Polestar 4 Review & Prices

The Polestar 4 is a big, handsome coupe-SUV that’s perfect if you’re after an upmarket, comfy electric car – and compared with alternatives, it’s not bad value, either.

Because of its ultra-modern look and quirky rear window-free design, it’s a bit like shopping for Balenciaga. You’re telling the world you’re fashion-conscious and not afraid to challenge expectations.

Other posh electric SUVs you might consider include the Porsche Macan Electric and BMW iX, while the Audi Q6 e-tron Sportback has a similar coupe-like roofline to the Polestar.

The sleek design isn’t all in the name of aesthetics, it’s also about aerodynamic efficiency. That’s why you get stuff like flush door handles and frameless windows, though the lack of rear window takes some getting used to – driving with a digital rear-view mirror isn’t intuitive.

Inside it’s typical Polestar fare, with a slick, minimalist design and high quality materials. There are soft plastics to be found, but the cloth and fabric trims are not only more sustainable, they feel cool, natural and relaxing, which summarises the interior ambience nicely.

Polestar 4: electric range, battery and charging data

Range: 367-385 miles
Efficiency: 2.9-3.5 miles per kWh
Battery size: 94kWh
Max charge speed: 200kW
Charge time AC: 16h 45m, 0-100%, 7kW
Charge time DC: 30 mins, 10-80%, 200kW
Charge port location: Left rear
Power outputs: 272hp / 544hp

It’s a proper tech-fest, too, from simple day-to-day niceties such as the Google-powered infotainment system that comes loaded with all the useful apps you get on your phone, to the extensive driver assistance kit. It’s annoying that even basic functions like opening the glovebox go through the screen, though.

Cabin space and practicality are excellent. The large divider between the front passengers intrudes on space a little, but generally the Polestar 4 feels big and roomy whether you’re sat in the front or the back. Rear seat headroom is excellent, which is not a compliment usually given to coupe SUVs.

At 526 litres, boot space is about average among alternatives. That’s the same as the Audi Q6 e-tron Sportback, less than the Porsche Macan Electric and more than a BMW iX. There’s also a 15-litre compartment under the boot, which is useful for keeping charging cables.

You’ll get between 367 and 385 miles to a charge (officially), which is, again, about on par with alternatives. The single-motor model has 272hp and goes further; the dual-motor has 544hp and goes faster.

Long range versions of the Porsche, Audi and BMW can do at least 400 miles, but you have to pay more for the privilege. Charging speeds of up to 200kW are respectable, but that is slower than those alternatives, including the Polestar 3, which is kind of like a traditional SUV version of the 4.

It’s perhaps a bit of a shame the Polestar 4 doesn’t go a bit further on a battery and charge a bit faster, because it makes for an ideal road trip companion. The seats are big and comfy and it smooths out bumps in the road well at speed. There’s a little exterior noise on the motorway but nothing too intrusive.

At lower speeds the suspension has a firm edge that means you feel the odd pothole and ridges in the road surface more than you might expect of a big luxurious car, but then the trade off is that it also handles pretty well on a fun, winding country road.

What’s perhaps surprising given its upmarket image is the fact that the Polestar 4 is actually one of the more affordable of similarly sized and shaped posh electric cars, but it’s still worth checking out the latest Polestar 4 deals on Carwow to see how much you can save. You can also get a fantastic price on a Polestar 4 lease as well as a used Polestar 4, or other used Polestar models. When it’s time to sell your current car, Carwow can help with that, too.

The Polestar 4 is a posh electric car, so in the grand scheme of things it’s fairly pricey and feels like an awkward use of the term value for money. But when you compare it with alternatives it certainly looks that way.

It undercuts the Audi Q6 e-tron Sportback by a few grand, but you can get a dual-motor version for a similar price to entry-level versions of the Porsche Macan Electric and BMW iX. It’s also a good chunk less expensive than the Polestar 3, which is similar to the 4 apart from its more traditional SUV shape, though it does come with a bigger battery and therefore more range.

Standard kit includes sustainably sourced seat upholstery, a Harman Kardon sound system, LED headlights with adaptive high beam to avoid dazzling oncoming drivers, and an interesting mesh textile trim that comes with cool illumination in places.

