The 2025 Polestar 4: Great steering and a small carbon footprint stand out
- Thread starter JournalBot
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"hey what if we made like, a Tesla, but didn't royally duck it up? I bet that'd sell"
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I mean... It's not a bad plan really is it?
Copy the market leader but fix their mistakes and areas customers complain about?
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It's good that they built an SUV because there aren't any on the market today.
It's not like every other vehicle is a truck or SUV.
/s
It's not like every other vehicle is a truck or SUV.
/s
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Sure glad I looked under Staff before I asked in another article, "WTF happened to Gitlin?"
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I don't think about a rear window as taking a lot of volume. Now that this article has pointed out the trade-off between headroom and a single sheet of a clear, thin material replacing multiple layers of metal and interior lining... I still don't get how removing the window has contributed to headroom.
Anyway, I continue to be baffled by the design choice to make SUVs look like the coupes that nobody wants to sell. With nothing to use as a visual scale, I thought this was going to be a coupe until the article said SUV. Not really good or bad, I guess, except it probably means inefficient oversized wheels, just so weird.
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So, if you don't get the Performance Pack, do you get anything resembling sensible tires?
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Serious question - what's an 'SUV' these days? In my archaic brain, that's something like a Ford Bronco or Toyota 4Runner. This ain't that by any stretch. It has more ground clearance than a Prius but not by a whole lot. 4 doors and a hatch. So, a hatchback? No. It is sort coupe like...
Gonna go see who is walking on my xeriscaping.
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I hate hate hate hate the big wheel fad.
Worse range, worse ride quality, more prone to damage, usually more expensive tire, and no real world benefits like handling because they're almost always the same width and thus same contact patch size, and anyone who claims the sidewall reduction has a real effect on handling at these sizes is a bullshit artist if they mean for street usage.
The handling and sidewall argument holds some water when talking about going from a 195/65-15 inch wheel/tire to a 225/45-17 or something, but not the sort of shit we see on these cars.
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167
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Really good to hear they focused on the steering. This is the biggest issue with the P2, it's just the same numb Volvo steering. Which is fine in a Volvo, but not Polestar. Still love the way the P2 with Performance Pack drives though, can't wait to test drive the P4.
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Another tablet stuck onto the dash. I absolutely hate that.
Automakers - place integrate it into the dashboard.
Automakers - place integrate it into the dashboard.
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How do they ensure the camera remains free of any debris that may obstruct the view?
The backup camera on my car is utterly useless after a heavy rain or snow storm.. it would not be acceptable if that was the only way of seeing out the back of the vehicle.
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The cloth in the P2 is surprisingly nice. I couldn’t believe you could have not leather in a premium car, but I’ve been persuaded. Maybe not for everyone, but you should definitely check it out in person before you pass judgment.
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The Apple formula. Let all the other "we must be first to market in order to win!!" morons go first and then learn from their lessons.
First isn't always best. Usually, best is best.
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I’m glad they have a gauge cluster screen, but the Mach-e has ruined that shape/size. It looks cheap.
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Hopefully something like this.
https://gmauthority.com/blog/gm/gen...r-camera-mirror/gm-rear-camera-mirror-washer/
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Do I spy knobs for gear shift and turn signals? So this is better than a late model S.
Dad got the late model S and, I don’t know how I feel about capital punishment in general, but I’d be comfortable executing the fuckwit that turned blinkers into a button press and park/reverse into a screen swipe.
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I have seen something like this quoted in a variety of places:
"Because the rear window is gone, [Graeme Lambert, Head of Design & Innovation PR] says that the team was able to put the structural member that ties one side of the car to the other further back on the body."
(source article)
The absence of that structural member above the rear passengers is what yields additional headroom.
[edited for clarity of "absence"]
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I don't understand this part. What does Jonathan mean? Isn't one pedal drive the best way to coast? Isn't that exactly what you want when buying an EV: excellent one-pedal driving?
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Rear screen on my 20-odd old Alfa coupe is both huge and sloping in visual area - and crud collection - but tiny in vertical projection and so a bit useless in adverse conditions.
I drive it like a van pre-cameras, using mainly the side mirrors with a check on the centre mirror for rapidly approaching lights.
I don't this is a bad solution compared to the tunnel vision of thick pillars and small rear screen on most modern cars?
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I second this. I went with leather seats in my P2, not for the leather feel (Although it is admittedly super nice) but for the vented seats.
