There's Only 2 Problems with the Polestar 4

0:00 All right.

0:00 So, if you've been watching this channel for a little bit,

0:01 you probably already know I like Polestars.

0:04 Kind of a weird name, and the lineup is definitely still kind of confusing

0:08 between the Polestar 1 2 3 4 and 5,

0:12 all of which are kind of the same size and same shape,

0:15 but I got the chance to review the Polestar 4.

0:19 For those of you who might not remember,

0:20 the Polestar 2 is by far their most popular model.

0:23 That's the one you've probably seen on the street.

0:26 And I really like that, too.

0:28 Testing the Polestar 4, I have this question of why I like it so much,

0:31 why don't I recommend it?

0:33 That's the thing that always comes to my mind when I review a car really like,

0:36 what's stopping me from recommending it?

0:38 And with the Polestar 4, I really like it,

0:41 but there's two big reasons I can't recommend it.

0:45 But, you know what?

0:45 Let's start with the positives, cuz there's a lot of those, too.

0:47 This is it.

0:48 It's Polestar 4.

0:49 This one is It's not quite a sedan, but it's also not of a crossover.

0:54 It's like kind of right in between, like a small crossover or a huge sedan.

0:59 I don't know, but I do think it still looks really good.

1:02 The basics are this is a dual motor all-wheel drive EV.

1:05 It's got a 100 kWh battery.

1:07 It'll charge it up to 200 kW,

1:09 and it does about 280 mi of range and 0 to 60 in the mid-3s for about $62,000.

1:17 I do think the designers of this car cooked, though.

1:19 Again, mostly.

1:21 I think at the front, it's a pretty handsome-looking car.

1:23 They do a lot of the same Polestar stuff they always do,

1:26 so it's smooth and aerodynamic,

1:28 and it'll cut through the air, but it also has those sweet-looking headlights.

1:32 They also love to have text Easter eggs,

1:34 so you can see that says position light unit right there.

1:39 And over on the side, they always throw a little bit of extra text,

1:41 so it says Polestar 4, 100 kWh battery, 400 kW electrical system.

1:46 These big wheels, they're on winter tires, too.

1:49 Obviously, it's winter out here where we've been driving it.

1:52 And also the yellow brake calipers,

1:54 even this little gold cap where you fill in the air in the tires.

1:57 It's a nice accent piece.

1:58 And then the side blinker, which also doubles as a little aerodynamic feature

2:02 and houses the camera on the side there.

2:04 They also always have these minimalist side view mirrors.

2:08 If I can get it to pop out.

2:09 This actually going to fast forward me to one of my downsides of this car,

2:12 which is the key fob.

2:14 I'm holding the key fob.

2:16 It's not opening.

2:17 There's no buttons on the key fob to unlock the car.

2:20 I think I can trigger it by pressing it,

2:22 but it seems to sometimes take forever of just

2:26 standing next to the car waiting for it to unlock,

2:30 which in the winter is no fun.

2:31 I don't know why it's doing this.

2:33 Uh highly recommend using the Polestar app instead.

2:36 It's way faster.

2:38 And uh they're one of the only companies that actually has a good app.

2:40 So, yeah, don't use the key if you don't have to.

2:42 But anyway, yeah, uh minimalist minimalist bezels on the front mirrors.

2:48 Also, these windshield wipers are uh it's kind of a low-key thing,

2:51 but the the little windshield wiper fluid comes out of the wiper blade itself,

2:55 which is really uh aesthetically pleasing.

2:57 But yeah, what do you think?

2:58 From the side here, big wheels, sloping roof line, kind of this fastback shape.

3:02 Pretty nice.

3:04 That's the charge port back here on the rear left,

3:06 which is extra nice cuz that's I think at this point

3:08 now the commonly accepted correct place to put a charge port.

3:12 And then this is the back, which is where it starts to get interesting.

3:15 You're probably noticing there is no rear window at all.

3:20 There is a cutout for where it seems like there should be a rear mirror,

3:24 but there's just another panel there.

3:25 Then there's light up at the top and then the rear view camera,

3:29 which is right up here.

3:30 And then underneath that is the lights and the rest of the trunk.

3:33 So, you don't actually have a rear window on the Polestar 4.

3:38 It's really interesting.

