Polestar 4 Review & Prices

The Polestar 4 is a stylish, relatively low-slung electric SUV, almost a coupe-SUV, that wants to take on the Porsche Macan Electric with some quirky styling and no back window. If the Porsche is a stylish, but sensible, apartment in downtown Berlin, then the Polestar is a dramatic house on the Swedish coast, designed by an avant-garde architect who doesn’t like windows.

Yes, the defining characteristic of the Polestar 4 is that it doesn’t have a rear window, relying on cameras and screens for its rearward visibility. It’s an odd quirk — all down to aerodynamics, says Polestar — which takes more than a little getting used to, and whether you like it or not will probably define how you feel about the car as a whole.

Still, it’s good to have someone trying to challenge conventional thinking, but the rest of the Polestar 4’s style is actually quite conventional, although in a good way. It’s just about tall and practical enough to count as an SUV, but it’s low slung enough to almost count as a slightly high-set sports saloon. It looks great, really, and far more distinctive than the likes of the Audi Q6 e-tron or the Porsche Macan Electric.

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.

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

Flush door handles and frameless door glass give the Polestar 4 a touch of coupe-like-cool, and inside there’s an interior that looks and feels genuinely different to the norm. The cabin layout is pared back to a Scandi minimum, with a big screen and almost no buttons. Many of the materials used are either recycled or sustainably made, and the long body means that there’s plenty of stretching-out room front and rear. Like a posh hotel in Oslo, it’s minimalist, but cool and comfortable.

The big screen runs Google-based software which is fast and slick, and incorporates some nice oddball touches (the ambient lighting colours are based on the planets of our solar system for instance) but it can be frustrating having to dive through menu options to find even simple stuff like the button to open the glovebox, or adjust the door mirrors.

There’s plenty of space for people and all their stuff up front, although the big centre console does seem to rob a touch of elbow room. In the back of the Polestar 4 there’s almost limo-like legroom, plus powered reclining rear seats and, surprisingly, plenty of headroom too. The big panoramic glass roof helps keep the rear bright and airy in the absence of that rear window.

The Polestar 4 also has a practical boot, which holds up to 526 litres up to the luggage cover, which is — perhaps surprisingly — more space than you get in a BMW iX, and about the same as an Audi Q6 e-Tron (the Porsche Macan has more space though). After all, it’s not as though you need to worry about blocking the Polestar’s rear window. There’s a 15 litre ‘froot’ storage area in the nose, which is just about big enough for a coiled charging cable, but not much else.

Officially, the Polestar 4 has a range of up to 385 miles with its single 272hp rear-mounted electric motor, and you should see around 300 miles of that in real life. The much more powerful twin-motor 536hp version is stonkingly quick, but it will cost you a bit more range, and slightly more again if you add on the Performance Pack, which boosts power to 544hp and all the torque in the world.

That’s a bit less range than you get, in theory, from Porsche, Audi, or BMW competition, but when you’re actually on the road the difference is minimal. The Polestar 4 can charge at up to 200kW on DC power, which is good, but oddly it’s a slower charging speed than the bigger Polestar 3 SUV.

If the range is enough for you, then the Polestar 4 makes for an ideal long-drive car. The seats are exceptionally comfy, and it rides smoothly over bumps. There’s some wind noise at motorway speeds, but it won’t bother you too much.

At city speeds, the suspension feels noticeably firmer, which takes some of the luxury sheen off things, but the Polestar 4 has quite sharp handling which makes it fun on a twisty road, if not quite up to Porsche standards.

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.

Polestar 4 prices start at just under £60,000 which makes it considerably more affordable than either the basic BMW iX or the cheapest Porsche Macan Electric. However, BMW will soon be launching an all-new iX3 with a much longer range, which will probably be much closer to the Polestar in price terms. The Audi Q6 e-tron, in spite of being mechanically identical to the Porsche under the skin, is already priced quite close to the Polestar 4, but you will have to pay a little extra to get the Sportback version of the Q6, which has sleeker styling more in line with that of the Polestar.

The Polestar 4’s biggest problem, given that it comes from a brand still trying to establish itself in UK buyers’ minds, comes from the likes of the Hyundai Ioniq 5 and Kia EV6, both of which have performance and range that’s similar or better, and come brands with strong recognition already, but much more affordable pricing.

Polestar also has some expensive options and packs for the 4. Having full leather trim (sourced from Scottish cows) costs more than £3,000 — Polestar says it’s priced leather to that level so that people have to make a conscious decision to move away from the man-made recycled fabrics that come as standard. Upgrading the safety kit to the kinda-self-driving ‘Pilot Pack’ is a pricey option too, at £1,300.

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

In town

The Polestar 4 is a bigger car than it looks, 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. Most people do get used to it, but it’s not for everyone - especially if you drive other cars with conventional mirrors regularly, as you never quite adjust.

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.

As you’d expect from a car that has strong links to Volvo (Polestar is effectively a Volvo spin-off brand) the Polestar 4 scored well on its Euro NCAP crash test, taking home the full five star rating. In the individual tests, it scored 92 per cent for adult occupant protection (impressive, but actually a touch low compared to the aged Volvo XC60, which scored 98 per cent), 85 per cent for child occupants, 81 per cent for vulnerable road users (doubtless in large part to the 4’s low-set nose), and 79 per cent for its electronic safety systems.

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.