly £40,685 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 323 miles for the BMW i7 and 365 miles for the Polestar 3 - both below their WLTP figures, because sustained high speed is the hardest case for an EV. The Polestar 3 goes roughly 42 miles further between charging stops. A rapid charge to 80% takes around 34 minutes in the BMW i7 and 22 in the Polestar 3, so the Polestar 3 loses less time at each stop. That makes the Polestar 3 the stronger long-distance car.

The two are within 18 mm on width, so neither is meaningfully easier to thread into a tight space. In a standard 2,400 mm bay that leaves about 450 mm of total clearance for the BMW i7 and about 432 mm of total clearance for the Polestar 3. The Polestar 3 also turns in a 1.3 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 i7 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.