3:40 I do like the look of the rear lights though,

3:41 and then you hit that button right there.

3:44 Oh god, the I got to get this thing to see the fob.

3:47 There we go.

3:50 [laughter] And there's your pretty sweet trunk,

3:51 which also has a sub trunk underneath it to put your charging cables.

3:56 So, this is an excellent amount of storage space.

3:59 You've got a power outlet in the back here.

4:01 Yeah, this is this is pretty pretty classic Polestar making it

4:04 reasonable for a family to actually travel around and daily this thing.

4:08 I think the only head-scratcher for me is that in a ground-up EV,

4:12 which the Polestar technically is,

4:13 it's not just a Volvo that's electric, it's a ground-up EV.

4:18 [snorts]

4:17 Uh it has a front trunk that you access by double pulling this latch right here.

4:24 And the front trunk in this this big Polestar 4 is this.

4:32 Uh even on camera it looks bigger than it actually is.

4:34 That's like two cartons of eggs, probably.

4:38 And then this nice cover as if you're putting anything in there.

4:41 I don't know, maybe if you've got like

4:42 a valuables like a purse and you're leaving your car for a while and you want

4:46 to put your hidden val- valuable stuff in there.

4:48 Maybe that's what that's for, but that's

4:50 a pretty tiny frunk, which is hilarious.

4:52 But, the design cooking continues on the inside of this car where

4:57 I get in and I honestly feel like I'm in a commercial.

5:00 Like I've seen some of those Volvo commercials,

5:02 and when I get in here I I feel like I'm in that commercial.

5:05 It's a really aesthetically pleasing all-black

5:07 interior with these somewhat sporty seats,

5:11 ventilated, heating, and massaging uh with little yellow accent pieces.

5:15 You've probably already seen this seatbelt here,

5:17 which is a pretty classic Polestar accent

5:20 to match the brakes and everything else.

5:22 Uh but then these seats, you can see, are really comfortable.

5:24 They have these nice bolstering.

5:26 And then there's actually a contrast

5:27 of materials even in this all-black interior.

5:30 You see this mesh up here, which is hiding speaker grills.

5:33 And then you have this little metal piece.

5:34 There's ambient lighting.

5:36 There's softer leather down here.

5:38 Everything's sturdy and well-built.

5:39 Big speakers in the door.

5:40 You saw the subwoofer in the trunk.

5:42 And still a bunch of text because, you you they like putting text everywhere.

5:46 But, it's so minimal and so clean and this is a big part of why I

5:50 like these Polestar designs so much is because

5:52 they they get away with doing this really clean,

5:54 sparse, minimal thing, but they're still well-featured, like I said.

5:58 So, down here in the center console,

6:00 you've got a single wireless charger for your phone.

6:02 You've got a big volume knob.

6:04 That's all it does is volume and play pause, no next track or previous track.

6:08 So, that's just minimal, just sitting there.

6:11 Two cup holders in here and your single

6:14 center console storage with two USB type-C ports.

6:17 That's kind of all you need.

6:19 I wish there were physical controls to move the HVAC stuff

6:22 around and I wish there were real buttons to change your temperature.

6:25 Instead, all of that is on the screen.

6:28 But, there's another uh set of screens we should talk about here.

6:31 So, center screen, driver screen,

6:35 and the only way to see behind you because there is no rearview window,

6:40 that's what it looks like all the time back there.

6:43 Uh that's your the the camera we talked about, which is on the back of the car.

6:46 That's the only way to see behind you.

6:47 Crazy enough, you can turn it off.

6:50 So, I guess if you just want to see the rear

6:52 passengers cuz there's no way you see anything behind you.

6:56 Uh but, obviously, you probably leave that turned

6:58 on to see what's actually behind you.

7:00 This steering wheel, I think is really nice.

7:01 It's a little on the big side, but it's nice and soft.

7:03 It's heated.

7:04 It's got this 12:00 little center line with a piece of metal there.

7:07 And the controls are pretty intuitive.

7:08 Play pause for media and then whatever is happening on the screen

7:12 can always be controlled by these arrows in the center key.

7:15 And then here's your uh cruise control controls on the left.

7:18 So, that's pretty intuitive there.

7:20 And then, of course, the screens.

7:21 So, this is the primary display and this is the driver display.

