Sandhult in Sweden: We can organize the world into nice little chunks by putting things into groups. Even though it’s often very subjective, it’s how we tell the difference between a good book, a bad book, a big car, a small car, and a coat that makes your bones chill. The new Polestar 4 is the only one that doesn’t follow this pattern: It’s a complex electric car that’s hard to put into a single category.
Polestar says the 4 is its second SUV and a faster, coupe-style replacement for the Polestar 3. It changes what the word “SUV” means, like a pizzaiolo making the smallest crusts. In addition, it’s not really a car. Go back? Kind of. Move on? In some ways. If you look at Sweden’s car past, the four is similar to the first Saab 900, which was mostly sold as a four-door hatchback but had more ground clearance.
The title doesn’t describe the model’s place in a price or size order; it refers to Polestar’s fourth attempt to split from Volvo. Its architecture is more like the three and Precept concepts than anything you’d find in a Volvo store. However, it is based on the same modular SEA design as the Volvo EM90 minivan sold in China. The car’s length, width, and height are 190.5 inches, 79.1 inches, and 60.4 inches, respectively. Its wheelbase is 118 inches.
There is a lot more disagreement about whether the 4 is an SUV or not than about whether it has a back window. There are other windowless cars on the market besides this one, but others, like the Mercedes-Benz Sprinter, are made to be used for transportation. It’s not like that.
What did the back window do to fly out?
Max Missoni, Polestar’s head of design, said, “We wanted a coupe body style for aerodynamics while also getting a really roomy interior.” Because there was no back window, his team was able to move the D-pillar. “You see a lot of your interior in the rearview mirror, including the headrests and possibly your passengers, which is another issue with coupes.”
Thomas Ingenlath, Polestar’s CEO, also explained why the choice was made, and his point of view is very important. He has been in charge of the brand since it began, but before that, he was in charge of Volvo’s design department.
“This is real.” We didn’t make this move to draw attention to ourselves. We are sure that this is a great invention that will improve the field of car design technology.
A small protruding alcove with a 2.5-megapixel camera on the roof sends video to an 8.9-inch digital rearview mirror that takes the place of a window and a normal rearview mirror. The system was made by Gentex, a company based in Michigan. They also made the auto-dimming rearview mirror and windows that dim for the Boeing 787. Polestar has fixed some clear problems, but we’re still not sure how useful the system will be in the long run because of our bad experiences with similar camera-based “mirrors,” most notably in the Volvo C40. Polestar says that the camera won’t get dirty because of where it is placed, but a small spray tube can be used to clean it so that rain or road grime doesn’t hurt it. The screen in the car can be flipped down to become a regular mirror. This lets the driver see who’s in the trunk in case they need to give their kids a hard time.
Aside from the “mirror,” the inside of the 4 is just as minimalist as the inside of the three without going over the top. Polestar added a 15.4-inch touchscreen infotainment system with a digital instrument cluster facing the driver, a gear selector on the steering column, a wiper switch built into the turn signal stalk, and a volume knob (yay!) on the stylish double-decker center console. Android-powered the infotainment system. You have to poke at the tablet, though, to change the air vents. This shows that an idea is slowly but surely taking hold in the business world. Even though Porsche was one of the first companies to use it, it has since given up on it.
The entertainment system is like the 3s. Polestar doesn’t use tables to make a lot of information easy to find; instead, they use color-coded tiles that are all built into the screen. One thing that makes the four stand out is that they have ambient lights with a solar system theme that can also be seen on the screen. If you tap Earth, the light will be a deeper blue. If you tap Neptune, it will be a paler blue. If you tap Mars, it will be reddish, and so on. Astronomers will point out that the sun is actually white. There are interesting facts next to each picture. Venus has days that are only eleven hours long. What if we said that Mars is almost half as big as Earth?
“Would you go out and drive it?” you ask the reader. “We’re not here to talk about space.” That was very good.
Polestar will start with two types, and each will have a 100 kWh lithium-ion battery pack. The first car in the series has 268 horsepower and 253 pound-feet of torque and is rear-wheel-drive with a single motor. This type has 506 lb-ft of torque and 536 horsepower. It has two motors and drives all four wheels. From a stop, the two 4s went from 0 to 62 mph in 7.1 and 3.8 seconds, respectively. The all-wheel-drive type is the fastest Polestar ever because it has the lower number.
