Dundee to Torridon in the Polestar 4: the first car with no rear window

A road trip from Dundee to Torridon provided the perfect opportunity to test one of the most unique new cars.

The Polestar 4 is the latest model from the Swedish electric car maker that started out as a spinoff from Volvo. Its most unusual feature is its rear window…or lack of one. It’s the first mainstream car in the UK not to have a rear windscreen. Instead a camera relays images to a screen shaped like a rear view mirror.

The rear view cameras taking a peek into the shop at House of Bruar. Image: Jack McKeown.

This allowed Polestar’s designers to improve rear headroom and make the car more aerodynamic. Rather than slot in a tiny rear windscreen, which manufacturers of similarly swoopily styled SUVs have done, Polestar did away with it altogether.

The Polestar 4 doesn’t have a rear window.

Perfectly proportioned and nicely detailed, the Polestar 4 is a model of tasteful understatement and the opposite of the brash and bold approach favoured by BMW with its iX. It also makes bland and blobby cars like the Tesla Model Y look, well, bland and blobby. Only the Ian Callum-designed Jaguar I-Pace equals it in the looks department, and it’s now discontinued.

What is the Polestar 4 like inside?

Inside you get one of the biggest and best panoramic glass roofs I’ve ever seen, which fills the interior with light.

Polestar have eliminated nearly all buttons and dials in their zeal for a minimalist Scandi interior. There’s a volume control and that’s about it. This makes setting the car up somewhat laborious.

You can adjust the seats with electric sliders but everything else – from the steering wheel to the wing mirrors – has to be done through a touchscreen menu. Thankfully, the car remembers each driver’s settings so once you’ve set the car up for the first time that should be it.

Climate controls, stereo, sat nav and everything else is operated through a touchscreen, although the easiest way to operate the car is by voice. Instead of developing their own voice recognition system Polestar licenced Google’s, which is the best in the world and even understood my Fife accent most of the time.

Does the Polestar 4 have a good range?

The Polestar arrived with about 45% charge. We recently had a home charger installed by Ohme so I plugged the car in overnight, giving us 100% battery to start our journey.

The official range is 367 miles but you’ll only get close to this on a warm summer’s day. Our Torridon trip took place on a miserable weekend at the end of March. We had the heater, heated seats, heated steering wheel, windscreen wipes, and lights on. Our range was about 240 miles. Unlike some EVs, however, the range displayed was almost exactly the range we achieved.

Although I’d like some more physical buttons, there’s no denying the interior is a triumph of minimalist style. Everything looks elegant and low-key, and the overall effect is tranquil and calming. The comfortable seats are upholstered in Bridge of Weir leather, and there are plenty of recycled materials in the cabin.

How much does it cost?

Prices for the Polestar 4 start at around £58,000 for the single motor model, which has 268bhp and a 7.1mph 0-62mph time. I spent a few days with the dual motor version, which adds a second motor, boosting power to a hefty 536bhp and dropping the 0-62mph time to a supercar-worthy 3.8 seconds.

The Polestar 4 on a gloomy day near Torridon.

My partner and our four-month-old daughter accompanied me on our journey to Torridon. There’s acres of legroom in the back and you can slide the front seat fully back even with a child seat in place.

Having a baby onboard meant I was absolutely forbidden from using the car’s amazing sprint time (although I did sneak out on my own for a quick blast). Suffice to say it has all the power you could need or want and makes effortless work of overtaking manoeuvres.

What is the Polestar 4 like to drive?

The Polestar 4’s biggest strength is its refinement. Ride quality and noise-deadening are superb. The cabin was a calm and relaxed place to be as we cruised effortlessly up the A9 through Highland Perthshire, passed through Inverness, and pointed towards the West Coast. Our journey was 195 miles and we got to Torridon with 25% remaining.

After a stay at the stellar Torridon hotel we set off with a full charge, arriving back in Dundee in the late evening with around 15% left in the battery. The car can charge from 10-80% in under half an hour with a 200kW charger, meaning you could cover around 500 miles in a day with just one short stop.

How did I get on without a rear windscreen? To be honest, after driving the car for five minutes I forgot there was no glass in the back. The camera and screen work every bit as well as a traditional mirror. Indeed when driving after dark it’s far superior to a mirror.

The boot is big…but not much use for dogs.

At 536 litres, the hatchback boot is pretty capacious. The only downside to a windowless boot is that it’s no good for dogs. You can flip down a panel to give them a view into the cabin, but without a window my golden retrievers would be miserable. Pet owners should look at the Polestar 3, which has an even larger boot and a rear window.

For those happy to forego a rear windscreen, the Polestar 4 is an excellent and elegant car that is lovely to drive and stands out from everything else on the road.