What It Was Like Driving The 2025 Polestar 4, A Good Car With No Rear Window And Bad Vents

In early July, Polestar invited the members of the North American Car, Truck and Utility Vehicle of the Year (NACTOY) jury to Montreal for an early opportunity to drive its newest model, the Polestar 4, or PS4 as I’m going to refer to it. The PS4 has already been on sale in China for more than a year, but it’s just now arriving in North America mostly for reasons of politics. The PS4 is going to be crucial to Polestar’s sustainability as a standalone brand so it needs to do well in the market. Does it have what it takes? 

The History Of Polestar, Which Is Struggling

Polestar is a company with a fascinating, nearly three-decade history. It began in the mid-1990s as a racing team competing in the Swedish Touring Car Championship with modified Volvos.

Eventually it began tuning Volvo road cars before ultimately being acquired by Volvo Cars.

Along the way, Volvo was acquired from Ford by China’s Geely Group. In 2017, Polestar was sort of spun off by Geely and Volvo to produce high-performance electric vehicles. Initially it was jointly owned by Geely and its subsidiary company Volvo Cars but in 2022 Polestar went public through a SPAC merger. 

Unfortunately, like many other EV startups that went public in the early part of this decade, the timing was bad and Geely’s hopes of raising additional capital for Polestar collided with rising interest rates and declining investor interest in any EV stock that didn’t trade as TSLA. Polestar’s problems were further compounded by product development delays that meant the brand only had one volume model to sell from the 2020 introduction of the Polestar 2 sedan until mid-2024 when the Polestar 3 and 4 arrived. 

As pleasant as the PS2 was, it was essentially a sedan in a market rapidly turning away from that form factor. Ultimately, Geely bought out Volvo Cars stake in Polestar and related business entities and although the brand remains publicly traded, 82% of the shares are held by these entities.

Thus the launch of the PS3 and PS4 have been crucial to growing the Polestar brand globally. But that brings the next stage of the problem, China. Polestar is an “asset-light” company that doesn’t own any factories of its own. All of its products are built in factories of partners that are part of the larger Geely family, mostly in China. But there are 100% tariffs on Chinese EVs sold in the US.

Thus Polestar has had to expand its manufacturing footprint. In addition to China, the PS3 is built at Volvo’s factory near Charleston, South Carolina and the PS4 is starting production at a Renault factory in Busan, South Korea. 

However, the second Trump administration has further complicated things for Polestar. The launch of a global trade war with tariffs on everything made outside of US borders along with the death of the EV tax credit will make it even more difficult for Polestar to succeed. 

But the first element of success is having a product that people actually want to buy. Having now spent a day with the Polestar 4, we need to answer the question of whether this is the right product for growth in America.

The Looks

Design is obviously the first thing that anyone will take note of when considering whether to spend tens of thousands of their hard-earned dollars on a new car.

By the way, while Polestar insists on calling this an SUV, I’m going to start making my own determinations of what qualifies as an SUV. The whole industry has become so paranoid about scaring off a potential buyer who wants an SUV, that they have sadly taken to applying the term to pretty much anything. 

I’m going to be frank, a Mustang Mach-E Rally with 5.8-inches of ground clearance isn’t an SUV no matter how cool the 80s throw-back rally wheels look. The PS4 has barely more at just 6.5-inches of clearance and is just 60.4-inches tall.

This is a hatchback car; argue with me if you want but you’re wrong if you think otherwise. I am personally of the opinion that there is absolutely nothing wrong with being a car. I just bought a Kia EV6 with even less ground clearance than the PS4 and while my friend James Bell will take issue with my assessment, I’m glad it’s a car. 

So how does this car look? I think it looks great. While the PS1 and PS2 were very clearly Volvos with new badges, the PS3 and now the PS4 have really started to step into a look of their own. There remains a tie in to Volvo in what Polestar refers to as the “dual blade” running lamps up front that are clearly an evolution of the “Thor’s Hammer” from Volvo. 

The overall shape is both sleek and sharply sculpted, showing the direction the brand is going with its upcoming models, the creatively named 5, 6 and 7. It’s a 5-door, fast-back hatchback. It’s about 2.4-inches shorter from front to back compared to the PS3 but has a 0.5-inch longer wheelbase. The roofline is also three-inches closer to the ground but it’s four-inches wider giving the PS4 a more athletic stance than its bigger sibling. 

Adding to the sleek appearance are the retracting door handles that sit flush with the surrounding panel when the doors are locked. While these eliminate some aerodynamic drag which is good for EVs, they also tend to be finicky because they are software controlled.

There is also the challenge of ice storms that encase your car in frozen water. We couldn’t evaluate this on a hot summer day, but we’ll definitely have to try it out in winter time. 

