Volvo EX90 review

Big cities, big personalities, big portions – America knows how to do big things. So it seems fitting that the Volvo EX90 we're reviewing here is built in South Carolina.

For those unfamiliar with the name, the EX90 is Volvo’s new flagship seven-seat electric SUV, offering an alternative to the petrol-powered Volvo XC90. And as we’ve already hinted, it’s quite a big beast. Just over five metres long, in fact.

The trend continues with the EX90's whopping great big battery – which gives it one of the longest official ranges for any electric car – and the vast interior fitted with loads of luxury kit and safety features. Volvo says it's the safest model it's built.

Volvo EX90 video review

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the Volvo EX90 has a big price tag too. That means it will be mixing it with the likes of the BMW iX (which has five seats) and the Mercedes-Benz EQS SUV (which is available with five or seven seats).

So is it as good as those rivals, or indeed, worth paying extra for over less-expensive electric seven-seaters such as the Kia EV9 and Peugeot E-5008? Read on to find out...

There are two versions of the Volvo EX90 to choose from: the Twin Motor and the Twin Motor Performance. Both have two electric motor and four-wheel drive.

The Twin Motor gets 402bhp and can officially cover the 0-62mph sprint in 5.9 seconds, while the Twin Motor Performance ups the power to 510bhp and drops the 0-62mph to 4.9 seconds. That's impressive for such a heavy SUV, but slightly slower than a BMW iX xDrive50 M Sport. 

No matter which EX90 you go for, there’s more than enough power when you put your foot down, and you’ll seldom notice the difference unless you put the Twin Motor Performance into its Performance mode and get access to all the power slightly more urgently. The accelerator pedal does very well to manage all the power and deliver it in a smooth, measured way – there’s no spikiness in its response at low speeds.

The EX90 offers direct, well-weighted steering and it’s no problem calmly chaperoning this SUV around town or on the motorway. But it is still a tall and heavy car, tipping the scales at a chunky 2,700kg (the battery pack alone weighs around 600kg).

Upping the pace on a country road reveals some body lean, and while you’re unlikely to be shopping for a large electric SUV if you want B-road thrills, the BMW iX will be tidier through a series of corners.

All EX90s come on enormous 22in alloy wheels, but standard adaptive air suspension helps to negate any downsides that come with such large wheels. With the suspension in its softest Comfort mode, the ride is pretty plush. 

You don’t glide down the road – you are aware of bumps and imperfections passing beneath you – but the impacts on the suspension are still very gently absorbed, and for the most part you’re well isolated from what’s happening underneath.

You won’t notice many audible thwacks from the suspension inside, and any sounds at all are in short supply. Wind and road noise are kept to a minimum – so much so that a third row passenger could probably hold a conversation with the driver on the motorway at a whisper.

And what about the range? Both versions of the EX90 get a massive 111kWh battery, with a usable capacity of 107kWh. That gives an official range of 374 miles no matter which model you choose, which is very competitive.

It’s similar to the 383-mile BMW iX xDrive50 and further than the Kia EV9 RWD can officially manage (349 miles). In real-world driving conditions, though, all electric cars will achieve less than the official figures – in the EX90 we'd expect around 300 miles.

“I found the Volvo EX90's adaptive cruise control and steering assistance very effective and natural. It’s easy to turn on and adjust, plus it does a good job of keeping you centred in your lane.” – Dan Jones, Senior Reviewer

The Volvo EX90 offers a comfortable, high-riding driving position perched on a comfortable electrically adjustable seat with a massaging function and plenty of adjustable lumbar support.

Visibility out to the front, sides and back are fantastic, and you still get a 360-degree camera and a full set of sensors to help with parking.

The 9.0in digital driver’s display is neatly designed and attached to the steering column so no matter how you position the wheel it’s always easy to see. There’s also a useful head-up display. For comparison, the Kia EV9 has many screens that are easily blocked by the wheel.

Not all aspects of the EX90’s driving position are perfect. For example, adjusting the position of the steering wheel and door mirrors is done using the infotainment touchscreen then the buttons on the steering wheel, rather than with proper on the door. It's a faff the first time you do it, but once you’ve set up a wheel and door-mirror position that suits you, you can save it to a driver profile so it will always automatically adjust it for you when you unlock the car.

The 14.5in touchscreen has been developed by Google and comes with Google Maps, Google Assistant and other apps built in. The display and the layout of its menus are both very good, but it's not always very responsive to your taps, taking a few attempts before doing anything. 

As with many new cars, you control everything through the touchscreen, including the climate control, making it distracting to make changes on the move. Physical controls to operate the infotainment system would be much better – the BMW iX has a helpful dial controller, which is really user-friendly.

Wireless Apple CarPlay and wired Android Auto will eventually come as standard on the EX90, but early customers will have to wait for an over-the-air update to get them (at the time of writing, Volvo had not confirmed when that will happen).

