There’s a lot I don’t know about media relations from a manufacturer’s perspective. But it’s always struck me as a little discordant and strange when a carmaker launches a new electric vehicle – a thing that’s supposed to help the world reduce carbon emissions – and instead of bringing the car to journalists somewhere vaguely proximate to where they live and plug in, it decides to fly hundreds of them by wide-bodied airliner from each of the far corners of the globe at enormous expense to experience their new machine in a locale hugely distant from everyone’s home, needlessly burning millions of passenger miles’ worth of jet fuel in the process while adding an attendant carbon-footprint the size of Rhode Island to the world’s list of CO2 worries.
That said, like good manners, moral flexibility can be a critical tool where both one’s livelihood and personal enjoyment are involved. And the visual and gustatory appeal of three days in glamorous Barcelona, Spain, and its surrounding environs cannot be denied. So, when Volvo invited The Autopian (and approximately 370 other journalists, in waves) as its guests to the world launch event here for its new EX30–an all-electric baby SUV with an astonishingly (by today’s electric car standards) low price–there was nothing to be done but pack a bag.
We like Volvos, as a rule, and how bad could this cheapster (starting at $34,950, less applicable state tax credits, plus federal ones for leased vehicles) be? Yet the better question was, it transpired, how good could it be? Well, spoiler alert, because the short answer is very, very… good. So good, in fact, if you’re considering buying one, go right now and get that deposit down before you even finish reading this review, lest you get left behind.
“An espresso shot of Volvo. Small, intense, essential,” reads the EX30 press material. Which, if somewhat abstruse, is not inapt, assuming the espresso in question is of the creamy smooth variety, with no harsh aftertaste. It looks like a 21st-century Volvo, handsome and chic, distinctively Swedish in affect with a minimalist interior in the modern idiom.
Yet this new entry-level model is also very much a product, too, of Volvo’s association with its Chinese owners, Geely. Miraculously seeming to combine the best of both worlds, it appears and feels essentially, Volvonically Swedish, but sports the price tag and EV smarts of something made in China, where it’s built – though unexpectedly strong demand led Volvo to announce recently that it would also begin building the new model at its plant in Ghent, Belgium. Short for parking ease (less than 14’ long with a wheelbase of 104.1 inches) but with five seats and unexpectedly decent comfort, the EX30 scans as cute yet sophisticated, bang up to minute yet soothingly familiar, and, above all, supremely smooth and pleasant to drive. Indeed, factoring in the value equation, it might well stand now as our favorite electric car, ever.
Certainly, a good part of its driving appeal owes to its comparatively light weight. At 3,858 lbs for the single motor, rear-wheel-drive version (4,150 lbs for the dual motor, all-wheel-drive EX30 Twin Motor Performance with standard four-wheel drive, priced from $47,900) the entry-level model weighs nearly 800 lbs. less than Volvo’s larger (but still small) SUV, the XC40 with single motor, a fine-driving machine in its own right. But you can feel every lost pound in added ride comfort and nimble response. Electrically assisted power steering is alert and satisfying, livelier and more invigorating, in fact, than that of any of its larger relations.
As a driving experience, there is little penalty versus the larger XC40, excepting perhaps slightly more wind and road noise, the XC40’s interior materials imparting a slightly more upscale feel as well as additional quietude. But with ever more carmakers accepting appallingly harsh ride properties as the cost of giving consumers and designers the ever-bigger wheels they crave, the EX30 stands head and shoulders above the pack. Somehow, its 19” (and optional 20”) alloy wheels are somehow made to participate – along with the compact SUV’s front MacPherson strut and rear multi-link suspensions – in a display of composed ride comfort so good it recalls the soothing properties of the great magic carpet ride exemplars of yore, from before the days of dubs for everyone.
Volvo engineers attribute the EX30’s substantial and most beneficial weight saving to its smaller size versus its larger brethren, its electric-motor-only architecture (the XC40 can be had with a gasoline or electric motor) and a smaller battery, just one of the advantages of a lighter car being that it expends less electricity on the march, its smaller, lighter power repository enabling up to 275 miles of range, not far off the XC40 Recharge single motor’s potential 293-mile range, all at a price $15,000 less injurious to the wallet.
