There’s a big trend in electric SUVs right now, and it’s probably not what you think. It’s not a long distance. It’s not the most advanced battery design, super fast charging or NACS plugs. No, the real trend in electric SUVs is delayed. it took its sweet time going into production, as did its sibling the Audi Q6 E-Tron, which was also delayed for months.
Volvo’s EX90 suffered a similar fate. to hit the market in 2023, it, along with its Polestar 3 cousin, is now rolling out of Volvo’s production facility near Charleston, South Carolina. Finally, Volvo let me behind the wheel of a pre-production model for a test drive to see if it was worth the wait.
Was it so? Yes and no, but I’m happy to say it’s mostly yes.
Let’s start with what it is. As the name suggests, the EX90 is a battery-powered companion to the brand’s XC90 SUV, the largest of its lineup. Like the XC90, the EX90 is a three-row SUV that seats six or seven people, depending on how it’s configured, is big, upright, and, of course, has more safety features than you can shake a stick at.
But Volvo didn’t just fit the XC90 and slap a big battery where the engine, exhaust and fuel tank sat. This is a dedicated, innovative EV platform, designed from the get-go to be electric. It has a 111 kilowatt battery (107 kWh usable) and electric motors, one at the back and one at the front, driving all the wheels.
Whether you want the base, $79,995 Plus, or the more luxe $84,345 Ultra trim, you get the same dual-motor suspension that makes 402 horsepower and 568 pound-feet of torque. If that’s not enough, you can spend $5,000 more for the Twin Motor Performance option, which turns the wick up to 510 hp and 671 lb-ft of torque. Both versions are rated for up to 310 miles in EPA testing, depending on which options you choose.
Interestingly, both models have the same motors and other related hardware. What do you get for an extra $5,000 then? A separate set of software and a small white badge on the back that says “UTWIN PERFORMANCE.” We welcome you in the future.
However, it’s not just the drivetrain that separates the EX90 from the internal combustion XC90. The EX90 is actually noticeably smaller. It’s still big, at 16-and-a-half feet long, but it’s more than three inches longer and an inch shorter in length than the XC90, and nearly two inches shorter.
The result is a machine that feels downright cramped compared to Volvo’s current big-boy SUV.
Inside
Being six feet tall, I couldn’t fit in that third row. There was nowhere for my feet or knees to go. The second row was very comfortable, with plenty of legroom, but I still wouldn’t call it spacious, with nothing like the generous legroom found in the second row of the BMW iX or Hyundai Ioniq 5.
Thankfully, I spent most of my time in the front seats, which are very comfortable. Volvo offers interior fabrics, Dawn Quilted Nordico, which has a leather-like feel, or Tailored Wool Blend, which feels like premium woven upholstery. My favorite is the latter, so far. Those chairs offer great adjustment and a surprisingly comprehensive massage. The only thing missing is ventilation, and that’s a bit of a shame.
The interior is bright and clean. The white trim over the charcoal cloth on the machine I drove looks good, as does the raised grain of the wood dash inserts, let down only slightly by the unfortunate chrome bands that run along them.
The highlight of the dash, however, is the 14.5-inch vertical touchscreen that sits vertically in the middle. In it, you have access to the Android Automotive system that controls all the interface functions, including a 9.0-inch gauge cluster behind the steering wheel and a head-up display.
Volvo’s interface here looks similar to what they first offered, but it’s more comprehensive and responsive to use than before. Google Maps running natively is a great experience, as is being able to do things like adjust car settings by voice with Google Assistant. The inevitable Gemini combination should make it very powerful.
Android Automotive also provides access to multiple media apps, including Tidal, which offers Dolby Atmos streaming. For the first time, Volvo has a sound system that can be used. A new Bowers & Wilkins 25-speaker system fills the cabin with rich, soothing sound. It’s available as part of the Ultra trim, which almost makes it worth the upgrade cost over the base EX90 alone.
Time to drive
The EX90 I test drove was equipped with the company’s larger, 22-inch wheels, and those were wrapped in sticky, European summer-specific tires instead of the standard all-season tires that American EX90s come with. Aside from those two features, the EX90 offers excellent ride quality.
It was smooth, quiet, and comfortable on every freeway split joint and the few broken pieces of asphalt I could find. Just a whiff of the wind at highway speed revealed that I was traveling through space and time and not just the latter. All of that adds up to the best possible sound for those 25 speakers.
The suspension is tuned for compliance, and the EX90 tends to float a bit after hitting bigger bumps or similar. But, despite that, it was still reasonably engaging on tighter, twistier canyon roads. I wouldn’t say it was sharp or sporty, but it was really fun.
It turns well and has the perfect slim body for a tall thing, thanks in part to putting that big battery down. And, yes, it has a lot of acceleration. Maybe a lot, actually. The throttle pedal is a little sharp, which may have rear-seat passengers with sensitive stomachs turning green. Perhaps another reason to skip the white interior, beautiful as it is.
The single pedal drive mode is also quite sharp, quickly slowing the EX90 to a complete stop. If you don’t like that, you can turn it off. When it’s gone, the EX90 is happy to coast. There’s a third option, too: Default. Here, the car is moving most of the time, but if there is a car in front, it will use regen strictly to maintain the distance.
That’s just one part of the car’s advanced driving systems, which were a bit bumpy.
Great senses
The most interesting style of the EX90, a very smart SUV with a sophisticated but low-profile look, is a sensor pod positioned above the windscreen. Inside sits the Luminar Lidar pod, which scans the road ahead and generates a 3D point map of all obstacles. Or, at least, it will.
Right now, that little ceiling decoration thing is. But Volvo said they’ll turn that sensor on and start gathering data with a software update next year. At some point in the future, it will begin to better integrate into the car’s adaptive security system, basically acting as another point of reference to add other sensors.
What is available now is similar to current Volvo machines. The Pilot Assist system provides comprehensive lane keeping assistance, meaning it will keep the car focused on the lane. Volvo also added an automatic lane change feature, but you still need to activate it manually with a full press of the steering wheel. All good enough, but a decided step behind the hands-off systems available from Ford, General Motors, and BMW. I also had problems during my drive, where the navigation system refused to engage in secondary lanes.
There were other problems. The car uses UWB (ultra-wide band) to communicate with smartphones for keyless operation, but our car struggled to find the phone, leaving me stuck with a few minutes of annoying gameplay every time I got out of the car. It was also hard to see that my hands were on the wheel, and I even turned off the active steering wheel at one point because I thought I wasn’t paying attention. (I was.) In the end, every security organization that works throws up errors twice, and once requires a technician with a laptop to fix.
Finish it
After all the mechanical lag, I have to admit I was expecting a more polished experience. Having said that, I would suggest not holding that on the EX90. I’m sure that Volvo engineers can fix these problems before the SUVs start appearing in dealerships, which Volvo says will happen before the end of the year.
That the active safety suite still lags behind the competition is unfortunate, but Volvo certainly has big plans for the EX90. The company didn’t throw that Lidar sensor on the roof just for looks. Those things are expensive.
Which brings us to prices. Also, the EX90 starts at $79,995 for the dual-motor version with a range of up to 310 miles, which puts it in the same ballpark as the Rivian R1S or Tesla Model X, two other top three-row SUVs. However, the upcoming Polestar 3, built on the same platform but without the Lidar sensor on the roof and the third row of rear seats, starts at $5,000 less.
Is the Volvo worth the extra cost? We’ll have to wait until we get some hands-on time with its corporate cousin to say for sure. Stay tuned for that.
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