On an early development drive, we see a moment of transformation. In evolution, superfluous appendages do not just fall off at random. As a vestige becomes less and less important for living, it will gradually decrease until disappearing completely or transforming into something new. The 2025 Polestar 4 is a departure from the trend of coupe-like SUVs that compromise rear view for looks. It is the first to completely remove the back glass. And, as we discovered from working with an engineering prototype, you won't miss it.

More Than Just A Missing Piece Of Glass.

The Polestar 4 is not as visually imposing as its bigger sister, the Polestar 3, which is marketed as an electric challenger to the Porsche Cayenne. The Polestar 4 is 190.6 inches long, approximately a half-foot longer than a Porsche Macan, with a standard glass top that sits somewhat lower than the German model. The Swede's wheelbase is also over eight inches larger, resulting in a much more airy cabin—aided further by the massive glass panel above, which extends all the way to the second row.

Polestar provides the 4 in two different varieties. The long-range, single-motor design is powered by a permanent-magnet synchronous electric motor that generates 268 horsepower and 253 pound-feet of torque, propelling the nearly 5000-pound Polestar to 62 mph in 7.1 seconds. Those wanting for a bit more power can find it in the dual-motor form, which boosts output to 536 horsepower and 506 pound-feet. Polestar's stopwatch records 62 mph in under 3.8 seconds.

Regardless matter what drives the motivation, the power originates from the same source. Both Polestar 4 types use a CATL-built lithium-ion battery (of the nickel-manganese-cobalt kind, for chemistry aficionados) with a useful capacity of 94.0 kilowatt-hours. Polestar predicts a European WLTP range of 379 miles for the RWD variant and 360 miles for AWD. In more star-spangled words, we'd expect figures closer to 300 miles when the EPA takes its turn.

On the charging front, the Polestar 4's 400-volt architecture will accept up to 11.0 kilowatts of AC juice (enough to go from empty to full in about 5.5 hours on a 16-amp circuit) and up to 200 kilowatts of DC goodness—provided the fast-charge gods feel like showing up at your plug of choice. If they do, Polestar estimates that a charge from 10 to 80 percent would take 30 minutes.

Read also: 

• 5 Best luxury sedan car reviews 2024
• Ford Electric F-150 Sales Drop 46% as Deliveries Delayed
• One Big Thing About The 2023 Porsche 911 Carrera T: The 100-Year Car
• The 2024 Bentley Batur Is Sold Out And That Should Make You Sad
• The 2024 Mercedes-AMG GT63 Is Super Smart And Scary Fast: Review

Driving The Polestar 4.

While our constructive remark was taken into consideration during engineering prototype drives, it's probably too late to inform Polestar, "Nah, there should really be glass back here." So, with an open mind, we got behind the wheel of both Polestar 4 iterations—and it turns out, we were too smitten with the 4's test-track manners to notice the missing glass.

We began with the dual-motor Polestar 4. The all-wheel-drive 4 completely space-shuttles its way ahead, just like any decent performance-oriented EV should. The pedal response was decent, not giving everything at once but yet not concealing everything in the latter half of its range. If you jam on the brakes like you're trying to crush those steel discs into a cloud of dust, you'll get the reverse of dramatics: no squirming under strong braking, just a lot of head-tilting g's.

The steering has three degrees of artificial heaviness; we liked mild, but even with the weight turned up, off-center reaction was rapid, and it only took the lightest of touches to modify the car's position. That may seem like a recipe for a lot of unpleasant micro-darting on the road, but a brief lap on a banked high-speed oval with Polestar's director of chassis development, Joakim Rydholm, demonstrated that the steering should not be twitchy on the highway.

Our AWD prototype was outfitted with Polestar's three-mode adaptive dampers; the basic around-town setting effectively isolates wheel movement across Polestar's test-track adaptations of the world's worst roads. Ruts, potholes, and jutting manhole covers vanished under your feet with barely a trace of noise and jostling, yet the ride wasn't so mushy and wallowy that you could mistake it for Grandpa's Lincoln. Moving to the sportier Firm mode, we discovered lots of useful connection between arse and asphalt. It will undoubtedly rattle one's jimmies on rough pavement, but a simple touchscreen push is all that is required to revert to the softer side.

We next moved on to the single-motor Polestar 4, and the overall mood remained consistent. Despite having less power than the dual-motor variant, the RWD model runs smoothly and does not seem heavy or overworked. Despite the fact that this vehicle does not have adaptive dampers, the passive units are very finely tuned. There is a little more bounce over large road undulations, and it isn't as comfortable overall, but everything is maintained under control, and we felt good whether we were hurling the vehicle about or taking a leisurely walk around the bends.

Earlier in the day, Rydholm drove us around a narrower test track in this model, and he spent the whole time sliding the vehicle in wild slides, so don't think the single-motor 4 is some party-averse lameoid. It, too, can hang.