RE: 2024 Polestar 4 | PH Review

[RenesisEvo]

Terminator X said:

Pleasantly surprised by the price. Looks good too.

The rear mirror thing though, won't a camera get dirty etc over time blurring the image^.

TX.

^I realize that I'm in a position of weakness as my car doesn't have either!

Rear windows get dirty too? And I imagine a camera is far tinier than a window in terms of attracting dirt. My reversing camera gets dirty occasionally, but a quick swipe of a finger or thumb and all is well again.

I'm fortunate to have had a go in an early one of these and it was quite enjoyable, perhaps lacking the last degree of plushness of an I-Pace in terms of ride, but didn't feel as large as one of those.

The rear view mirror system does take a moment to adjust, but if these are good enough for the top cars at Le Mans to use them, then it's definitely good enough for me. Certainly better perspective than that on a Land Rover Defender, which is mounted too high - and whilst you can switch to a real mirror on that, the view is so bad it's not worth it.

[Firebobby]

Without a doubt a much better looking car than it's previous generations. I once said of the Polestar, " it's not a car you'd look back at having parked it" Well, I'd probably give this one a quick glance! I'm not really bothered about weights, dynamics, range etc as I'll never own one. Good effort, a vast improvement in looks over it's older siblings, IMVHO of course.

[smilo996]

Every Polestar makes Tesla look like their cars were designed by Fisher Price. The rear no screen might be a step too far for some but another solid performance from them.

[bigyoungdave]

SDK said:

bigyoungdave said:

Not all dynamic issues can be solved by software updates, particularly when it comes to ride and handling

The dampers are electronically adjustable and have continuously controlled active ride control. So these will be adjustable via software.
The option Performance Pack add's 'Performance tuned chassis tweaks', so likely this will add further improvements

Quite possibly. But the fact they've not managed to sort the issues before providing the cars to journos makes you wonder whether there are more fundamental issues that need more than a software tweak to resolve. If I was in the market I personally would wait to see whether later versions have managed to iron out the problems before pulling the trigger on a purchase

[dpop]

Really liking this and certainly a more fun design than the over-inflated beetle look that is the electric Macan.. Only gripe is the colour choices on the configurator; 6 colours only comprising of black, white, a few greys and a gold - why??

[Rostyle]

It seems to be a recurring problem that many manufacturers just can't get electric cars to ride well , model Y is another example of an SUV that has a bad ride and then most shockingly there is the Lotus that doesnt handle like any previous Lotus .
Will Jaguar with its new range offer their usual masterclass in ride and handliing ?I hope so .

[Kipsrs]

For me, the heart and soul is most definitely missing from the cabin, I like to drive a car that I feel part of, I’d just feel like I was piloting a toilet with a big iPad! Just my humble observation.

[cidered77]

pb8g09 said:

Echoing a comment above, there’s a lot of yearning in the comments already despite the review insinuating that the ride and handling is gobste. Do people not care about how their (performance) car drives anymore?

I think the motoring press has always placed waaay too much emphasis on handling for cars that are supposed to be just simple, comfy family A to B stuff. It doesn't matter how this thing goes around a corner quickly, really...

But - ride though, really does matter. And it's a proper issue with the Polestar 2. I test drove the previous iteration and found it just too stiff to be credible, the recent refresh and 19" not 20" wheels helps a little - but my new dual motor version i swear rides significantly worse than the single motor I test drove, which finally convinced me to get one. it's the only thing letting it down really.

Hopefully it can be fixed with an over the air update, as there's a lot otherwise to like with this car. Nice design, nice interior, good efficiency claims for its size. If not - do Polestar just have more significant problems engineering for this mass and power - and are just solving it with crude stiffness?

[SDK]

bigyoungdave said:

Quite possibly. But the fact they've not managed to sort the issues before providing the cars to journos makes you wonder whether there are more fundamental issues that need more than a software tweak to resolve. If I was in the market I personally would wait to see whether later versions have managed to iron out the problems before pulling the trigger on a purchase

This is 2024 - the days of products and software launching which are fully complete have long since gone already,

[nismo48]

Discombobulate said:

More than a touch of iPace in the side profile.

Agreed

[Wheel Turned Out]

Just can't get on with the looks of it at all.

[Clivey]

Kipsrs said:

For me, the heart and soul is most definitely missing from the cabin, I like to drive a car that I feel part of, I’d just feel like I was piloting a toilet with a big iPad! Just my humble observation.

That's it! I was trying to recall what these "minimalist" interiors reminded me of and it's just that. - A portaloo!

[Bladedancer]

How a designer can finish work with something this bland is beyond me.
Most new SUVs, especially EVs seem to look like they've been designed by AI using a pool of very similar cars as data source.

[Bladedancer]

mrclav said:

E30KB said:

Glad the designers saved weight by discarding the rear view mirror on this 2230kg lump of lard.

I notice you didn't call the 2240kg Mercedes CL65 AMG a lump of lard when commenting on that car.

Well, cutting some slack here, I think calling a merc a lump of lard is redundant as that's a given

[swisstoni]

I think Polestar started life with a pretty strong image. This seems to be getting diluted.

I don’t have an issue with the lack of rear window but would like to see how the camera works in practice. Certainly conventional car cameras seem to get silted up pretty easily.

[BrownEaredDog]

DoctorX said:

Looks ok but I’d like the black roof extended down the tailgate, maybe it would look a little less odd.

Interior looks a bit miserable though. I blame Tesla for normalising these stripped out cabins. Everyone else has jumped on the bandwagon and saved a load of cash.

Volvo have been making these "Scandinavian design" inspired interiors for a few years now, this just seems to be the latest in the line. If anything Tesla copied Volvo, but didn't get the memo about the simple design also needing to be functional and ended up with nonsense like indicators on the steering wheel

[DoctorX]

BrownEaredDog said:

Volvo have been making these "Scandinavian design" inspired interiors for a few years now, this just seems to be the latest in the line. If anything Tesla copied Volvo, but didn't get the memo about the simple design also needing to be functional and ended up with nonsense like indicators on the steering wheel

I know, I drive one. It’s rather nicer than this.

[el romeral]

It is being praised as it is less bad than the others. Says it all really. Definitely not my bag.

[_ppan]

SDK said:

This is 2024 - the days of products and software launching which are fully complete have long since gone already,

Handling and ride is dependent on more than electrically adjusted dampers. Many parts of which most do not have any microprocessors let alone software, play a role. Adjustability is never endless. I do not know of any car that had mediocre handling and ride that was called back for some post sale hardware improvements. Do you?

Edited by _ppan on Monday 1st July 14:05

Edited by _ppan on Monday 1st July 14:56

[mooseracer]

SDK said:

bigyoungdave said:

Quite possibly. But the fact they've not managed to sort the issues before providing the cars to journos makes you wonder whether there are more fundamental issues that need more than a software tweak to resolve. If I was in the market I personally would wait to see whether later versions have managed to iron out the problems before pulling the trigger on a purchase

This is 2024 - the days of products and software launching which are fully complete have long since gone already,

That is a really odd statement, and not one I'd agree with!

In the case of this car - seems like you are right as the 1st time PH tried it, it had other pretty bad flaws too.