Volvo flew us out to Newport Beach, California, to test its new EX90 seven-seater AWD SUV, and for many, including my family, this is the Holy Grail of EVs: It’s an electric luxury sports sedan, a four-wheel-drive off-roader and trailer tow vehicle, and, most importantly, a minivan.
How well do these go together? Let’s take a look…
Appearance of the Volvo EX90
The EX90 is unmistakably a Volvo, with its distinctive electric closed grille and Thor’s Hammer headlights at the front. The rear is a more muted color scheme and could be mistaken for a conventional Volvo XC90 or similar car. The car we drove came in Sandstone Tan or Gray and looked imposing yet subdued.
The raised ridge at the top of the windscreen may seem like an homage to London taxis or stealth police vehicles, but it’s actually the part that will house Volvo’s very high-tech LiDAR safety system and, eventually, its autonomous driving system.
And underneath it all is the tagline “Volvo for Life,” proudly proclaiming Volvo’s commitment to safety. A bit of a stretch? Probably.
Volvo takes more pride in its safety features than any other automaker, and seems keen to flaunt them rather than hide them. It also invented the yellow three-point seat belts that its other models come with, and provides them freely to the industry. Seat belts have saved countless lives, and Volvo hopes its LiDAR system can do the same.
The EX90’s stance is right between a sedan and an SUV, giving us the perfect ride height for visibility and light off-roading, but not so high off the ground that it impairs handling and turning.
Looks get high marks across the board. But is the EX90 just a pretty face? Let’s take a look inside.
We had the chance to sit in two different interiors: synthetic leather and recycled cloth. Both exude Volvo’s understated luxury, without any sense of clutter, but not minimalist like a Tesla. The four main seats are comfortable enough for a three-hour-plus drive, and the car is quiet and smooth. If you’re not driving, prepare to doze off.
The third row feels a bit of a compromise, and it explains why the Polestar 3, built on the same platform, is only available in a five-seat configuration. Jamie, who is about six feet tall, found the middle row seats quite uncomfortable unless you moved them up. This is primarily for kids or quick airport or school pick-ups, not for road trips with seven adults. We later saw a six-seat configuration with two middle-row captain’s chairs (with armrests, Tesla Model X), which made the third row much less cramped. We think we’ll choose the six-seat option in this car.
Even with the third row up, there’s still two rows of grocery space in the back, plus storage space under the floor for more permanent items, which is a good thing, because the “front trunk” is small and hard to access (bummer!). I wish the packaging up front was smarter, to make the front trunk deeper and easier to access.
Fold down the third row and you’ll find a huge storage area and room for an additional five people.
However, the second-row middle seat is harder and less comfortable due to its higher seating surface and the folding armrest on the backrest, but for me this is another reason to opt for the six-seater configuration.
The EX90 center stack runs on Android for Automotive, which makes for a very Google-centric experience, which is great for my usage. Unlike other automakers, Volvo decided to leave access to Apple’s wireless CarPlay open, allowing iOS to run on Google’s OS. Many will use the built-in Google Maps, which also appears on the excellent head-up display. It gets a little redundant, since Google’s OS includes many, if not all, of the apps you use on your iPhone, but Volvo was adamant about giving customers a choice here.
The 360-degree camera was generally stable, though it did occasionally produce some interesting interpretations of obstacles (see above), but overall it was certainly useful when navigating close-by or unfamiliar areas.
Volvo EX90 Drive
The most unique thing about this car is its driving performance, which was certainly satisfying. The electric motor and insulated interior made it the quietest drive I’ve had in years. Add to that the smooth, vibration-free feel of the road, comfortable, ventilated seats, and fantastically assisted handling, and driving it felt like a $100,000+ Mercedes. Torque vectoring makes driving around curves incredibly easy and confident. Excellent visibility is confidence-inspiring, as is the LiDAR-enhanced safety suite.
But the motor’s performance was a little subdued; speaking with engineers at the event, they admitted to intentionally slowing down the acceleration here, though it’s unclear whether that was for drive quality, to prevent wear on parts, or some other reason. Jamie and I both chastised them, noting that their half-price EX30 was somehow over a second quicker to 60 mph and that letting your foot dictate your speed rather than a computer algorithm is a better experience.
Still, 0 to 60 mph in 4.7 seconds is respectable; the Polestar 3 with the same SPA platform drivetrain (and slightly more power at 517 horsepower) is only 0.2 seconds quicker. I think Volvo could do better here, but whenever I talk about speed, Volvo also talks about “safety” and I think I understand that.
Depending on the tire size you choose, the EX90 has a range of over 300 miles, which I think is optimal for this type of vehicle. Rivian’s R1S has a longer range but has a bigger battery and is more expensive. The Tesla Model X has a longer theoretical range but in practice often gets less than 300 miles, as does Kia’s EV9.
Bidirectional charging is a big hit
This may go beyond LiDAR for some lol, but Volvo has really stepped up their ability to power homes. Instead of around 2kW like most cars have, Volvos can put out up to 20kW of power, meaning homes connected to a Volvo can be heated and cooled electrically as well. Below is a quick demo of a use case for the DCBEL system connected to an EX90:
While the fast-charging experience was a bit lackluster at a busy Electrify America station, I still got 185kW of power from a 30% state of charge. Volvo says you can expect speeds of up to 250kW or more at a suitable station, and it takes about 30 minutes to charge the battery from 10% to 80%, or about 30 minutes to add about 210 miles of range.
Volvo EX90 Summary
Volvo’s South Carolina-built EX90 is a big winner for me. Historically, the third-row EV market has been dominated by the Rivian R1S and Tesla’s Model X. Recent newcomers like the Mercedes EQS SUV, BMW iX, Audi Q8, and at the lower end, the Kia EV9, are shaking up the market a bit. But I love the Volvo EX90 because it offers a really good blend of performance, style, luxury, and ride comfort. Priced at $80,000-$90,000 depending on trim and incentives, it will be a popular choice in this growing market.
There is no better test of a car than the “do I want it?” test. After reviewing a car, I often return it with pleasure. In this case, the EX90 is what I’m following up on, and therefore a big win. As a Rivian R1S owner, I often ask myself if I really need 0-60 mph in 3 seconds, crazy off-road skills, and a last 100 miles of range that I barely use. I wish there were captain’s chairs in the second row (but it’s a shame they don’t fold flat). Most of all, I love the smoother, quieter ride and enhanced safety features that the EX90 offers. As the saying goes, it’s all about safety.
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