Written by Alan Taylor-Jones Updated: 9 October 2024

Overview

With the Polestar 4, the more luxurious offshoot of Volvo completes its electric SUV range. It’s significantly longer than the 2, and isn’t that much shorter than the pricier, more luxurious 3. Unusually, the 4 does without a rear screen and relies on a camera-based rear-view mirror. Thank the coupe-inspired styling for that.

It does give a lower, sleeker profile than rivals such as the Porsche Macan Electric and Audi Q6 E-Tron, helping give the Polestar 4 a distinctive look inside and out. You can have a single motor and rear-wheel drive for brisk performance and a long range, or a dual-motor rear-wheel drive that chops in some range for truly rapid acceleration.

If that’s not enough, there’s also a Performance pack which adds a bit more power, suspension tweaks and beefier brakes. Unlike the 2 and 3 that use a Volvo engineered platform underneath the Polestar designed bodies, the 4 has a cheaper Geely platform that’s found under the Smart #1 and Volvo EX30.

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What’s it like inside?

If you think no rear window means a dark and claustrophobic cabin, think again. A huge panoramic roof is standard, stretching all the way back to behind rear occupant’s heads. Even with a window line that narrows towards the rear of the car, this is a bright and airy cabin especially with light upholstery. It’s only when you look rearwards that you realise there’s no back window.

Rear legroom is impressive, with enough space for a six-footer with another in front of them. Headroom is fine if you’re six-foot or just over, tighter if you’re particularly gifted vertically. Boot space is OK if not exceptional. You get 496-litres of space above the boot floor, and another 30-litres beneath it. There’s another 15-litres of storage under the bonnet – perfect for your charging cables. If you need more space, the rear seats fold with a 40/60 split and there is a load-through feature.

Quality impresses throughout the Polestar 4’s cabin. Plastics feel squishy and look expensive, what few physical controls there are work with precision and the ambient lighting is more calming and less flashy than in a Mercedes EQE SUV. It’s a calming environment albeit one with a few frustrations.

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Except for the usual stalks on the steering column, some electric window switches and a volume knob, everything is controlled by the 15.4-inch touchscreen infotainment system. It’s responsive, has sharp graphics and neat animations, but it’s worth spending some time setting up your shortcuts. Without them, you’re a few prods away from key features such as being able to adjust the mirrors. At least a memory function for those and the electrically adjustable driver’s seat is standard.

There’s also a 10.2-inch digital driver’s display that can be configured to show a variety of information. It’s crisp and clear, although I spent far more time looking at the included head-up display which makes checking your speed far easier.

Comfort

Scandinavian seats are renowned for their comfort, and the Polestar 4 is no exception. The Plus pack is standard fitment in the UK and gives you 12-way adjustable front seats that are a great place to spend a few hours on. You also get heating for the front and two outer rear seats plus the steering wheel. If you want ventilation, you’ll need to upgrade to the optional Nappa leather seats that make the interior feel even more luxurious.

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All UK cars get three-zone climate control with a fancy touch sensitive control panel to control it from the rear. You can also take control of certain media functions, allowing those in the back to skip song, for instance. Sorry, parents. Hopefully your children will be distracted by the electrically reclining rear seats instead.

Safety

At the time of writing, Euro NCAP was yet to test the 4. As the related and cheaper Smart #1 gets the full five stars, we’d expect the 4 to perform similarly well, if not better. You also get loads of safety kit as standard to help prevent a collision in the first place.

This includes automatic emergency braking with pedestrian and cyclist detection, a lane keeping aid, rear collision warning, road sign information with a variable speed limiter and blind spot monitoring. Semi-autonomous driving with steering assist is an optional extra.

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You get plenty of cameras in the 4 to help avoid parking prangs, too. These include four for the 360 degree view, four for a side view, a couple behind the windscreen, one for monitoring the driver, and finally one at the back for the rear-view ‘mirror’.

The image pretty sharp and you get a wide field of vision, but it’s harder to judge distances than a regular mirror. If you want to keep an eye on those in the back, you can flick a lever to adjust between the camera feed and an actual mirror.

What’s it like to drive?

Despite sharing its platform with the cheaper #1 and Volvo EX30, the Polestar 4 feels a lot more polished – as you’d hope at the price it costs. I’ve been behind the wheel of the bookends of the 4 range, the entry-level single motor and the dual-motor with the optional Performance pack.

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Even the single motor gets 272hp and a brisk 6.9-second 0-62mph time, with acceleration carefully metered out off the line to avoid wheelspin. It therefore feels quicker than the numbers suggest on the move and is plenty fast enough for the real world.

Upgrade to the dual motor and power jumps to 544hp and 0-62 tumbles to 3.7-seconds. It’s seriously rapid on the road and four-wheel drive helps launch you hard from a standstill. The Performance pack doesn’t add any more power, instead upgrading the suspension and brakes. Thankfully it remains as comfortable as the single motor when Performance pack is in its softest mode, with the mid setting adding a bit more control. You need a smooth road for full stiff.

All 4s have a slightly firm edge to the ride that’s a far cry from the soft #1. While you certainly notice potholes, they don’t cause discomfort and the upshot is tight body control, even on the single motor that does without adaptive dampers. Well-weighted and precise steering makes it easy to place the Polestar on the road, and there isn’t a lot of body roll.

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Surprisingly, it’s not the Performance pack that’s the most fun to drive, it’s the single motor. The former certainly has loads of grip and traction, but it always feels a bit point and squirt. The latter’s lower limits and slower speed mean you can drive it harder without worrying about your licence for a start. It’s also more willing to indulge a little bit of hooliganism in ESC Sport mode, although the electronics will stop anything getting too out of shape. Ultimately though, you’d have more fun in a Macan Turbo than any Polestar 4.

Range and charging

For the moment there’s a single 100kWh battery available. In the long range single motor it’s enough for 385 miles, dropping to 367 miles in the dual motor. It’ll rapid charge at up to 200kW to give a 10-80% time of 30 minutes. Polestar don’t quote a 7.4kW charge time, but at 11kW it’ll take 11 long hours to get from 0-100%.

What models and trims are available?

First, pick a single or dual motor car. The latter doesn’t just get more power, it gets clever adaptive dampers, too. You can then add the Pilot pack for semi-autonomous driving, a Pro pack for big wheels and gold detailing and, on the dual motor, the Performance pack.

Other options include a dimming panoramic roof, body coloured lower bodywork and privacy glass.

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What else should I know?

The 4’s interior was inspired by sports equipment in places and it shows. However, while the tops of the door cards on the grey interior look like expensive running shoes, the black looks like a cheap trainer. The ambient lighting is also worth note. It’s planet themed, with each getting a corresponding colour.

The Polestar 4 is an exciting and left-field premium electric car, but can it see off some very talented rivals? Read on to see how we rate the 4 after driving several versions on UK roads – you can find out how we test cars to see how we’ve come to our conclusions, in our verdict.