Volvo EX90 Review

Introduction

Volvo is keeping the XC90 around for a few more years, giving it a significant facelift to keep it fresh against the competition. Some of that competition now comes from within, as the Swedes have just launched the EX90.

The ‘90’ part of the name suggests it’s every bit as large as the existing model, but the ‘EX’ part? That means it’s gone electric, giving us two chunky SUVs to choose from — old or new, petrol or electric?

Built in South Carolina, we flew to the US to drive the first production models ahead of their arrival in the UK so you can find out if it’s the right car for you.

At a Glance

While most would launch their flagship first, Volvo gave us the compact EX30 last year to kick off its electric revolution — the Swedish brand had promised to be electric only by 2030, but has recently backed away from that commitment. Volvo’s follow-up is the EX90, a car that was conceived first but, thanks to all sorts of problems in development, has ended up arriving late and short of some of the kit it’s meant to have.

It’s built on an all-new platform that Volvo will share with its cousins within the Geely group, including Polestar, which has used the platform as the basis of its new Polestar 3 model.

Power comes from two electric motors and a 111kWh battery pack (of which you can use 107kWh), although the UK will see a single-motor version eventually, offering more range and less performance.

It’s also available in just one trim level, for now. The top-spec Ultra trim packs in all sorts of equipment (although there’s still an options list) but also packs quite a price. Future Core and Plus trim will help ease that burden at the expense of some luxury.

It’s all wrapped up in a stylish, elegant, but not particularly innovative body design. Nobody will be upset by the shape in front of them, but few will get excited — it’s exactly what you would expect a modern three-row SUV from Volvo to look like. There’s far more innovation under the skin, which we’ll get to later.

Key Features

Glance at the top of the windscreen of the Volvo EX90 and you’ll spot a lump that looks like it should light up and say TAXI. It’s a little more advanced than that, housing a Lidar system from Luminar and placed up high to give a better view of the road ahead.

Technology moves quickly, and while Volvo wanted to “make a statement” by having the tech bubble on display, the next-gen version already in development is smaller, cheaper and can be placed behind a windscreen, so expect the bump to disappear at the first facelift…

The EX90 isn’t the first car to be fitted with Lidar technology — Honda and Mercedes beat them to it, and Tesla validates its self-driving system with it, although Elon Musk described it as a “crutch” on development.

It’s theoretically far better for safety and automation than traditional cameras and radar. It fires a single invisible laser beam across the scene ahead of you, measures the reflections, and creates a three-dimensional map of the world around you, all in far less than the blink of an eye.

The sensors don’t just measure the first bounce of light but anything up to the fifth bounce, allowing the system to fill in blank spots behind trees and even see slightly around corners, as far as 250 metres away. Using an offline version with a VR headset, we could see a golf cart parked behind trees, then follow the golfer from the cart to the fairway and watch him take his shot.

The increased definition means safety systems can react more quickly and with more accuracy, and future autonomous driving systems can operate with far more data, making driving more accurate, smoother and safer.

But it’s a tricky system to make work, and integrating into Volvo systems is proving difficult. Even getting Volvo’s own system working has been a tough task, with the manufacturer moving to a core computer system rather than countless sub-computers.

The result is that the expensive Lidar sensor is, for now, little more than a data gatherer. A software update in the future will connect it to Volvo’s systems, but there’s no specific date for that yet.

It’s a reminder that, in this software-defined world, car manufacturers are not primarily software developers, but might soon need to be.

Performance & Drive

Volvo brought just one version of the EX90 to the launch, which is the Twin Motor Performance version. This shares the same 111kWh battery pack as the regular model, and the same pair of electric motors, but turns the wick up a little. The result? The ‘Performance’ moniker is a clue, but finding 517hp and 910Nm of torque under your right foot is still surprising.

Push the pedal down and it surges to 62mph in just 4.9 seconds, although never feels quite as quick as that. That’s probably down to a combination of the car's sheer size — it’s more than five metres long and weighs 2.7 tonnes.

