The Polestar 4 is a midsize coupe-style sport utility vehicle (SUV) sold since 2024 by Polestar, a Swedish electric vehicle brand under China's Geely Automobile Holdings. While the midsize sedan Polestar 2, released in 2022, made its presence known in Korea's imported EV market, the Polestar 4 is regarded as the model that cemented the image of a premium EV by leveraging the strengths of an SUV.
By July this year, 2,660 Polestar 4s had been sold in Korea, gradually expanding its footprint in the imported EV market led by Tesla. It has already surpassed last year's sales of 2,611. Recently, it appeared in the SBS drama "Kim Bujang," drawing more attention, and we test-drove the model-year update around the greater Seoul area.
The car launched last year under the name "Polestar 4 SUV Coupe," but with last month's model-year change its official name was changed to "Polestar 4 Coupe." Polestar said the decision to change the name reflected an intent to intuitively convey the body design that sits between an SUV and a sedan. Coupe-style models inevitably have a narrow rear window viewing angle, but this car eliminates the rear window and is designed to show the rear via a camera.
The exterior changes in the model-year update are minor. What changed is the color of the front Polestar emblem. The previous model's emblem came only in silver, but starting with this model-year update, buyers can choose gray or black depending on the exterior color. The test car's exterior was in a white family of colors with a gray emblem applied, shifting attention from only the sharp, slim headlamps to the emblem and giving a more upscale feel.
The key change is in the chassis setup. The top trim, Dual Motor Performance, is unchanged, but the rear motor and dual motor trims use different dampers, springs, and anti-roll bars than before. While fitting high-stiffness coil springs and high-damping-force dampers, the anti-roll bar stiffness was lowered instead.
A Polestar official said, "We increased spring stiffness and damper damping force to absorb road impacts, but we relaxed the anti-roll bar in consideration of ride comfort." It can be read as an effort to keep the ride composed in certain sections while remaining firm as befits a performance car.
The dual motor trim we drove hugged the road firmly without transmitting vibrations as-is. Ground clearance is 170 mm—lower than an SUV but higher than a sedan. It stayed stable with little body shake even as speed increased. It held center well when turning the steering wheel left and right, and when exiting the highway through a sharp bend at 40 km/h, it felt as if the vehicle settled its posture first. However, speed bumps delivered a hard jolt.
Acceleration performance was excellent. This car is equipped with a dual motor driving the front wheels, producing up to 544 horsepower and 686 Nm of maximum torque. Pressing the somewhat heavy-feeling accelerator pedal sent the car off immediately. Despite output exceeding 500 horsepower, high-speed stability was outstanding, so the sense of speed was muted even past 100 km/h.
When approaching the car ahead, the system added reassurance by alerting of a collision risk from what felt like 10 meters out. The ability to switch between Performance mode and Range mode, and to adjust the steering wheel and suspension feel, stood out as strengths.
However, a characteristic EV lurch was a downside. The moment you lift off the accelerator, rapid deceleration caused the vehicle to rock fore and aft, creating a sense of mismatch. Compared with early EVs or the Polestar 2, the lurching on deceleration and restart has certainly decreased, but it was not completely smooth.
Setting the drive mode via the center display rather than a physical button seemed a choice for a clean interior design, but it was cumbersome to tap the screen more than three times while driving.
The spacious, clean interior was impressive. At 4,840 mm long, 2,999 mm in wheelbase, and 2,067 mm wide, it sits between a midsize and a near-full-size SUV. The width in particular offered roominess in any seat. The trunk's horizontal width is 116 cm, designed to load four golf bags placed sideways that are 95 cm or less. Trunk capacity is 526 liters, expanding to 1,536 liters with the second row folded.
The dual motor trim has a single-charge range of 455 km and is fitted with a 400V lithium-ion battery. When we received the test car, the battery was at 79%, and after about 200 km of driving over three days with the air conditioner and ventilated seats on, it was at 41%.
The price of the 2027 Polestar 4 dual motor trim starts at 66.9 million won, down 2 million won from before. The test car, with the Plus Package that includes a Harman Kardon sound system, a head-up display, and a rear-seat control screen, plus options such as Nappa leather and a glass roof, was 80.9 million won.