Who’s to blame for the SUV craze among well-heeled family buyers? You’d be tempted to blame the Americans. Or the English landed gentry. However, you’d be letting the Swedes escape scot-free.
It was the first generation of Volvo’s XC90 that did more than any other car to wean family buyers away from van-like people carriers and in to spacious seven-seat SUVs.
From the early 2000s, this was a seven-seater that delivered on Volvo’s family-oriented flexibility and the firm’s focus on safety. Throw in the boom in Scandi chic over the same period, and it’s a wonder why sales for this Swedish brand weren’t running bumper-to-bumper with premium German counterparts. I’m speaking from personal experience, having bought a used one during the noughties that served us very well.
Now comes the long-awaited all-electric version, titled the EX90, but bearing much the same credentials as its petrol or hybrid siblings. In fact, this was initially meant to be the outright replacement for the XC90. That was until EV sales started to stutter and the accountants warned against putting all bets on electric. And so, we have the regular and plug-in hybrid XC90 sharing showroom space with the all-electric EX90.
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However, despite perceptions, this is not simply the XC90 plug-in hybrid with a bigger battery and the engine lifted out. The underpinnings of this car have been developed alongside those of the Polestar 3 – which, incidentally, is only offered as a five-seater.
The EX90’s got the expected Swedish smarts in terms of interior styling. Plus, it boasts one of the most intuitive driving assistance systems on the market.
Whereas others deliver annoying soundtracks of pings and bleeps as you drive along, the Volvo system seems far more understanding of the realities of motoring life. You know it will intervene when it needs to – and it did – but the safety system is less intrusive than others, particularly cars coming from China these days.
We had first-hand experience of the safety system in action during our time with this test car.
Gardaí had closed part of a large intersection, leading several distracted drivers to meander across lanes as they figured out their next moves. As I made space for one such motorist to my left, a driver to my right decided to seize the moment and the empty space. Before I had time to react, the EX90 had.
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With a brief chime of alert, the car’s system was applying heavy braking and belting me firmly into the seat. The errant motorist waved apologetically and carried on. Drama averted. More importantly, there were no dents or damaged doors, and the Volvo system saved potentially thousands of euros on repairs to both cars.
The brains of the EX90’s safety system are housed in the odd-looking bulge above the windscreen that resembles the “for hire” sign on a London taxi. Inside this is a lidar that’s at the heart of Volvo’s Pilot Assist system.
Lidar is basically like radar, but instead of using invisible radio waves, it uses tiny laser beams. These allow the car’s computer to create a 3D map of its surroundings and, in theory, identify people, bikes, cars and even the edges of the road. Think the motoring equivalent of the Matrix.
In practice, it gives Volvo an edge, with assisted steering up to 130km/h and the ability to brake and accelerate without your input.
Now we’ve been trying Volvo’s various “steering assistance” systems for well over a decade now. Early iterations left the car weaving within its lane like a driver after several whiskeys. Over the years, the system has radically improved. On the EX90, it not only manages to motor along smoothly, but also adjusts its speeds properly when encountering a bend.
Apply this level of system control alongside the very smooth one-pedal driving set-up, plus comfort features like the massaging front seats and the Bowers & Wilkins sound system, and you can see why even a 300km trek can become a doddle. Need someone to take the pack to an away match in Donegal? Suddenly, it’s the Volvo owner who is volunteering.
This car also has long legs. On a trip from Dublin to west Cork, we left fully charged, and the 111kWh battery pack delivered a range of about 450km over a mix of long motorway runs and winding country roads.
Volvo claims that on a 250kW rapid charger, you can get from 10 per cent to 80 per cent in 30 minutes. While we didn’t let it get that low, a 20-minute visit to an Ionity charger lifted our EX90 from just under 40 per cent to 85 per cent.
The EX90 excels on cross-country motorway runs. This is a point-and-click car, with the electric pace to let you slip past slow traffic – or tricky situations – with the flick of your right foot.
There is a slight delay with throttle response, but nothing that would put us off buying the car: it’s as if the Volvo is taking a beat to let you be certain that hurtling towards the horizon in nearly three tonnes of metal really is what you want to do.
On more challenging back roads, the car’s weight starts to tell, and that impacts on its agility. Yet, for its size, it’s still easy to wend along boreens or narrow one-way streets.
On the streets of Clonakilty, it coaxed through traffic like a supermini and it was only when we tried to slip it into a tight parking space that we appreciated the full scale of its footprint. You might get it in the car park spot, but good luck to you and your passengers trying to get out.
Volvo claims a generous 384 litres of boot space is available even with the third row in use. For context, that’s the equivalent of having the load space of a VW Golf available while also hauling seven passengers.
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It sounds like Volvo is ready to repeat its XC90 masterstroke in the electric age. Well, not quite. The EX90 has one big problem: price. This seven-seat Swede doesn’t exist in a silo, and there are several equally spacious rivals – also electric – on the market today.
And the problem isn’t simply confined to similarly expensive German rivals. This time, the Koreans are getting in on the game, in particular with the Kia EV9 and the recently launched Hyundai Ioniq 9.
The Kia offers SUV looks, the Hyundai an abundance of three-row spaciousness. Both are priced significantly lower – circa €30,000 less – than the EX90.
There are clearly areas where the Volvo excels, starting with the styling, but there are several foibles. Access to the third row is not as easy as in the Hyundai, while it does feel more cramped back there than in the Ioniq 9.
Volvo’s slick cabin styling and birch wood finish create a lovely ambience. It’s so Scandi sleek you’ll opt to host guests in the car rather than letting them in your livingroom.
But they still map too much functionality through the big touchscreen. Having a big volume control knob is useful, but so would be a few more switches for rear windows and side mirrors.
None of these would put us off opting for the Volvo, but they might just scuff our willingness to hand over so much extra cash for this car compared to its more mainstream rivals. Those who do dip deeper into their finances will not be disappointed. This is a proper premium car, particularly in terms of on-road comfort, and it’s loaded with premium tech.
Volvo has an edge in its brand strength and styling. And of course, at €120,000, it’s aimed at people for whom it is as much a life statement as a family car.
Yet the gap between it and its rivals is too close for that canyon of a price difference. This Swede is priced to suit the pocket of a south Dublin stockbroker rather than a Sligo school-run mum.
Lowdown: Volvo EX90 Twin AWD Performance Ultra
Power: Twin electric motors putting out a combined output of 517hp (380kW) and delivering 910Nm of torque through the all-wheel drive set-up
0-100km/h: 4.9 seconds.
Official consumption: 21kWh/100km (24kWh/100km as tested)
Official range: 605km
Price: €122,910 as tested (starts at €117,910)