Opt for the regular version, and you will still get 408hp and 770Nm, with the essential 0–62mph sprint finished in 5.9 seconds. It’s no slouch, then.

Power without control means nothing, so it’s reassuring to find that the EX90 provides a surprising amount of grip. Yes, wide tyres obviously help, but the chassis holds the heavy SUV upright, giving the driver confidence and security, if not engaging fun.

The ride quality gives away the compromises made to keep the tall body under control, with a somewhat stiff setup letting through imperfections in the rod surface through to the interior. It’s never uncomfortable, but you might expect something a little more plush from Volvo’s range-topping luxury SUV.

Running Costs

One thing we’ve not mentioned yet is the price tag. If you’re a cash buyer, you’ll need to find around £100,000, which is quite a lot of money. Even benefitting from a leasing plan, there’s still going to be a considerable outlay each month.

Once it’s on your driveway, running costs shouldn’t be too frightening. The huge battery will cost a lot to top up — anything from around £9 on an EV-specific electricity tariff at home, to almost £100 at an expensive motorway rapid charger. With a range of 374 miles, hopefully you won’t need the latter very frequently.

Our time with the car, which saw us covering a mix of urban driving, motorways and fast cross-country roads, we had the onboard computer showing a result of 3.4 miles per kWh, which translates to a range of 363 miles — pretty much bang on its official range.

When you do need to charge, the EX90 will take electricity at a rate of 250kW. Top up the battery from 10% to 80% at a suitable rapid charger, adding around 250 miles of range in half an hour.

Warranty cover lasts for three years and is limited to 60,000 miles, with the battery covered for an additional five years, up to 100,000 miles. Kia’s large seven-seater electric SUV, the EV9, is covered for seven years or 100,000 miles.

Interior

The EX90’s little brother, the compact and entertaining EX30, came in for a lot of criticism thanks to its ultra-minimalist interior. It pared back buttons, switches and screens to something that was beyond the bare minimum, creating countless problems and making it one of the most frustrating cars I’ve ever driven.

None of that is true with the EX90. It’s magnificent. It’s not quite perfect, but the changes made to make the cabin more comfortable and usable, especially for the driver, are impressive.

The attention-grabbing 14.5-inch infotainment screen in the centre of the dashboard controls most functions, even including things like the side mirror positions. You even have to go into the screen to open the glovebox, as I assume a simple handle was too unsophisticated. For the most part, it works well enough, with a clear user interface that only frustrates on occasion. Once you’ve set it up in your own car and got your essential items on the front screen, you’ll think it's wonderful.

It’s made infinitely better than the EX30’s setup by having a digital instrument panel for the driver. Built around Google’s automotive operating system, it’s a masterpiece in simple design, with an elegant display that shows every bit of essential information a driver needs without any of the fluff. It’s crisp, clear, quick to react and easy to take in at a glance. It is, more or less, perfect. Volvo, fit this to the EX30, please…

Our car was upholstered with a wool blend, which offers a wonderfully cool and soft surface to the seats. You can pick an artificial leather facing for the seats (made from recycled materials such as plastic bottles and bio-attributed material from sustainable forests in Sweden and Finland), and even a quilted option, all of which won’t cost you a penny.

Elsewhere, there are recycled materials — apparently up to 50kg of it — and innovative material choices such as birch wood inlays. The front and second row seats are heated, but, surprisingly, not cooled. The rear most seats are simple chairs that fold up and down electronically, disappearing into the boot floor. The boot, incidentally, measures in at just 310 litres when in seven-seat mode, which is about the same as the EX30’s boot. Stick with five seats and that rises to 655 litres. Fold all five rear seats down and stack the boot to the roof, and you’ll get a van with 1,915 litres of cargo in the back.