Take a close look around the PS4 and one thing you’ll notice is lots of cameras, 12 of them to be precise. There are three behind the windshield with heating elements to prevent ice buildup. There are two on each mirror, one facing forward at an angle as part of the advanced driver assistance package and one facing down for the surround view monitor. On the back edge of the turn signal repeaters on the front fenders are rear angled cameras and two at the back of the roof, one for ADAS and one for the digital mirror. 

There are also 12 ultrasonic sensors and a forward facing long-range radar. The PS4 uses an ADAS system provided by Mobileye and powered by the EyeQ5 Hi system on a chip (SoC). This system is capable of providing Mobileye’s Supervision hands-free driving assist.

Supervision is a subset of Mobileye’s level 4 automated driving system being developed for robotaxis. It uses the camera subsystem of Mobileye Drive along with the radar and ultrasonic sensors for enhanced safety and collision avoidance. 

Unlike another brand that exclusively sells electric cars, Mobileye doesn’t believe that cameras alone are adequate to ensure the safety of higher level driver assist and automation. Mobileye also utilizes its Road Experience Management (REM) mapping system that collects data from millions of Mobileye-equipped vehicles around the world to build maps and gather data on where drivers actually position their vehicles on the road. This enables safer driving on roads even without road markings as well as knowing where to stop at intersections with limited visibility and what trajectory to take on complex turns. 

PS4s sold in China already have this capability along with models from Zeekr and are able to drive hands-off but driver’s eyes-on the road on both highways and city streets. The PS4 also has cameras in the cabin to make sure the driver is watching the road, one is on the steering column while the other is on the driver’s side A-pillar. Polestar says that while Supervision won’t be enabled at launch in North America, once they complete local validation and testing it will get turned on. 

As a premium European designed car, it should come as no huge surprise to anyone that most of the PS4’s exterior color palette is the usual gradient of monochromatic shades – silver, white, black and dark grey in gloss or matte. But there are two interesting colors, the silvery-blue they call electron and a matte gold. We drove the electron which looks more blue in the sunlight than it does in the online configurator. 

As part of the sleek look, the shoulder crease sweeps up toward the rear end. Standing behind the PS4, you’ll see the glass roof curving down over the top portion of the tailgate but then there is no glass in the tailgate itself. The angle of the top portion of the tailgate is extremely shallow and there is a body-colored insert where you might expect to find the glass but it is completely solid. 

Mostly Loving the Living Space (But Not Entirely)

As good as a car might look on the outside, ultimately the cabin is where you are going to get the job done. At first glance, the PS4 is a winner from an aesthetic perspective.

The interior color combinations are all monochrome ranging from an all black to four options with increasing areas of lighter grey. Our test car had the optional Bridge of Weir leather with light grey seats and trim around the doors, dashboard and sides of the center console. 

The shapes of the interior are pleasant and clean and emphasize the width. There are two displays, a 10.2-inch unit in front of the driver where it belongs for driving information and a 15.4-inch center touchscreen in a portrait orientation.

There’s also a 14.7-inch heads-up display with the sort of unique feature you would expect from a Swedish company. In the touchscreen controls there is a snow mode for the HUD which flips the main color from white to yellow, making it much easier to see in winter conditions. 

One thing I was pleased to see when I climbed in was four window switches on the driver’s door armrest. None of the ridiculous two switches and a front/rear toggle that VW started and the PS3 has. But let me continue with the good stuff before I dive into the dumb. 

The cabin materials and textures look great and feel very premium and there’s no piano black except for the touchscreen and the haptic buttons on the steering wheel. The fabric trim across the doors and dashboard is particularly interesting.

The Polestar design team worked with the Swedish School of Textiles to utilize a new 3D knitting technique for interior coverings. Rather than the usual method of creating textiles on a roll and then cutting and sewing, each piece is made to the finished dimensions and contours which requires less work and leaves no scrap. 

There’s also a material on the perimeter of the floating center console and a few other areas that feels a bit like a neoprene wetsuit but with less pronounced texture. It looks great and feels nice to the touch. At the forward end of the console is the usual large rotary volume knob and play/pause button with a metallic, knurled rim. 

Behind this is roll-top surface covering the cupholders made up of metal slats. While this looks good, the sharp edges of the slats can be clearly felt when you run a finger along the closed surface.

The cars we drove were pre-production examples built in Korea and Polestar wasn’t able to provide an answer about whether this is the way it will feel on regular production models. It’s not a show stopper, but definitely seems a bit of a miss considering the thought that went into much of the rest of the interior. 

All PS4s get a full glass roof panel and our test example had the optional $1,500 electrochromic roof. A touch of a button the screen switches the roof from providing a full view of the sky to a translucent-opaque that still lets in some light without showing the details. 

Taking a look over your shoulder will reveal the back seat and nothing else. The Volvo C40/EC40 is a fastback “coupe” version of the EX40 crossover and has a similarly sloped roofline. Anyone who has driven that car knows that between the mailslot rear window and the rear headrests, there is effectively almost no rear visibility, so Polestar made the decision to just make the tailgate solid and just offer a digital rear view mirror.