Less than a foot shorter, the EX30’s load space of 14.1 cubic feet with the rear seat up doesn’t compare badly with the XC40’s seats-up 16 cubic feet. But with the rear seats down the XC30’s 31.9 cubic feet is decisively outclassed by the taller (65” versus 61.2”) XC40’s whopping 57.5 cubic feet of luggage space. The XC40 offers more ground clearance, too – 8.3” versus 7.0” for the EX30 and it will tow 3,500 lbs., where 2000 lbs. is the claim made for the smaller machine. But the value is heavy.
There is, for instance, no disappointment in learning that the EX30 single motor’s standard 200kW/268 horsepower and 253 lb/ft of torque takes but 5.1 seconds to haul it to sixty, which is fast enough for us. The doppio-motored AWD Performance models assembles 315kW/ 422 horsepower and 400 lb/ft of torque and passes 60 mph in a supercar-fast 3.4 seconds. Both cars are speed delimited to a top speed of 112 mph. Frankly, unless our home was in the snow belt or our goal was nauseating friends and family at will, the smaller, cheaper, slower single motor rear-wheel drive model would suit us just fine.
Rambling around the mountain roads outside Barcelona, the EX30 charmed with its clean and airy interior, accentuated by a fixed glass sunroof, which is standard equipment in the Plus and Ultra trim packages, but not available in the base Core spec. Though there are few traces of metal inside the cabin when it does appear–the door pulls, for instance–it feels substantial and elegant, delivering maximum class in a minimal way.
It doesn’t reek of cheap plastic inside, even if 1/6th of all the plastic in the car is made from the cheapest plastic of all – the recycled stuff. You can read about the EX30’s many other green credentials, in manufacture and its eventual disposal elsewhere, but from an environmental perspective, suffice it to say it’s easily one of the most carefully thought-out cars on the market today.
Criticisms? We have a few, largely revolving around its utterly huge and somewhat impenetrable, center-mounted interactive screen. With hardly any buttons to operate controls, screen-living will likely prove a needless distraction, at least until drivers grow accustomed to it. We understand that it was the subject of much debate internally, so maybe Volvo will think better of it at the EX30’s first refresh, although one suspects that the cost-savings associated with ditching rafts of switches and manual controls may have dictated the big screen; Volvo proudly boasts that EX30 was an exercise in how to make a quality car more cheaply.
Among its few traditional controls, the directional signals on the steering column did not self-cancel easily, though the wipers worked as intended. We also wished we could have turned up the regenerative oomph of the one-pedal braking though, in fairness, maybe we might have if we’d ever gotten to the bottom of that control panel’s many screens and menus. Wind noise from the exterior door mirrors seemed excessive to my co-driver, though it could just have been the fact that we were in pre-production models or that everything else about this car was so quiet, with only the sound of astonished words of praise left to fill the cabin.
The EX30 is a winner. But it did leave us wishing that Volvo soon chooses to make a plain old car on this platform. If they did, we’d fly to the far corners of the earth to try it and we promise we wouldn’t even mention the environmental impact.
Great to see you here, Jamie.
Well done Volvo!
Really? You think flying a 2 ton car to car journalists is financially more responsible than flying puny little car journalists to the car? I now question everything you may write about.
Just put it on the boat with all the other Volvos.
A) They don’t usually fly dozens of cars anywhere. B) Yes.
My bad shipping was the word but given the screwed up distribution in today’s market the vehicles would probably be available at the dealer before every journalist got their test drive.
The people complaining about the touchscreen- have you ever used a car with a customizable touch screen- Most better ones you can change up and put the “buttons” you want where you want them. Have zero problem with this- want to control the lights? put in on the homescreen, get to the apps quicker- home screen etc. This is actually more user friendly- as long as the high beams and the turn signals are on the stalks, and it appears there’s some of the regular volvo cruise and adjust buttons on the wheel, what else do you need. I have both my Jeep and my Volvo set the way i like them and i rarely use the manual buttons that are redundant in both. In fact in my XC90 i think I use only the glove box release button…… This banter happened when all the blackberry people were railing on the iPhone for having only touchscreen….. and look how that went for blackberry….
