Polestar 4 Review

Yep, in the UK, the brand’s two new SUV models, the Polestar 3 and Polestar 4, arrived at pretty much the same time. Which makes the firm’s explanation of its rather confusing naming convention all the more hard to swallow. The bigger the number in a car’s name, the bigger the car, right? Well, that’s the case with most manufacturers, certainly, but Polestar does things chronologically. So, the Polestar 4 is actually slightly smaller than the 3 despite what convention would suggest, and although the two cars arrived in the UK at the same time, things are that way around because the Polestar 3 had its global reveal before the 4. Confused? We don’t blame you.

Anyway, back to the Polestar 4 specifically. This is a large, luxurious coupe SUV that’s designed to be the electric performance brand’s sportiest car to date. And it certainly looks it, with theatrically swooping lines and aggressive details that deliver proper visual drama. Climb inside, and you’ll find Polestar’s trademark minimalistic design and lots of tech, along with impressive space and practicality, and an impressively plush feel.

Surprisingly, given that there’s only a few millimetres between them in size, the Polestar 3 and the Polestar 4 use different platforms. While the former shares the Volvo EX90’s SPA2 platform, the latter uses an extended version of parent company Geely’s SEA platform, which also underpins cars such as the Volvo EX30 and Smart #3. The driving experience of the two Polestar models is rather different as a result, but we think the 4 has precisely the character that Polestar was aiming for, with sharp handling and direct steering, allied to a reasonably forgiving ride.

Two powertrain options are offered, a Single Motor version with 272PS and a range of 385 miles, while the Twin Motor variant hikes power to 544PS, but range drops to 367 miles.

For most buyers, the best Polestar 4 is the Long range Single motor. It is still quick, still well equipped and offers the strongest official range in the line-up, which makes it the most convincing all-round choice.

The Long range Dual motor is the more exciting option if outright performance matters to you. It brings four-wheel drive, a big power jump and properly serious pace, but it is also more expensive and slightly less efficient.

That means the Single motor is the smarter buy for the majority. It gives you the Polestar 4’s design, quality, space and easygoing premium feel without making the financial jump to the faster version feel essential.

There is no old-school trim ladder here in the traditional sense. Much of the differentiation comes from packs and options, with the Plus pack and Nappa upgrades doing most of the work if you want the richest cabin experience.

In simple terms, Single motor is the sweet spot and Dual motor is the fast one.

The Polestar 4 currently starts at £55,750 for the Long range Single motor. The Long range Dual motor starts at £67,750, and options can push the price well into the £70,000 bracket.

That means the Polestar 4 is not an entry-point premium EV. It is aimed squarely at buyers already spending serious money on a design-led electric car, and who want something a little less predictable than the obvious alternatives.

Used stock is still limited because the car is relatively new, but nearly new and pre-configured examples are beginning to appear. That should gradually make the 4 more accessible than the headline list prices suggest.

The Porsche Macan Electric is one of the most obvious alternatives if you buy into the Polestar 4’s SUV-coupé identity. It feels more overtly premium and more sporting, but it is also significantly more expensive once you start adding options.

The BMW i4 is another key rival if you see the Polestar 4 more as a fastback than an SUV. It is lower, more traditional and still one of the best EVs in its class to drive, but it cannot match the Polestar for visual drama.

The Audi Q6 e-tron Sportback is worth considering if you want a similarly style-led electric crossover from a more established premium brand. It makes a stronger case on familiarity and dealer support, while the Polestar feels more left-field and design-led.

Beyond those three, the Hyundai Ioniq 5 and Kia EV6 remain strong value-rich alternatives, while the Porsche Taycan lurks as a more expensive but highly desirable option if you are willing to sacrifice some practicality. The Polestar 4 makes most sense if you want something that feels unusual, premium and genuinely eye-catching without becoming a compromise to live with.

One of the cleverest things about the Polestar 4 is that its dramatic shape does not ruin the cabin. Thanks in part to the missing rear window and the way the roof has been packaged, rear headroom is much better than the silhouette first suggests.

Legroom is excellent, too. In fact, the Polestar 4 feels genuinely roomy in the back, with lots of shoulder room and a completely flat floor that makes the middle rear seat much more usable than in many rivals.