The Tesla Cybertruck has the same issue when the tonneau cover is closed, but Tesla opted to put the camera output in the infotainment display amongst a lot of other information which can appear cluttered. Polestar retained the traditional mirror position which I think works better. 

I personally don’t have an issue with relying on digital mirrors since I’ve actually come to prefer their added visibility on most modern vehicles. Some drivers don’t like these camera-based systems since it does require refocusing on the display rather on whatever you are seeing in a reflective mirror and if that is an issue you’ll probably want to take a pass on the PS4. 

As with other current Polestar and Volvo products the infotainment system runs Android Automotive with Google Automotive Services built-in. That means Google Assistant is providing voice recognition which can be used for navigation, adjusting temperature and other functions without touching the screen.

Play services and the store allow downloading a range of apps for media streaming including Youtube (although you can only watch video when the car is parked. The Chrome browser is also present so you can check out websites while charging. Unlike GM, Polestar is also keeping support for phone projection so Apple users can use Carplay if they prefer. 

Unfortunately, as attractive as the cabin of the PS4 is, the designers at Polestar made at least one unforgivable choice. When you sit down, you will notice that unlike in a Tesla Model 3 or Y, the air vents are visible rather than hidden under the seams. Sadly, those vents have no tabs or handles that you grab to adjust the direction of air flow. You must instead go to the climate screen and then drag with your finger to adjust air flow.

This is a ridiculous decision, and while the majority of us reviewing these cars have made it clear to manufacturers that we hate this, it looks like the only way it will stop is if consumers refuse to buy. Fortunately, rear seat passengers get their own climate control with proper manual vents. 

Let’s Head for the Mountains

Once we got all settled into our electron blue PS4 outside of our hotel near the old harbor in Montreal, it was time to hit the road. Our route took us northwest to Mont-Tremblant over a combination of city streets, highways and winding mountain roads.

The traffic in and around Montreal was just horrendous, but the size of the PS4 makes maneuvering far less stressful than it would be in an actual large SUV. This isn’t a mini car, but I personally think it hits a nice sweet spot that still provides ample room for people and stuff without getting ridiculous. 

By the way, access to the car comes via a choice of the buttonless key fob, an NFC card or digital phone as a key. The fob seemed very finicky about when it would lock or unlock the doors and we ended up having to tap the card on the B-pillar almost every time to unlock the doors.

I frankly don’t find this to be particularly convenient when so many other cars just sense the key fob and unlock when you get close and lock when you walk away including the 2017 Honda Civic we just traded in. If I have to remove an NFC card, tap my phone or a fob, you’ve kind of missed the point. 

I was riding shotgun on the first leg which gave me time to explore the interior features and fiddle with the seat. Base models get 8-way adjustment for the driver and 6-way for the front passenger. Our car with the Plus pack raises that to 12-way for both seats and adds rear seat heating to the standard front heaters.

The seats in the Plus pack include ventilation although the controls are embedded in the touchscreen interface and not always easy to get to quickly while driving. The higher end front seats also offer a massage function, though, which always comes in handy after many hours on the road.

The seats carry on the comfort and support tradition of Volvo and hold you in all the right places. As someone with relatively long thigh proportions, I’m always glad to find adjustable thigh support which is also included in the plus pack seats.  The rear seats also have a recline function with the switches built into the sides of the fold-down center seat/arm-rest. 

Once I had a chance to move over to the left seat, I had to adjust the steering wheel and side mirrors which also replicates the pattern found on many modern EVs. You have to go into the touch screen to select what you want to adjust and then use the haptic buttons on the right steering wheel spoke to make that element move. There is a memory function if you have multiple drivers in the household, but that’s another of those things that I find adds more fiddliness in pursuit of minimalism. As is increasingly common, the transmission selector is a stalk on the steering column and this works really well, down for drive, up for reverse and press the end for park. 

The PS4 is built on Geely’s Sustainable Experience Architecture (SEA) that is shared with the Zeekr 001 and other models across the broader group. There’s independent suspension with a 4-link layout on the front corners and an integral link setup at the rear with steel coil springs. Single motor versions get passive dampers while the dual motor variants get ZF adaptive damping. 

There’s a 100-kWh lithium ion battery pack under the floor and a choice of either one or two 200-kW (272-hp) permanent magnet electric motors. All PS4s have a motor on the rear axle  while the dual motors add one to the front axle. We didn’t get a chance to drive the single motor, just the dual motor with 544-hp and 506 lb-ft of torque. According to Polestar, the rear-drive model will get to 60 mph in 6.9 seconds while the all-wheel-drive cuts that almost in half at 3.7-seconds. We didn’t do any formal timing, but that number seems absolutely believable based on the way the car pushed us back into the seats when going foot to the floor. 