I get your comparison to BB vs iPhone, and some of it may be due to familiarity/habit. I would pick an idrive 10 BMW with buttons for HVAC over a Volvo with just the display. Maybe your XC90 is better, but I found an XC40’s display somewhat laggy. Not to mention the fact you have to open a new screen (and hide whatever important info is currently showing) to actually control main HVAC functions
Have you ever lived in a place where people ice fish regularly?
As someone who drives a base model eco-box, I can change and adjust just about every function without looking down, such as changing the fan speed on a cheap plastic dial. My question is, is it really that much better to have such functions on a home screen if you have to look down more to aim your finger at a small touch icon while driving as opposed to simply reaching for a physical knob.
Iphones don’t weight 4000lbs and navigate city streets, or hurtle down highways. But as long as you’re making the analogy, maybe discuss distracted driving as in: They’re not drunk, they’re using their phone.
I have tried to use a car with a customizable touchscreen. In fact, I tried to use a Volvo with one. The problem with that is that you still can’t just feel the button. You don’t have the tactile click that you have succeeded, you don’t have the physical button to feel, and you end up having to look away.
This isn’t iPhone vs Blackberry. When I am using my phone, I am already looking at my phone. When I am driving, I should be looking out the windshield, not at the infotainment.
For the record, I dislike capacitive buttons even more than screens, because it brings all the shortcomings of the screen to a fixed button.
Such a pleasure to read Jamie Kitman at The Autopian. 🙂 I enjoyed his column and reviews/articles in the pages of the much lamented Automobile magazine for years.
The EX30 is probably my favorite current/reasonably priced EV too, though I decided to not put down a deposit on one given dealer markups. Perhaps someday we’ll be able to just go online, spec the options, and pay with a bank transfer directly to the manufacturer.
Follows the ID.4 in using 2 window switches to control 4 windows. I can’t reward that behavior so this is a non-starter for me.
No one likes the 2-window switch solution. But if you start ruling out cars for irritations and infractions of this non-magnitude, you’re pretty much taking yourself out of the new car market.
The only way car manufacturers get the message is by consumers voting with their wallet. If that means I pass on Volvo and VW for any number of cars, not the end of the world to me. I’d expect car reviews to call out these blatant steps backward in user experience.
Are the front seats “real” Volvo seats (i.e. some of the best out there) or are they something else? How’s the steering response/feel? Do the rear seats fold flat? Does the fixed glass roof have a shade? How’s the back seat comfort for adult humans?
Seats are very good, Volvo-like, and steering response was first rate for 2023. Back seat is fine for not very tall people. No sunshade, but roof is tinted and while Volvo says the a/c will keep you sufficiently chillaxed, they’re purportedly in discussions about equipping US exports w shades.
Thanks!
Awesome to see ya on here Jamie, enjoyed your righting for Automobile way back. TBH the low price for the 2wd vs the 4wd feels almost like bait and switch to get folks into the dealer. Unless you live in SoCal or Florida I can’t see anyone wanting a RWD small SUV. Such a bummer too when I saw that price, my wife and I have been shopping a car for her and when I saw the $34K after rebate that’s totally in our price point and she likes the idea of an EV but jumping the AWD to $47K seems crazy. Surely there’s another way to get more drive wheels on these things than adding a second motor, 0-60 in 6.1 is plenty fast for anyone, as much as I like a RWD weekend car I don’t want it for her DD and our trip car.
That may be true, but remember this — all Volvos were RWD until the middle 90s and it didn’t bother the Swedes much.
Yeah very true. Though most of those rwd Volvos had well south of 200 hp. I imagine with snow tires, and I have impression that EV stability control works better with more fine gradation than on ICE cars, so would be very curious to see how it would do but it’s kind of a gamble buying one unless you can find a solid video review of someone driving it in snow + ice.
I ctrl+F’d to check, but came up dry, so please address the most pressing question unanswered in the review: Can you put junk it it’s frunk?
Micro-frunk, suitable only for a charge cable, roadside safety triangle and not much else — read elsewhere that it’s about 7 liters or two tenths of a cubic foot.
https://img.motor-talk.de/KWeULTmJ9AKWMpdE.59.jpg
That’s another way you can tell this is Geely and not really a Volvo. The real Volvo would never store the emergency kit under two latching panels in a crumple zone.
