MADRID, Spain – Historically, car manufacturers have used windows as a selling point, and there are more of them than you might expect. Volkswagen‘s 23-window Bus, which was officially known as the Deluxe Microbus with Samba Package was a luxury equipment that is very popular today, for example. On the other side of the pond is the flagship Citroën XM was available with a 13th window that kept the wind out of the cabin when the hatch was open. With the 4, North Star claims that the sector has reached peak.
As for eccentricities, the lack of a rear window is not unimportant. We are not talking about a van you would see in a contractor’s fleet; this is a premium EV. However, there is more to it than a glassless hatch. After driving a pre-production car on a test trackI’m going on public roads with the 4.
First, a bit of positioning. Don’t read too much into the “4” nameplate; Polestar names its cars in the order they’re launched. The 4 is simply the fourth Polestar model to be revealed, and is listed below the 3 in terms of price and size. The segment in which it competes is relatively difficult to determine. It’s an SUV in the same sense that a taco is a sandwich: it checks most of the boxes on paper, but it doesn’t really look like one. It’s more of a mix of a high sedan and a hatchback. Or maybe one intersection in the literal sense of the word and not in the generally accepted sense.
Either way, the 4 certainly turns heads. There’s nothing else on the road. It adheres to Polestar’s design language by adopting styling cues such as T-shaped headlights, a grille-less front end and a thin rear light bar, but it is not a photocopy of an existing model. It has its own identity.
Polestar claims it has a very good reason for omitting the rear window. “We wanted to have a coupe body style for aerodynamics and at the same time have a very spacious interior,” Maximilian Missoni, the brand’s head of design, told me. The windowless solution made it possible to slide the D-pillar back and gain a few centimeters. “Another problem with coupes is that you see (in the rearview mirror) a lot of your own interior – you see the headrests and maybe your passengers too,” he added.
The sheet metal hides the modular SEA architecture shared with several other brands around the world Yellowish rich. Support versions of this basic platform the Volvo EM90 minivan sold in China, the Volvo EX30 And the Lotus Eletrealong with other models. Buyers will be able to choose from two configurations at launch. The base model is called the Long Range Single Motor and comes with — you guessed it — a single electric motor that powers the rear wheels. It’s rated at 272 horsepower and 253 pound-feet of torque and is equipped with a 100-kilowatt-hour lithium-ion battery battery packing up.
Next up is the Long Range Dual Motor, which gets two motors (one per axle) for on-road four-wheel drive. The second motor increases horsepower and torque to 544 and 506 respectively. This version uses the same battery as the rear-wheel drive version. Both powertrains are built around a 400-volt electrical system, and the range is up to 300 miles with rear-wheel drive or up to 270 miles with all-wheel drive. Charging from 10% to 80% takes about 30 minutes with a power of 200 kilowatts Charger.
The 4 shares around 85% of its infotainment system with the 3, but the software is displayed on a portrait-oriented 14.5-inch touchscreen rather than a landscape one. The system is based on Android, and Polestar has designed the user interface in-house, with clear, easy-to-read icons and a split-screen functionality. Specifically, the driver can select the ratio of the split; for example, you can have the navigation system appear on the left 3/4s of the screen, with media and phone widgets on the right 1/4s. The other way around works too, as does a 50/50 split. It’s a cool feature that makes the system more intuitive and less distracting to use. “We don’t make phones. We make cars, and we have distractions to worry about,” says Ruben Rodriguez, the company’s head of UX design.
Like the 3, the 4 takes a minimalist approach to interior design. You will find very few buttons in the cabin. There are a handful of them on the steering wheel, mainly used for functions such as adjusting the exterior mirrors and steering column, and a volume knob on the wide, sloping center console. This extensive reliance on the touchscreen might catch old-school drivers off guard, but it’s becoming the norm across the industry. Touchscreens can also add a touch of novelty to the experience: Polestar named the ambient lighting modes after the planets in the solar system, and you can navigate your way through the galaxy while learning details like the length of a day on Mars.
My time behind the wheel was limited to the dual-motor version and my test car was fitted with the optional Performance Pack. It doesn’t increase power, but it adds specific chassis tuning, 22-inch wheels wrapped in Pirelli P-Zero tires, Brembo brakes and gold-colored seat belts. The massive brakes are no exaggeration: this is a 5,200-pound car that goes from zero to 60 mph in 3.8 seconds.
Performance is the 4’s dominant trait, at least in this configuration. It actually feels quicker than its 3.8-second time suggests thanks to the instant torque provided by the electric motor, and the relatively low center of gravity combined with 50/50 weight distribution give it better handling than you might expect given its size and heft. It’s not quite as sharp in corners as the 3, which has a trick torque-vectoring rear axle, but the effort Polestar has put into making the 4 engaging to drive shows.
Unlike the 3, which rides on an air suspension system, the 4 has a conventional steel setup. This is fixed in the rear-wheel drive model and adaptive in the all-wheel drive model. The latter gives the driver three modes to choose from, Standard, Nimble and Firm respectively. The same menu on the touchscreen also lets you select two types of power delivery (Range and Performance), three flavours of steering feel (Light, Standard and Firm) and three levels of one-pedal driving (Off, Low and Standard). By playing with these settings, you can create a bespoke driving profile. The difference between these different settings is noticeable even under normal driving conditions. Engaging the suspension’s Firm setting reduces body roll at the expense of suppleness, while the steering becomes noticeably heavier in Firm mode. You can guess which mode you’re in without looking at the screen.
Select the softer suspension and steering settings, and the 4 becomes a comfortable place to travel. Missoni’s words are true: There’s a ton of room in both rows. Is that worth sacrificing the rear window for? It depends on your perspective. At its core, there’s nothing terribly unusual or alarming about the new system. Developed by Michigan-based Gentex, it consists of a 2.5-megapixel camera embedded in a small recess in the roof that feeds images to an 8.9-inch digital rearview mirror. You can flip the mirror down to see which kid is doing the beating in the backseat.
Our experience with camera-based mirrors has been mixed. One of my colleagues ran into issues with glare with a similar system in the Volvo C40. I didn’t experience anything like that with the 4, but I thought the mirror was too far back. I would have moved it a few inches towards the windshield. Ultimately it’s a matter of preference; this is often the case with new technology. Maybe you hate it, or maybe you love it. The problem is that if you hate it, you don’t have a second choice. It’s not like you can pay Polestar an extra $1,000 to order a 4 with a rear window and a real mirror.
So, have we reached the peak window? The industry will decide. In ten years’ time, the 4 will distinguish itself as a real odd one out or as a trendsetter. Until then, it’s one of the most distinctive EVs on the market.
Polestar will initially build the 4 in Hangzhou Bay, China, but the model will also be produced in Busan, South Korea, from 2025. Prices start at $56,300 (including the $1,400 destination charge) for the rear-wheel drive model and $64,300 for the dual-motor, all-wheel drive version.