As mentioned above, at some indeterminate future date, the PS4 will get Mobileye Supervision hands-free driving assist. But that date hasn’t arrived yet. For now, the car comes standard with the Pilot Pack which uses the radar and front camera to provide the same type of hands-on lane centering that Volvo and Polestar have had for years. When engaged, it will track the lane and keep the car centered and it has definitely gotten better over time since I first tried it on an XC90 about seven years ago. 

In addition to lane centering, the PS4 also has automatic lane change assist. When you tap the turn signal stalk, the side cameras and blindspot radar check the adjacent lane and when there is an adequate gap you’ll feel the steering wheel turn and move the car over. As on other cars with the same feature, it’s not as useful as it would be with a hands-free system, but at least it will check and make sure the space where you want to move to is adequately clear. 

One thing most drivers of cars with digital mirrors may not be aware of is that they typically offer several options for the field of view from a base level that is basically 1X magnification to a wide or ultra-wide angle. Polestar takes advantage of the extra optical view from the lens and the camera resolution to automatically adjust what is displayed when you activate the turn signal. Tap the left signal and the display automatically shifts left as if you had adjusted an optical mirror. As soon as the signal is cancelled, the view centers up again. It’s a thoughtful touch, but not enough to make up for digital vent controls. 

Being as far north as we were, Quebec roads are subject to some pretty severe winter weather. Like Michigan, that means there’s frost heaves and assorted other unevenness. Despite that, the PS4 remained comfortable albeit not floaty smooth. This is a pleasant change from the Polestar engineered performance Volvo models I’ve driven in the past that could often be downright stiff. 

Once we got off autoroute 15 and onto the more rural roads, things definitely got more interesting. Even with a curb weight of nearly 5,200-lbs, 544-hp and 506 lb-ft of torque will provide far more than adequate motivation whenever you need it. At one point I was stuck behind someone driving a BMW X3 well below the speed limit but as soon as I had a clear view of the road beyond a quick squeeze of the right pedal put me in the leading position almost instantly. 

As is often the case on modern vehicles with electric power steering, there’s not a huge amount of steering feedback, but the weighting was good as was the precision for placing the car where I wanted it on the road. Despite the ample torque going through the front wheels, multi-link suspensions like this help to ensure that there was no unplanned directional change during acceleration.  

I genuinely enjoyed the overall driving experience of the PS4 throughout the day. The performance was excellent and the overall footprint makes it much easier to maneuver than larger crossovers, SUVs and trucks. There was one other annoying anomaly I experienced in mid-afternoon. The sun was still up fairly high in the sky on a summer day and I got a very bright reflection off the metallic trim on the center console right into my eyes. This is one of those instances where the metallic finish looks really cool, but it has a notable functional downside. 

The single motor Polestar 4 is rated at 300 miles of range per charge while the dual motor machine drops to 272 miles. Over the course of 225 miles, we averaged an impressive 31.4 kWh/100 miles (3.18 miles/kWh) which would in theory provide a range of nearly 320 miles. Considering we had the air conditioning on and drove a lot of the time at highway speeds, the official numbers are probably on the conservative side. 

We didn’t have any opportunity to do any charging with the PS4, but we did note that it still has a CCS1 charging port. It is located on the left rear fender, much as Tesla does, which means that if you go to a Supercharger station with Magic Docks or an adapter, you won’t have to park in an adjacent slot to reach the super short cables. DC fast charging peaks at 200-kW and Polestar claims that it will charge from 10% to 80% in 30 minutes. Not as good Hyundai, Kia or Genesis EVs but still fairly respectable considering that real range will probably outlast your bladder. At home, the PS4 will consume electrons at up to 11-kW. 

The $57,800 (For Now) Polestar 4 Is Good, But Probably Not Good Enough

The Polestar 4 is meant to slot in below the 3 and will be the entry model until the lower cost Polestar 7 arrives in 2028 and even that hasn’t been confirmed for North America. For now the PS4 single motor starts at $57,800 (including $1,400 destination charge). The dual motor starts at $64,300. Due to the uncertainty around the administration’s trade policies, it’s anyone’s guess what the tariff rates will be when the Polestar 4 starts deliveries this fall but Polestar has promised to honor current prices for any customers when they order. 

The example that we drove in electron with the Plus pack, electrochromic roof and 21-inch sport wheels came to a grand total of $78,100. That’s quite a bit more than a Tesla Model Y Performance or a Lexus RZ but it’s in the range of a BMW i4. Overall I find the Polestar 4 more visually attractive although I love driving the i4. Still, the digital vents might just be a deal killer for me if I was looking to buy. I hate those things.

Top Image: Polestar

[Correction (11/4/2025 10:05 AM EST): The seats do offer ventilation. -DT]