7:26 Yes, it does have wireless CarPlay.

7:28 And a lot of people are going to just default

7:30 to that when they get a car with wireless CarPlay.

7:33 You just throw that on and don't even think twice about it.

7:35 And yes, the directions from CarPlay here

7:37 will actually show up on the screen here.

7:39 But, I should actually just take a minute to shout out that Polestars continue

7:44 to have some of the best software in any car that is not CarPlay.

7:48 I always talk about some of the best software that's not CarPlay.

7:51 A lot of people don't care.

7:52 A lot of people don't care when I

7:53 say Tesla has the best software that's not CarPlay.

7:55 Rivian has pretty good software that's not CarPlay.

7:59 But, those cars don't offer CarPlay.

8:01 This one, if you choose not to use CarPlay,

8:03 has a pretty intuitive sort of a panel layout over here.

8:06 So, Google Maps on the left, and then your quick controls on the right.

8:09 You can turn on one pedal driving or different levels of regen,

8:11 which I'll get to in a second.

8:13 You're opening your glove box, which is this little compartment over here.

8:17 Uh you can adjust your mirrors or your steering wheel from over here.

8:20 So, this stuff, opening the trunk, that's all over there all the time.

8:23 And then you're probably wondering what ambiance is with Mercury.

8:27 Uh that's literally just changing the lighting scheme in the car.

8:32 And it's kind of bright out now, so you probably can't tell,

8:34 but when I changed it just now, that turned orange cuz Venus.

8:40 And then I'll change it to Earth, and now it's blue.

8:42 So, yeah, you can change the ambiance in the car with a single

8:46 click in the shortcuts over here uh based on the planet you're on.

8:50 And then of course you can get full screen Google Maps,

8:52 and there's actually a feature that I've gotten to test in here,

8:54 which is actually brand new collaboration between Google and Polestar,

8:58 which combines the Google Maps data with the cameras

9:02 on the front of the car to give you lane guidance,

9:05 specifically to tell you which lane you're in and which

9:07 lane you should be in on this display.

9:10 It's pretty useful, actually.

9:11 Typically, Google Maps is like, "Hey, get in one of the left lanes

9:14 for your upcoming exit." But, this will actually show you,

9:17 "You're in the middle lane, and you have the two lanes to the left of you

9:20 to get into that to make your exit." It's a subtle thing,

9:23 but if you do choose to use the built-in software that's not CarPlay,

9:27 that's another advantage to it.

9:28 So, okay, Marques, you're saying a lot of good things, man.

9:31 A lot of good materials, a lot of good design, a lot of good features.

9:35 For a $60,000 car, this seems like it's going in the right direction,

9:38 but you said you couldn't recommend it.

9:39 So, explain.

9:41 Sure, I got you.

9:42 Here's the back seat of the Polestar 4.

9:45 Okay.

9:46 First, it's it's not terrible with the legroom, right?

9:48 I'm I'm kind of high-kneed because of the battery in the floor,

9:52 but a decent amount of movable legroom here.

9:54 The classic text because every Polestar has text everywhere.

9:57 You can control music and HVAC from the back seat.

10:00 No physical controls, but you still get controls and real vents.

10:04 Uh so, this seems like a pretty good space to be.

10:06 The speakers are still everywhere, and you got this big glass sunroof,

10:10 which if the driver untints is pretty nice.

10:14 But, one of my two disappointments with this car is the lack of a back window.

10:20 It It feels weirdly just a little bit claustrophobic.

10:24 And again, if I'm the driver, who cares?

10:26 The back seat passengers can just feel the way they feel,

10:29 but I don't I don't love the way this back seat feels.

10:32 So, you saw this piece this trim piece back here,

10:36 uh which if you can't tell, has some ambient lighting on it.

10:39 It's It looks like it can be removed.

10:41 I haven't figured out how to move it yet,

10:42 but kind of just sits back there blocking the back view.

10:46 And so, if I'm in the back,

10:48 it's sort of a low roofline, the high feet, the tinted/untinted glass.

10:53 I'm I'm not a big fan of the back seat.

10:55 Compared to the other Polestars,

10:56 like the Polestar 2 back seat is totally normal and reasonable.

10:59 So, that's one of my downsides and one of the reasons

11:03 I don't think I would recommend this over the other Polestars.

