Polestar 4 - single vs dual-motor

[8bit]

Anyone driven both the single and dual motor (non-performance pack) variants of the 4? We drove a DM PP car last year at a Polestar test drive event, my wife thought it felt a bit over the top. Is the non-PP dual-motor essentially just "the same but faster if you want" or does it feel different besides the obvious performance uplift?

[andrewpandrew]

Feels quite different IMO, the single motor chassis being more engaging, and the steering feel is better without the front motor to deal with. Worth noting that the dual motor cars get adaptive dampers, whereas the single motor is on a passive set up that is supposed to be equivalent to the softest setting on the adaptive dampers. Wheel size will play a big part, but I find the ride on my single motor car on the standard wheels really good. Ultimately I decided to spend money on the nappa leather interior pack, rather than adding unnecessary performance to what is my wife's daily car.

[8bit]

andrewpandrew said:

Feels quite different IMO, the single motor chassis being more engaging, and the steering feel is better without the front motor to deal with. Worth noting that the dual motor cars get adaptive dampers, whereas the single motor is on a passive set up that is supposed to be equivalent to the softest setting on the adaptive dampers. Wheel size will play a big part, but I find the ride on my single motor car on the standard wheels really good. Ultimately I decided to spend money on the nappa leather interior pack, rather than adding unnecessary performance to what is my wife's daily car.

Thanks for that. I thought it was the Performance Pack that brought the adaptive suspension rather than the dual-motors, good to know. It wasn't the extra performance I was interested in, the single-motor is brisk enough as it is. Main reason was to have AWD - or at least not to have only RWD cars in the household, as we sometimes get a bit of winter here in Scotland and the DM car is only a little more per month than the SM.

[andrewpandrew]

I put my Polestar 2 on all season tyres and it coped incredibly well with snow, and we live 1000ft+ ASL on the northern edge of the Peak District, but I appreciate Scotland could get worse weather, and an AWD car with the right tyres will always be the better choice when traction is a consideration.