It’s easy to pile on the pounds with extra kit, such as up to £3,300 on Nappa leather-covered, ventilated massage seats up front, or a £4,000 performance pack (only available on the dual-motor) with big alloy wheels and brakes, though these are luxuries and most of the useful kit you want is standard.

The Polestar 4 can be a bit jiggly over rough surfaces, but it’s smooth and comfortable to drive over long distances

In town

The Polestar 4 is a bit of a beast, so if you live in a town with particularly narrow streets you might find it a touch intimidating to drive. Fortunately acceleration is swift but smooth, even in the dual-motor model, so there’s none of the jerkiness you sometimes get with EVs. There’s a one-pedal mode to make stop/start traffic less tiring, too.

You’ll notice pronounced edges in the road, like bad resurfacing or potholes, which can send a bit of a jolt through the car. This gives the Polestar 4 a hint of sporty character rather than pure luxury comfort. However, our test car was a dual-motor model with the performance pack, which includes the upgraded suspension and big wheels; a standard single-motor model should be a bit better sorted around town.

It’s urban driving where the lack of rear window is most noticeable too, and where it takes some getting used to. In place of the traditional mirror is a digital feed from a camera looking out from the back of the car. It’s difficult for your eyes to adjust to, because you go from looking far ahead to looking at a screen really close to your face, so a quick glance at what’s behind you isn’t quite so easy.

On the motorway

There are fewer complaints about the suspension once you’re up to motorway speeds, because the Polestar 4 handles larger lumps and bumps really well. Coupled with the comfy seats, this is a great companion for long drives, even if there is a bit of wind noise to contend with. The dual-motor model has no trouble getting up to speed, and means swift overtakes require little pre-planning.

You get the Pilot Pack as standard, which includes adaptive cruise control to help maintain your speed and distance to the car in front, as well as keeping you centred in your lane. On top of this, when activated, you can use the indicator to signal a lane change and the car will do it for you using cameras and sensors to check it’s safe to do so.

On a twisty road

Twisty roads are a bit of a mixed bag, because the sporty edge to the suspension means that the Polestar 4 handles bends better than you might expect of a big, comfy EV. However, it never quite hides its weight, which can knock your confidence slightly – though there’s no denying that the dual-motor’s performance is fantastic. It positively catapults you out of corners.

If you’re after a properly sporty SUV then perhaps the Porsche Macan Electric is a bit better – it just has that classic Porsche rightness to the way it drives – but the Polestar 4 certainly doesn’t embarrass itself.

Loads of space for passengers, but the Porsche Macan Electric has a bigger boot

The Polestar 4’s expansive front seats have tons of adjustment, so it’s easy for you to find a comfortable driving position no matter your height. Basic seat adjustments are done through switches on the side of the seat base, as normal - but the steering wheel, the mirrors and other dimensions such as the lumbar support all take place through the touchscreen and so should be done before you set off. It’s annoying that you can’t easily do it on the fly if you forget. Even opening the glovebox requires opening up a touchscreen menu.

Storage up front is nothing groundbreaking. The glovebox and door bins are an okay size, as are the cupholders. Just underneath the touchscreen, you also get a wireless phone charging pad, which covers most of the phone’s screen so you won’t be too tempted by notifications. There's loads of space for passengers, though.

The seats are very comfortable and are heated; if you opt for the upgrade to sustainably-sourced Nappa leather, you also get seat ventilation and massage functions, which are a nice extra. The most difficult thing to get used to is the digital rear-view mirror, a necessity with no rear window.

The camera is set above where the rear window would be, in the shark-fin aerial, and so you get a slightly different view than you might be expecting. However, it’s very wide-angle, and the display is clear and bright. It's not natural to adjust your vision to the screen quickly, though, so takes some getting used to.

Space in the back seats

There’s loads of room in the back seats, despite the sloping roofline. If you recline the seat all the way back you will find your hair rubbing on the roof. Keep it in a more normal upright position, though, and even very tall passengers will find they have plenty of headroom.

All that space means it's ideal for car seats too, with easy access ISOFIX points.

Those in the back also enjoy a screen in the centre with heating and media controls, plus USB-C ports to power gadgets.