If I could have gotten WeaveTech seats with ventilation I'd be a happy guy.
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20k price premium over the Tesla competitors unfortunately kills it though.
I like this better than a Tesla 3 or Y LR, but there isn't enough to justify the massive price premium.
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I've test driven both the XC40 Recharge and Polestar 2 relatively recently (and I've got a P2 on order), and while the P2's steering isn't superb, it's night and day compared to the XC40 in my opinion, especially when both are in "firm" mode, and combined with how soft and wallowy the XC40's suspension is.
For what it's worth, I tested the rear wheel drive P2, on 19" wheels. I found the suspension firm but not at all unpleasant, compared to the Mini Cooper SE I currently drive.
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Because crossovers are a thing.
I'd've called them a "grand coupe", but I'm sure some marketing panel decided on the "crossover" name. Or there's some car model already called a grand coupe, maybe.
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I had one on a rental, but I completely gave up on it after the first use, probably depends on manufacturer and conditions, but at least in my experience they just make the picture look slightly wetter.Mine has a sprayer
Maybe they need to bring back this tiny Saab wipers for the headlights, but even tinier and on the camera. That would be cute.
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Good thing that really isn't an SUV. In my opinion that is just a sedan they are calling an SUV which I'm glad about because I hate SUV's.
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19.9 tons sounds extremely super bad compared to any other car, not best in class. Can we get a fact check on that claim? I've seen estimates for other cars where the batteries are not made in China that put the embodied carbon at 9-10 tons for both Nissan Leaf and the Tesla Model 3 with a US-made battery pack.
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It's the tariff's that are making it that expensive. Once they move manufacturing they will be 10k cheaper
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Well, you just nerd sniped me…
According to NASA, the day length for Mercury is 1407.6 hours rather than the 1416 hours listed in the screenshot. I suspect that this is because somebody was using a source which rounded Mercury’s day up to 59 Earth days, which accounts for the discrepancy.
Interestingly, Mercury orbits the Sun so quickly that a given spot on the planet needs two orbits of the Sun (or three rotations of the planet) to experience a full light/dark day/night cycle.
https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/factsheet/mercuryfact.html
There are a few other discrepancies relative to these fact sheets, but they’re all pretty minor:
- Average Mars temperature is listed as -65°C instead of -63°C
- Jupiter gravity is listed as 2.4x instead of 2.6x (this is the equatorial gravity rather than the average gravity)
- Jupiter temperature is listed as -110°C instead of -108°C
- Saturn temperature is listed as -140°C instead of -139°C
- Uranus temperature is listed as -195°C instead of -197°C
- Neptune temperature is listed as -200°C instead of -201°C
The temperatures for the outer planets look like somebody just started rounding to the closest multiple of five, which is weird given that Mercury and Venus matched the fact sheets.
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I don't understand why anyone would want leather. Skin sticks to it, it gets to 1k degrees if it sits in the sun for more than 5 seconds, and it's slippery so you slide around while driving.
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OrangeCream
Ars Legatus Legionis
A moonroof takes a surprising amount of usable headroom compared to a sheet of metal, sound insulation, and cloth.
Essentially you can think of the rear window was a picture frame. Even if the photo and cover glass is thin, the frame itself adds to the bulk and you need to factor that into the interior space.
Remove the glass and the entire space can be load bearing. In this specific case they took advantage of the space and grew the trunk. Rather than flattening the rear deck to allow visibility through a rear window, they turned the car into a fastback and purposed all the space for storage.
https://insideevs.com/photos/869990/polestar-4-live-impressions/#7547924_img_9206
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This is in the model X category which starts at 78k the polestar 4 starts at 65k so it's actually the Tesla that is 13k more expensive.
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Exactly.
65K for a base model? That is completely uncompetitive, especially when the tech isn't anything to write home about. 200kw charging, 0-80 at 30+ min is about average for existing cars, nevermind brand new introductions. It's also rather heavy.
And the non-barebones version starts to look almost like Porsche Macan price-wise - and there's no way most drivers wouldn't then just spring for a Porsche.
I think this will go the same way as the prior Polestar cars. An interesting side note with a different design, completely inconsequential in the market.
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No rear glass is a no-go for me. My Bolt has a standard rear view that can go into screen mode and my old man eyes hate it, too hard to focus on a screen instead of a mirror. Sounds silly but it’s a real thing.
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