11:06 It's nice design, though.

11:08 But, what's the other reason?

11:09 Well, the other reason is driving this car,

11:12 one simple downside that I think a lot

11:14 of people can probably already see coming.

11:17 Uh cuz if you've been doing the math, you've already seen the numbers up here.

11:20 Uh it's the range.

11:22 This Polestar 4 is rated I think on their website,

11:27 they're advertising 280 mi of range,

11:29 which Okay, that's just a tiny bit lower than

11:32 I would want or expect for a $60,000 car.

11:35 You can get in the threes, you can get in the mid threes, but okay, 280, fine.

11:40 But I I'm not getting anywhere near that.

11:43 Uh I think on a full charge, and it's winter, and it's cold,

11:46 but on a full charge, this was quoting me under 200 mi of range.

11:52 Which is now kind of unacceptable for the price.

11:56 So, I know if you're just commuting,

11:57 you're not road tripping, it's not that big of a deal,

11:58 but you can just get a Polestar 2 and get way more range.

12:02 So, it's kind of weird that it has this little range.

12:05 And the crazy thing is, I like driving it.

12:07 I really enjoy driving the Polestar 2 or Polestar 4.

12:11 And actually, that's not that crazy.

12:12 They're really good at these these driving dynamics.

12:14 This is on the softer side, and it's definitely an impressive ride based

12:20 on the fact that it's not air suspension, it's just these active dampers.

12:23 Uh but in its softest mode, this thing is smooth.

12:26 It cancels out some of the biggest potholes that New Jersey

12:29 has to offer and has thrown at me while driving this car.

12:32 Uh that combined with this big steering wheel makes

12:35 it feel like kind of that soft isolating luxury experience.

12:39 Uh Polestar kind of does the sporty thing decently well,

12:42 too, but I don't think this this car is about that.

12:45 This is definitely about just sort of transporting around, lounging around,

12:48 listening to some music, commuting, and it's really good at that.

12:53 My one complaint with driving that's not the range

12:55 is the lift-off regen is a little bit delayed, a little bit of lag,

13:00 so you might have noticed that feature up here

13:03 where I can turn on uh complete one-pedal driving,

13:06 which technically it does do one-pedal driving.

13:08 It'll slow to a stop, but I'd prefer a little bit more of a direct

13:12 uh modulation of acceleration as I lift off throttle.

13:16 Some feedback for the Polestar engineers.

13:18 But yeah, when you're driving in regular mode,

13:21 uh aka range mode, it's it's very chill,

13:24 it's very uh relaxed, and when you switch to performance mode,

13:28 it's much more responsive on that throttle.

13:31 It does feel like in range mode when you like pin the throttle,

13:34 it's it's probably in rear-wheel drive and it

13:36 takes a minute to re-engage the front

13:38 axle and then it's all-wheel drive and then

13:39 you feel it's it's rocket ship quick.

13:41 Super super fast.

13:43 Uh but in performance mode, they'll be on all the time.

13:45 But yeah, not a big difference in range in range

13:48 mode uh like I said, 200 mi of range.

13:51 How can I recommend a car in 2026 for $62,000 with 200 mi of range?

13:58 So, my one suggestion to Polestar because I've been pretty clear about it

14:01 now reviewing the entire lineup is I love what you're doing with the design.

14:06 Keep cooking.

14:07 Keep paying whoever's cooking to do what they're doing with these things.

14:10 Keep doing what you're doing with the interiors

14:12 and the materials cuz that's awesome, too.

14:14 Speakers are usually quite good.

14:16 Maybe tune it a little bit closer to the way

14:18 those Volvo EX90 speakers sound, that'd be sick.

14:21 But if there's one thing that you can change about these Polestars,

14:24 especially the Polestar 4, more range, more efficiency.

14:29 It's a 100 kWh battery.

14:31 There are cars that are way more efficient on smaller batteries.

14:33 They get 75 more miles of range on a single charge.

14:37 That would be enough to put it over the edge for me to actually

14:40 recommend this thing if you can get over the lack of a back window.

14:44 But let me know what you think.

14:45 Polestar 4, can the aesthetics to you outweigh the lack of range?

14:51 Thanks for watching.

14:52 Catch you in the next one.

14:53 Peace.