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In this first episode in our sub-series, we've asked you about your thoughts on EV's, and will now systematically reply to them.
"There's a lot of conflicting reporting out there about the state of the current EV market.
What cars are good or not good, how easy or challenging it is to find the right model for you, select it, purchase it, and then subsequently run it."
"And we are going to combat this confusion a little bit by putting the question, well, to you.
So over the course of a series of videos, we will be taking in questions from you, the Gamereactor public, as it were, where we will be diving into a whole host of different genres."
"And we start with driving.
A difficult question to answer succinctly, but there are a lot of systems in a modern car like this.
The Polestar 4 is no different than any other modern EV in that particular regard."
"And those systems monitor you and they monitor the road surface.
Now, when it alerts you, either by saying you're drowsy or that you are swerving out of lane, it is trying to protect you.
It is either reading the topography, the road surface and the specific lines on that road surface or your face."
"Now, is the Polestar 4 any better or worse than other cars that I've tested?
I definitely find that the system intervenes more readily, but I would also argue that in most instances, it's because it needed to.
Let me explain."
"So to answer succinctly, yes, at times it does get in the way in the sense that even if you didn't feel like you were swerving out of lane, then the assist will still correct.
It cannot know what your intentions were, only that you did stray.
To Polestar's credit, they put these things on the main screen where you can turn off both lane assist and alertness monitoring."
"So yeah, when Polestar say their cars are designed to be human centric, I think they're genuine because even if there are cases where it takes over control or does something unexpected, it's often because it simply reacts correctly to its own positioning on the asphalt.
But more importantly, it's sporty in a rather unpretentious way, which I think is the most important part because there is no sport button in here."
"You'll find that in some other EVs and most of the time, it's mainly just a shortcut for faster throttle response, I find.
It just sharpens up everything.
So in that particular way, it's very equivalent to what you would find in a sport button in a regular car."
"But in the Polestar 4, just to use that as the example, well, there is no dedicated sport button in here.
It's just very sleek and very minimalistic and Nordic and nice.
You get all the sportiness and the responsiveness just because that's the car it is, not necessarily because that's the specific setting that you've chosen in that given moment."
"Polestar themselves say that performance is one of its founding pillars, and whether it's pedal sharpness, steering position, or just the way it's hunkered down on the road, I definitely call this sporty.
But you don't really pay the price in ride height and promised range or in spaciousness inside."
"So it's above all important to try a car before you buy.
In a word, yes, there are advanced settings to make sure that steering input and other parameters of the driving experience is set up in such a way that it benefits you personally.
Now, I mentioned just before that this is a rather sporty car, at least I would go as far as call it that."
"Be that as it may, you can really make your Polestar 4 your own, as you can in most EVs.
And let me just show you right here.
I know that the menu isn't Danish, just bear with me here.
But if you go to the driving settings, there is, I think in this particular car, a lot of really helpful ways in which to understand how to actually set up your car so that it fits you."
"So there are really neat pictures here.
So that is the crawler gear.
And here is the steering experience.
Right now it's set to tight, but there's both standard and light."
"The suspension is standard, smooth and tight.
And then there are even settings for the one pedal drive.
Now these are all, let's say, applifications of these kinds of settings.
They're easy to understand and they are divided up into neat descriptive words so that it isn't, for instance, a dial which lets you set a parameter based on values that you don't know."
"That is what Polestar, I think, does really well.
And they were really inherent when they said to me, when we were preparing for this video, that no, it's not an arcade racer, but you can set it up so that it leans more heavily or less heavily into the things that you might want."
"While it's true that electric drivetrains and electric steering have lessened the delay from intention to response, that means that these cars have become better in quite the factual detached way.
But there's still room for personality, how the chassis is tuned, how the weight is partitioned and balanced, where the power is actually sent."
"So sure, EVs have recontextualized the way we talk about cars' personalities, but it's not gone.
It never was.
As Coldplay once said, nobody said it would be easy."
"And it isn't easy picking and choosing the right EV, as it isn't easy picking and choosing a car full stop.
However, I will argue that there still persists some misunderstandings about the complexity of choosing a car, whether or not there is proper characteristics in the throttle and in the steering like there would be in normal petrol-powered cars, what the range is supposed to be and how much you're supposed to be, well, worried about how much power you have left, and also just about cost and feel."
"There's a whole bunch of things.
I hope that we have alleviated some in regards to the way that you drive an EV like the Polestar 4 in this first episode of the series.
We hope we'll be able to bring you more very soon, because it is really interesting trying an EV like this."
"See it from the back here.
It just looks great, doesn't it?
The Polestar 4 is really, really special.
There are other vehicles that are special too, but this remains a favorite."