Boot space

There’s 526 litres of space in the Polestar 4’s boot, of which 30 are situated under the floor - more than the 500-litre BMW iX, but less than the Porsche Macan Electric’s 540 litres or the Tesla Model Y’s cavernous 854-litre space. The sloping roof does limit how much you can carry overall, but the rear seats do fold down almost flat if you need to transport larger items. And there’s no need to worry about smashing the rear window on a protruding furniture leg!

A small fabric-covered divider piece sits just behind the rear seats, cutting the boot off entirely from the passenger compartment - but you can unclip this if you desire. If you do want to travel with pets, for example, you’ll want to do this so that Rover isn’t in a totally dark and airless box. There’s a dedicated place to stow it under the boot floor.

The Polestar 4 has an additional 15 litres of space in the ‘frunk’, which is just about enough room to fit your charging cables but nothing much else.

Stylishly minimalist but some crucial functions are tucked away in touchscreen menus

The Polestar 4’s interior is a light, airy place to sit - especially with one of the lighter-coloured upholstery schemes. The huge panoramic sunroof floods the interior with light, too.

Build quality is very good and there are interesting materials dotted everywhere, such as the 3D ‘knit’ texture on the seats and doors. This is made to order, rather than being cut out of larger panels of material - saving waste. Ethically-sourced Nappa leather is also an option, though you can keep the interior fully animal-free if you prefer.

The interior ambience is lifted even further by all-round accent lighting. And you don’t get a load of boring colour schemes to choose from - here, they’re all inspired by different planets, and present you with some fun facts about the celestial body of your choice when you select it. 

The huge touchscreen infotainment system - 15.4 inches on the diagonal - runs Google’s Android Automotive operating system. This means it’s extremely slick, responding instantly to the touch. It also means you get Google Maps baked-in for navigation, and other Google apps available to download for navigation or entertainment. You can run Apple CarPlay or Android Auto, if you prefer.

The main criticism is that absolutely everything is routed through the touchscreen. Not just the usual functions, such as navigation, or even the current trend of using the touchscreen for climate controls. In the Polestar 4, you also use it for functions such as adjusting the mirrors, turning on the rear foglight or even opening the glovebox.

Not only is this potentially unsafe to operate on the move, it’s also a steep learning curve and places key functions a couple of menu presses away.

With a huge 100kWh battery pack, the Polestar 4 claims excellent range figures. The Long Range Single Motor model gets 385 miles in official tests, which drops to 367 miles for the Long Range Dual Motor, and a little less with the Performance Pack installed.

While the Audi Q6 e-tron Sportback, Porsche Macan Electric and BMW iX all have versions that can go 400 miles-plus, they're all much more expensive than the 4. Like for like they all have similar enough range figures.

Charge speeds of up to 200kW DC - from a suitably powerful public charger - mean the Polestar 4 can be topped up from 10-80% in 30 minutes – that's not as quick as some alternatives, such as the Macan Electric's 270kW. However, the Polestar can also charge at up to 22kW AC, but that’s very rare to find in private homes - expect an empty-to-full home charging time of around 14 hours from a more usual 7.4kW supply.

Being an electric car means that the Polestar 4 benefits from the lowest rate of Benefit-in-Kind tax for company car users, and the lowest first-year tax for private buyers, though you will have to pay the expensive car supplement in years two to six.

Euro NCAP hasn’t crash tested the Polestar 4 yet, but you probably shouldn’t worry that it will do poorly. Polestar is an offshoot of Volvo - one of the safest car brands out there - and so tends to perform extremely well in crash tests. The Polestar 3 scored full marks, for example.

Twelve cameras and a radar sensor dotted around the vehicle give it the usual gamut of lane-keeping, autonomous emergency braking and partial self-driving aids, while a head-up display should mean you don’t have to take your eyes off the road too often.

It’s too early to make a judgement on the Polestar 4’s reliability, but there shouldn’t be too much to worry about on this front. Polestar, and parent company Volvo, tend to perform relatively well for reliability and dependability - even better in electric cars which have far fewer moving parts to worry about.

Polestar’s warranty is about average among premium brands - you get three years and 60,000 miles of cover, plus a separate eight-year/100,000-mile warranty for the battery pack. Toyota, Lexus and Kia all offer much longer.