The EX90's interior quality is impressive, with a plush mix of materials and a choice of classy wood finishes for the dashboard. There are some cheaper-feeling parts, though – like on the steering wheel, where the two sets of controls are housed in a flimsy-feeling slab of plastic. A BMW iX is more consistently luxurious but the EX90 is a step up from the Kia EV9.

“I think it’s great you have a decent choice of interior colours and wood finishes for no extra cost in the Volvo EX90. Too many new cars force you to have dark and bland interior colour schemes, but not so in the classy EX90." – Doug Revolta, Head of Video

The Volvo EX90 is – as we've said – a big SUV (the dimensions are similar to the Volvo XC90). Up front there’s plenty of room to get comfortable for the driver and front passenger. There’s lots of storage around as well, including a deep cubby under the central armrest, another open storage tray under the centre console with a carpeted base, and the door bins are a decent size.

It’s much the same story in the middle row, with more than enough head and leg room for a couple of tall adults to stretch out and relax on a long journey. Better still, the wide interior and flat floor means middle-seat passengers won’t be too squashed either. There are Isofix child seat mounts in the outer two seats. There isn’t one in the middle seat but there is a built-in pop-up booster seat, which is handy.

All EX90s have seven seats (which is still rare for electric cars) and you'll find about the same amount of space in the rearmost seats as you will in the petrol-powered Volvo XC90. That means children will be fine, but adults will only want to do short stints in the very back, with little in the way of head or leg room. Ultimately, the Kia EV9 is much better when it comes to rear-seat space because it can seat adults in the third row more comfortably.

Access to the third row is pretty good, although the rear doors don’t open quite as wide as the EV9’s, thanks to middle-row seats that are easy to fold and slide. 

Speaking of which, all three seats in the middle row can be individually folded and slid forwards and backwards, allowing you to prioritise leg room for those in the middle seats, the rearmost seats or get a little extra boot space. The ability to fold all three seats also makes it easier to load long items through from the rear, without sacrificing one of the outer seats.

With all seven seats in place, the EX90 has 310 litres of boot space, which includes a generous underfloor storage space (where you’ll helpfully find a spot to store the load cover).

There’s no loading lip and you can lower or raise the car’s rear suspension to make it easier to load the boot. The button to operate that is located at the boot entrance on a touch-sensitive panel, alongside the button to electrically lower and raise the third-row seats. The only problem is that the touch-sensitive buttons are a bit too easy to press accidentally.

With the rear-most seats down, the overall boot capacity increases to 655 litres. Ultimately, the boot is smaller than what’s on offer in the Kia EV9 but the EX90 is still a very practical car that can handle serious amounts of holiday luggage. Plus, it offers more room than five-seat rivals such as the BMW iX.

There’s also a 34-litre front boot in the EX90, which is very useful to have. It’s not just one open space, though: it’s split into a few sections. Still, there’s enough room to store a charging cable.

“The third row of the Volvo EX90 is not great for adults but the middle row absolutely is. I could sit very comfortably even in the middle seat, with plenty of head and leg room.” – Dan Jones, Senior Reviewer

The Volvo EX90 is expensive and will make much more sense as a company car than a private buy because of its high list price and (like all electric cars) low BIK tax rate.

True, the EX90 is cheaper than the eye-wateringly priced Mercedes EQS SUV but it costs considerably more than other electric seven-seaters including the Kia EV9 and Peugeot E-5008. The pricing also puts it up against a high-spec BMW iX.

Disappointingly, the first EX90s to be delivered to customers will be missing some features – including smartphone mirroring and two systems that detect hazards at junctions then apply the brakes – because of delays due to "software issues". 

Software anomalies aside, the EX90 comes with a substantial equipment list in its one available trim level. Called Ultra, it gets lots of luxuries as standard, including four-zone climate control, massaging seats, a head-up display, a 25-speaker Bowers & Wilkins sound system, a panoramic glass roof, an electric tailgate, soft-close doors and air suspension.

All EX90s can accept a maximum charging speed of 250kW, which is enough to give a top-up from 10-80% in around half an hour in ideal conditions if you can find a charger that’s quick enough. From a 7kW home wallbox charger, going from flat to full will take around 15 hours.

When we tested the EX90 in start-stop traffic in warm weather (ideal conditions for an electric car) its trip computer suggested that it was managing 3.1 miles per kWh. In the cold, on a route that included a mix of country roads, motorways and dual carriageways, that figure dropped to 2.5 miles per kWh, which isn’t great.

Volvo says the EX90 is its safest car ever, but we’ll have to wait for the car to be crash-tested by the safety experts at Euro NCAP to see if that's backed up by the results.

We don’t have any specific reliability data for the model, but as a brand Volvo finished a decent 12th out of 31 manufacturers in the 2024 What Car? Reliability Survey. That’s below Kia and BMW but a fair way above Mercedes down in 22nd. Every EX90 comes with a three-year or 60,000-mile warranty, which is fairly standard but way behind Kia’s seven-year/100,000-mile standard warranty. 

“I'd be disappointed to pay this much for a new car only to be told that some of its promised tech won’t be available for a while.” – Doug Revolta, Head of Video

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