Boot space is also usefully strong. The rear load area offers 526 litres in total, including underfloor storage, and folding the rear seats opens up 1,536 litres. The 60/40 split is not quite as versatile as some alternatives, but the folded floor lies flat and makes the space easy to use.

There is also a small 15-litre front boot, which is useful for storing charging cables and keeping them out of the main load space. So while the Polestar 4 is not a pure practicality champion, it is a lot more useful than many cars that look like this.

The Polestar 4 measures 4,840mm long, 2,139mm wide & 1,534mm high. That makes it a substantial car, though it is a little lower and sleeker in feel than a conventional SUV.

In practical terms, it feels large enough to offer genuine family-car space without tipping over into something that feels too bulky to manage. The low roofline is more a styling cue than a sign of major compromise.

Like we said earlier, Polestar’s minimalist interior design has seen the purging of almost all physical switchgear from the cabin, meaning that pretty much all of the car’s functions have to be operated through the large 15.4-inch landscape-orientated infotainment touchscreen. This is mounted on the centre of the dashboard, and has all the regular infotainment functionality you expect, such as Android Auto, Apple CarPlay, Bluetooth, and DAB radio. Wireless phone charging and four USB-C ports (two up front, two in the back) are also provided, along with a 10.2-inch screen behind the steering wheel to serve as your driving instruments, and another touchscreen in the back seats to give those passengers control over media and climate functions.

The Android Automotive operating system that powers the Polestar 4's infotainment has been co-developed with Google, which brings a number of benefits. The navigation is based on Google Maps, you have Google Assistant voice control, and built-in Google Play store means you can download a variety of different apps directly onto the system. There’s also no doubting that the whole thing looks very cool, with stylish and sophisticated graphics, smooth screen transitions and a generally slick feel. And, navigating the complex system is made slightly easier by the fact that you never have to scroll up and down menus, or swipe between them.

That’s not to say it’s easy, though: far from it. There are just so many different menus, widgets and screen layout that you just can’t help but get lost, and on an irritatingly regular basis. Trying to find a minor function is proper needle/haystack territory, and you’ll likely try four or five menus before you eventually find it, all while your attention is being diverted from the road ahead. The screen sensitivity isn’t what it might be, either, so once you finally find the on-screen icon you’re looking for, it might take several jabs of your finger before your input registers.

The Polestar 4 feels properly premium inside. The surfaces, textures and overall finish are impressively rich, and the car does a very good job of feeling expensive in a modern, understated way.

Polestar’s use of recycled and traceable materials also feels more convincing than the usual sustainability talking points. It is a cabin that manages to be both fashionable and substantial.

Add the optional Nappa leather pack or the Plus pack, and the atmosphere lifts further. Even so, the standard cabin already feels like it belongs in this part of the market.

As we’ve said, the Polestar 4 comes in two rather different forms. The Single Motor variant kicks off the range, and as the name suggests, this has a single electric motor on the rear axle putting out 272PS, and this allows the car to power up to 62mph from a standing start in 7.1 seconds.

The Dual Motor variant ups the ante quite considerably in terms of raw power output. This gets a second electric motor to power the front axle, giving you four-wheel drive, and hiking the combined power output up to a truly stonking 544PS. This cuts the 0-62mph sprint time down to just 3.8 seconds. In both cars, power is stored in a huge 100kWh battery (that’s the nominal capacity, while the usable capacity is 94kWh).

We reckon the Single Motor variant will be plenty brisk enough for most. Okay, so it doesn’t give you that explosive off-the-mark acceleration that you get from some electric cars, but it still pulls away very rapidly indeed - it feels more rapid than its 0-62mph sprint time suggests, in fact - and it generally feels quick enough so as not to betray the car’s otherwise sporty feel.

Like with many electric cars, the level of acceleration you feel when already on the move wanes the faster you go, but it always feels muscular enough to cope with any given driving situation. 

If you do want that stronger on-the-move urge, or that organ-rearranging off-the-mark acceleration, we can confirm the Dual Motor version definitely provides that. Almost to the point of excess - you’ll be arriving at the national speed limit seriously quickly, and if you’ve put your phone on the wireless charging pad, you can expect it to make a dramatic airborne departure. 