So, it’s all good? Well, there’s one massive caveat. Many of the features listed in the EX90’s brochure are promised to come later with software updates. Right now, you won’t find Apple CarPlay or Android Auto in place, despite the Google-based operating system, and some of the safety tech was still to be added to the car. It’s also worth noting that some of the software will only work for four years, before having access restricted. Software updates are promised frequently and will come in automatically while your car is parked overnight, but tellingly, there’s no specific timetable.

All the screens in the car also switched off at one point, leaving us without instruments, navigation or access to various controls. These were production cars, fresh from the South Carolina factory but without the latest software updates. Let’s hope that update works well.

Safety

Volvo says this won’t just be the safest Volvo ever made but “the safest car to ever hit the road”. That’s a bold claim, and one that probably stacks up, but perhaps not just yet.

Automotive safety has long been a cause for Volvo, with genuine innovations saving countless lives — the three-point safety belt we all use was perfected by Volvo and then given to the world, patent-free.

The EX90 is also loaded with the most up-to-date safety technology — or will be when the software is updated — and, of course, that cutting-edge Lidar sensor. This will be a game changer for automotive safety, but it’s currently doing little more than gathering data for Volvo’s safety engineers.

For now, it’s still going to be amongst the safest cars out there. Reassuring handling is backed by countless radar sensors (including some in the car to keep an eye on children or pets), myriad cameras around the car, and sensors galore. Some will try to prove otherwise, but it will be very difficult to have an accident in an EX90.

Options

Volvo has packed the EX90 to the gunwales with equipment, leaving little room for any options, at least while there’s only the Ultra specification to choose from. Later, less plush Core and Plus models will leave a lot more room for adding just the equipment you want.

For now, you can pick the seat fabrics, with even the quilted artificial leather available at no cost. You can also choose the colour — a slightly bland Vapour Grey is included, with the likes of Denim Blue, Mulberry Red and Sand Dune available at extra cost.

Rival Cars

There aren’t many seven-seater luxury SUVs on the market, but there’s one very obvious rival; the Kia EV9. Almost identical in every dimension, the EV9 packs a 99.8kWh battery pack to provide up to 349 miles of range. It’s high-tech, spacious and looks like it’s been transported here from the future. It also undercuts the Volvo’s price tag significantly.

A Mercedes-Benz EQS adds even more digits to the price tag, but you do get a proper luxury motor. The streamlined shape splits opinion, but its slippery shape and 108kWh battery means it can, in lab conditions, cover up to 452 miles on a single charge.

Taking a step to the leftfield, the Volkswagen ID Buzz is a quirky, distinctive and pleasing electric MPV, and is now available as a stretched model with seven seats. It might not have quite the level of luxury as the Volvo, Mercedes or even Kia, but you’ll save enough to be able to buy yourself a second car.

Verdict

I like the Volvo EX90. Really like it. Lots. It’s peak Volvo, almost perfectly blending style, luxury, comfort, safety, performance and quality.

It comes at a price, but one that, in the world we seem to live in now, doesn’t feel too out of touch. There aren’t any direct rivals for it, so you can’t say it’s uncompetitive, although you can save a lot of cash by opting for the more mainstream Kia EV9.

Right now, it’s compromised by the software underpinning much of the car not being quite ready. Taking them at their word that it’s all coming very soon means you’ll not miss out on much for very long, and the EX90 will end up being a thoroughly pleasing motor.

However, as good as the EX90 Ultra is, a more efficient, lower performance, two-wheel drive model is coming that will possibly drive even better, and will undoubtedly be significantly cheaper, especially in still-plush Core or Plus trim levels. Emotionally, I want an EX90 now, but I can’t help thinking that good things come to those who wait.

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**Score based on Select’s unique meta score analysis, taking into account the UK’s top leading independent car website reviews of the Volvo EX90.

**Correct as of 12/09/2024. Based on 9 months initial payment, 5,000 miles annually, over a 48 month lease. Initial payment equivalent to 9 monthly payments, or £11,623.95 (Plus admin fee) Ts and Cs apply. Credit is subject to status.