The Polestar 4 is caught in the middle of a coupe exterior and a capacious SUV interior. It also features the fastest powertrain Polestar has ever built, so it’s undoubtedly a car that’s worthy of your attention. But is the added speed and style worth the price?
So what’s the story behind the Polestar 4?
In the beginning, the Polestar people were desperately trying to make you consider them as a worthy EV option instead of a Tesla, which was a bit like setting up a slippery dip outside Disneyland and hoping people would want to ride it.
Today, of course, the market is flooded with electric vehicles of all kinds and it’s even harder to get attention, but the Polestar 4 – a stylish and premium take on an SUV EV – has a trick up its sleeve, or perhaps in its rear pockets, because the fact that it has no rear windscreen makes it very eye-catching indeed.
It’s not just a conversation starter, though, the radical idea is that removing the rear window allows the Polestar 4’s entire rear structure to move backwards, allowing for more headroom and creating a lower, coupe-like roof line. Polestar says “It’s an SUV on the inside and a coupe on the outside.”
Who’s the buyer?
Someone who used to own a Volvo but is bored of being boring and wants to step out and get radical by buying a different Swedish car. Which looks a bit like a Volvo.
Tell us about your first impressions.
From the outside, it looks fabulous and weird at the same time, and sitting behind one in traffic it’s hard not to stare at its rear. On the inside, sitting in the back seats is both spacious and special, bringing to mind those rare occasions when you find yourself in the back of a stretch limo. So the design quirk works, for your passengers at least.
From the driver’s seat, however, it is truly disconcerting to look over your shoulder when you go reverse somewhere and realise you can’t see a thing. This means relying on the digital rear-vision mirror, which is fed by a camera at the back of the car, which takes some getting used to. It’s a bit of a trust fall, frankly.
Hats off, though, for trying something different, and making an SUV that’s far less ugly than most. And it loses nothing in terms of size, with a wheelbase of 4.8m, which is longer than the more normal-looking Polestar 3 SUV.
Give us the top lines on performance and/or efficiency/range. What’s it like to drive?
The top line is that this is the fastest Polestar ever made, at least if you take the twin-motor version, which you should. It has a whopping 400kW and 686Nm and hits 100km/h in 3.8 seconds, which, for what is clearly designed to be a family car – surely only parents care that much about how comfortable and pleasant the rear seats are – is almost wildly fast.
If it’s a little too wild for your tastes, and it might well be, you can choose a single-motor version with a mere 200kW, 343Nm, and a pedestrian 7.1-second dash to 100km/h instead. The single-motor Polestar 4 is more practical in the real world because it also offers 620km of range between charges compared to the 590km you’ll get in the rocket ship version.
Both cars offer properly sporty handling and meaty steering, which you can adjust to your preference via the very large and high-tech centre screen.
Tech & connectivity, what’s the word?
All the giant screen loveliness a small child could desire, and using it you can change just about every variable on the car. Or run Apple CarPlay.
And the lowdown on safety?
With its Swedish roots, there’s safety aplenty, including adaptive cruise control, lane-departure warning and assistance, driver attention monitoring, rear cross-traffic alert and braking.
The most memorable – or heartbreaking – thing about your drive?
I hate to admit this, but I actually preferred the single-motor version to drive, because the other one was almost – whisper it – too damn fast and powerful.
One thing you should know before a test drive.
Be sure to check out the Planet Mode, which allows you to se the mood lighting for the interior by selecting your favourite lump of rock in our solar system. So Mars makes it red, Earth is a pleasant green and Uranus is what the child inside you wants to press.
Tell ’em the price, son!
The sensible, Single Motor Long Range Polestar 4 can be yours for $78,500, but for just $10,000 more, you can get another motor and quite literally twice as much power. Tempting.
