POLESTAR 4
Sweden’s electric Macan fighter is shaping up nicely
There’s no heave, no scary yaw and no wobbles, just a cohesive fluidity
This is the year when Polestar must achieve lift-off – failure is not an option given its lofty 2025 targets: a three-fold increase in volumes and cashflow break-even. The 3 and 4 SUVs are fundamental to both missions. And having driven the new 4 in prototype guise, we’re expecting success.
Two versions are being offered initially. The Long range Single motor, priced from £59,990, gets you 268bhp, 253lb ft, 0-62mph in 7.1sec and an official range figure of 379 miles. The £66,990 Long range Dual motor adds a second identical motor to the front axle to hike peak output to 536bhp and all but halve the 0-62mph time (to 3.8sec). WLTP range drops to 360 miles.
For context the new Porsche Macan Electric splits the two on performance (5.2sec 0-62mph and 382bhp), with a base price – £69,800 – more expensive than both. The Tesla Model Y Performance currently costs the same as Single motor 4 while offering the speed of the Dual motor.
Suffice to say the 4 driving experience is much more Stuttgart than Silicon Valley. Volvo’s Hällered proving facility is a necessarily masochistic playground, but the multi-talented 4 laps it up – literally. The steering is superb, with no slack around the dead ahead and no unwanted heft, just a nice, well-oiled action laid over a base of precision and intuitive linearity. Equally superb is the chassis tune, on both passive dampers in the Single motor and adaptive in the Dual motor. The ride is controlled but pliant, with nicely suppressed road noise on most surfaces. But it’s the 4’s composure as you push harder that shines brightest. At speed on the banked circuit, even chucking the 4 across multiple lanes with a stab of steering input fails to ruffle it. There’s no heave, no scary yaw and no wobbles, just a cohesive fluidity that leaves you scratching your head given the anti-roll bars are mechanical, passive and entirely old-school. It’s impressive stuff for a big family car, helped of course by the low centre of gravity.
Almost as impressive is the interior, complete with that solid, glass-less rear ‘screen’ that’s generated so much fuss. Up front, Polestar’s trademark minimalism translates into a stylish, comfortable space with none of the cramped cosiness that plagues the 2. You sit in slim sports seats, a three-spoke wheel (with a neat centre marker, tellingly) and two portrait screens, a driver’s display and a bigger, land