It’s a seriously rapid car, with a sharp, aggressive power delivery in the Performance mode, which ensures both motors are operating. In Range mode, the front motor disengages, and the throttle response becomes softer, so that’s how you’ll want the car set most of the time. 

The Range mode’s motor disengaging function means opting for a Dual Motor Polestar 4 only slightly affects how far you can go on a single charge. The official range figure drops by just 13 miles relative to the Single motor, giving a new and still very impressive figure of 367 miles. The extra motor makes a big difference to the price, however, with the Dual coming in at £7,700 more than the Single. The Performance pack found on the model we tested adds a further £4,000, pushing the total price beyond £70,000.

Precisely how your Polestar 4 behaves on the road will depend on whether you go for the Single Motor version or the Twin Motor version, and that’s because there are more differences between the two than just the amount of power sources on board and the amount of horsepower they develop.

The key difference is that the Single Motor has passive suspension dampers as standard, while the Twin Motor has electronically adaptive ones. There’s also a slight difference in weight distribution between the two cars: it’s 50/50 on the Twin Motor, while on the Single Motor, it’s 48% at the front and 52% at the rear.

On the Single Motor variant, the suspension strikes a really good balance between comfort and control, with enough pliancy to keep things feeling comfortable and sophisticated, but enough firmness to keep body movement well tied down and deliver the feeling of involvement that’s utterly appropriate given the car’s sporting pretensions.

Grip levels feel more or less unshakeable, giving you the confidence to push the car hard through bends, while the steering reacts quickly and accurately to your inputs, and provides a decent amount of feedback as it does so. Unlike many EVs, you don’t get that nose-heavy feeling when you’re hard on the brakes, either, which helps the car flow from bend to bend even more cleanly. It’s a very rewarding car to thread along a challenging road, but it’s also reasonably comfortable on lumpy urban surfaces, and feels steady and solid on the motorway.

The adaptive setup on the Dual Motor car has impressive bandwidth, but generally, on the test car we tried with the Performance pack (which adds further chassis tuning), the Firm mode proved too harsh on typical British road surfaces. In Firm, The car is jostled around too much, so for sportier driving, you’re better off using the middle ‘Nimble’ setting, which strikes a good compromise between comfort and composure. That said, the body roll in the ‘Standard’ mode is far from excessive.

The Polestar 4 earned a full five-star Euro NCAP rating in 2025, which is exactly what buyers would hope for from a Volvo-related brand.

Safety kit is generous. The car’s assistance setup includes a wide spread of cameras, sensors and radar-based support systems, and in practice it feels like there are very few active-safety boxes left unticked. Seven airbags are fitted as standard, with two more available optionally in some markets.

So while earlier reviews had to make an educated guess, the Polestar 4 now has the crash-test result to back up its safety pitch.

The Polestar 4 supports DC rapid charging at up to 200kW and Polestar quotes a 10 to 80 per cent top-up in 30 minutes on a suitably powerful charger.

On AC charging, the car can accept up to 22kW, which is useful in the right setting, though most UK home users will rely on 7.4kW wallboxes and should therefore expect a much longer full-charge time than the headline AC figure implies.

That means the Polestar 4 works best for owners who can charge at home overnight and use rapid public charging as an occasional convenience rather than a routine habit.

Polestar provides a three-year or 60,000-mile vehicle warranty, while the battery is covered for eight years or 100,000 miles.

A useful ownership perk is that scheduled maintenance for the first three years or 31,250 miles is included. That does not make the Polestar 4 unusually generous overall, but it does soften the blow of the headline purchase price a little.

Insurance groups are predictably high. The Long range Single motor sits in group 45, while the Long range Dual motor rises to group 48.

That means the Polestar 4 is not especially cheap to insure, but it is broadly where you would expect a powerful premium EV to land.

The Polestar 4 now costs £200 a year in VED after year one. The Expensive Car Supplement only applies to electric cars with a list price of more than £50,000, and every Polestar 4 sits above that threshold. That means you pay the extra £440 a year for five years from the second year of registration, on top of the standard £200 annual rate. In other words, a new Polestar 4 costs £640 a year in VED for those five years.