Review: Polestar 4

If car manufacturer Polestar has not yet found its way onto your radar you may be interested to know that it is an electric-only performance car brand owned by Volvo and the Chinese company Zhejiang Geely Holding.

Polestar 1 was launched in October 2017, followed by Polestar 2 in 2020 with 3 and 4 joining in 2024.

The 4, the subject of our test drive this week is categorized as an SUV coupe and it’s really rather beautiful. It’s sleek, sophisticated and supremely comfortable.

It is available with single or dual-motor powertrains - we had the dual all-wheel drive version which delivered 536bhp and 506 lb/ft of torque. Acceleration is an incredible 3.7 seconds for the 0-62mph dash and it has a top speed of 124mph.

The official range on a full charge is pegged at 367 miles but in the real world that can vary widely.

Power like this doesn’t come cheap and the 4 as standard is priced at £66,990. Ours came embellished with extras such as the £4,000 performance pack and £3,900 worth of animal welfare Nappa leather interior to take the price to £77,240.

The interior is beautifully crafted and does away with any fancy frippery. The most striking thing about it is the 15.4in touchscreen dominating the cabin.

Like the majority of cars these days the touchscreen is king with just about every function going through it.

It’s not easy to use on the fly - are any of them? - and I’d have welcomed some physical buttons for the main functions.

I must admit to not doing my homework properly before the Polestar 4 landed and so the lack of a rear window took me by surprise.

I’ve driven many a van without rear windows and have no qualms about using wing mirrors to get around. But not having a rear window in a car seems all wrong, somehow. Instead, you get a swanky camera system that projects a digital image onto a screen where a conventional rear-view mirror would be.

I didn’t like it at all. I found it gave me a headache so I flipped it off and just used the wing mirrors for the duration.

The manufacturer claims that the lack of a rear window means the Polestar 4 offers exceptional rear occupant space, comfort and increased headroom, which I suppose is perfectly true.

After that was sorted the rest of our week together went smoothly - except for a very strange glitch.

When approaching the Polestar, key in hand or pocket, the doors unlock automatically which is very clever. There must have been an electrical glitch of some kind in our car though.

If I came at it from a certain angle the boot opened as well and so I found myself trying to sneak up on it from different directions to catch it out - most bizarre.

Polestar 4

Price: £66,990 (as tested £77,240)

Engine: 100kWh battery

Power: 536bhp

Torque: 506lb/ft

Transmission: Single speed automatic

Top speed: 124mph

0-62mph: 3.7 seconds

CO 2 emissions: 0g/km

Range on full charge: 367 miles