The 400-volt electricity system can charge up to 200 kilowatts. Polestar says that with rear-wheel drive, their cars can go up to 379 miles, and with all-wheel drive, they can go up to 360 miles. However, keep in mind that the WLTP testing cycle, which is used in Europe, was used to measure those lengths. The EPA will give you more basic data.
The four is made of classic steel, while the 3 has air suspension technology. It’s put in a car with rear-wheel drive, and the driver can choose from three all-wheel drive modes. Keep in mind that the four is not below the 3 in the Polestar order; in fact, it is a more athletic option. So why is there such a difference in suspension? Polestar’s head of chassis development, Joakim Rydholm, answers my questions straight forward.
“Air suspension isn’t needed,” he smiled. That is a harsh comment coming from a man who can drive so well that even a crash-test dummy would be scared. He also talks about damping ratios with all the passion of a Spanish chef teaching you how to make real paella. With air springs, the SUV-like 3 can have a ride height that can be changed, but the road-going four can be changed without this. But that doesn’t mean one will be more relaxed than the other.
“Using steel springs makes it much easier to achieve really good comfort,” he noted. “It might seem strange, but it’s actually pretty hard to get an air suspension to work right.” Everyone sees an air balloon.
Polestar sent me pre-production prototypes, which I tried on a handling track at Volvo’s Hallered proving grounds in southwest Sweden. What I’ve experienced is very similar to what buyers will experience when delivery starts.
The rear-wheel-drive four isn’t very quick off the line, but its chassis shape and smart steering with three weight levels that the driver can choose from make it feel very lively in turns. Given how much technology is working in the background, it does a better job of keeping the driver on the road than you might think. It’s not fancy, and it’s not a crazy race car. It also holds its weight. It weighs about 5,000 pounds, but its center of gravity is about the same as a 2, and its body roll is almost nonexistent. I haven’t driven the 3 to confirm Rydholm’s claim, but I can say that the 4’s driving skill doesn’t come at the cost of comfort: The 4’s power-adjustable backrest and well-padded seat make the ride quiet and comfortable for people in the back seats at highway speeds.
Putting the big battery pack under the passenger area has the interesting side effect of making it almost impossible to tell the difference between models with rear- or all-wheel drive. The vehicle with only one motor has better grip, but it only feels much more rear-biased than the vehicle with all-wheel drive unless you really push it. Both the front and back wheels carry the same weight when all-wheel drive is used. Rear-wheel drive shifts weight 2% back.
The main difference between the two 4s is how fast they go. The all-wheel-drive version speeds up like a sports car, while the rear-wheel-drive version takes off smoothly. It stops like one, too. The extra Performance Pack was added to my test car. It came with ventilated 15.4-inch rotors with four-piston front brake calipers, super-sticky Pirelli P-Zero tires, and a unique suspension setup. If you step on the brakes hard at highway speeds or higher, the four stops quickly and without any annoying fades or noises.
If you’ve never used a digital rearview mirror before, it takes a little while to get used to. But I didn’t miss the back window while I was driving. Even though it gives you a wide, clear view, you can’t move your eyes or head to see things behind you from a different angle. To each his own, but I thought the real mirror was too close to the driver’s seat. Check it out; you might not like it or find that you’ll want to drive with it again. There is no window in the back, which makes it feel smaller and darker. The riders will likely miss it more than the driver. It isn’t good because there’s a lot of room back there, even with two tall people in front of you.
In other words, we have an electric vehicle (EV) that looks like a coupe SUV and has a roomy interior and sporty driving. Plus, there’s no window in the back. It looks like Polestar made a new part.
The Polestar 4 was first made in China. It will be sold as a 2025 model in the US in late 2024. As of now, information about prices has yet to be given. The four will also be made in a plant in Busan, South Korea, which is owned by both Geely, the main company, and Renault, which is based in Paris. It still needs to be determined which company will sell cars to which area.
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