Not much.
Kitman on the Autopian is win/win!
Not going to lie this appears to be an impressive car. The $12k jump from RWD to AWD is a bit much, though. That $12k buys a lot of snow tires.
Colorado has an extra $2500 tax credit for EVs under $35000 MSRP. I confirmed that this car with zero options will qualify, as the destination fee isn’t included for the purposes of the law. I live in the mountains in CO so would normally be the target market for AWD but for the price delta I can just keep my old beater 4×4 around for the really nasty days.
If it’s like the model 3, that battery does a lot to plant the rear tires on the ground. I’d have no issues driving this with snow tires in the midwest, though I’d defer to anyone else on how it would work on snow+hills.
Which here in Florida are a tad superfluous.
Not here south of Lake Ontario. I get every kind of wintry precipitation. Good tires are crucial. AWD isn’t necessary. It sure helps along with winter tires to keep the car pointed forward, though. AWD on all seasons is worth far less IMO.
Of course. I was just being a pain in the ass.
I just read the Autocar review on this and they give it 2.5/5 stars and say pretty much the complete opposite, that they could not recommend this car.
https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-review/volvo/ex30
Because of the TOUCHSCREEN! It would do my head in too, and for functions like lights to be buried behind menus is just dangerous. Especially if now cars beep at you for not paying attention to the road. Who signs this shit off????
The Brits get particularly exercised about touch screens and user interfaces and I don’t blame them. I don’t much care for any of them. But in my experience most people who aren’t car testers – we who switch cars every week or every few days — get used to whatever system they get, no matter how distracting or lousy, reducing (if not eliminating) the hazard. But in fairness to myself I did mention it. There’s definite room for improvement here. That said, what impressed me most was the fact that it was a hoot to drive and by today’s EV standards, affordable and relatively lightweight, and it doesn’t ride like a horse cart. With today’s US competition in mind, I’d give it a 4.5 out of 5.
Hi Jamie, sorry I did not mean it as a criticism of your article, I was just surprised at the contrast between the 2 ‘headlines’. I especially like the look of the EXC30, we have crap roads in rural UK. Hopefully Volvo will sort the ergonomic issues out, like VW and others have learnt to. And with no engine noise, and no manual gears then if it offers a fun drive I am all for it!
I mean, the lights are automated these days and you’ll very rarely have to ever adjust the settings. Turning lights on and off is old school.
for the savings you could just buy a bunch of fidget toys off amazon and glue them to the interior and do all the little clicks and twists you want
LOL
hmmm modern problems perhaps require modern solutions 😉
Clicked on this article because I read the same review earlier and wanted to see what my most trusted reviewers said about it. Reviewer sounded quite pissed at the touchscreen controls. I will absolutely die on the hill that things you regularly adjust while driving (climate and radio, lights, drive modes, etc) *must* be physical so you don’t have to look down like 4x to select and confirm a setting. I don’t mind other things being relegated to a touch screen (how often do you actually access your glovebox especially when moving). But there’s definitely a simplicity standard that needs to be met.
The speckled paint treatment on the interior trim reminds me of the inside of a trunk on a 60’s car. My car has faux carbon fiber for interior trim. Ooh aah..just saying looks cheap.
Hope you can find a charger that works!
I have used a garage floor epoxy coating that looks just like this.
Nothing is worse or more hideous than senseless carbon fiber trim. Except senseless ersatz carbon fiber trim.
Living in the Great White North, I’d like to know if it has a heat pump? Tesla seems way ahead of everyone else in this tech. Resistive heating takes too much of the battery’s power on cold winter mornings.
My XC40 Recharge comes with a heat pump. I’d assume that this does as well given its semi-Scandinavian roots.
I just looked on Volvo Canada’s website and the XC40 Recharge comes with a heat pump in the Plus and Ultimate levels but not in the base car. No word on the EX30 part of the site.
I went to a dealer preview event and saw this in person. My first question was does this have a heat pump and they confirmed that it is standard on all model trims.
Yeah I think it’s madness that my Volt already has an electric variable speed air conditioner and they couldn’t be assed to include a reversing valve to make it a heat pump. So silly.