2025-26 Wheels Car of the Year Contender: Volvo EX30 Cross Country

Job one when assessing the Volvo EX30 Cross Country is figuring out what it’s actually for. It is, after all, an all-wheel-drive, jacked-up SUV, yet its pure electric driveline tends to preclude it from attacking the Oodnadatta Track.

Its performance aspirations are clear, too, with twin electric motors delivering a combined 315kW of thrust and 543Nm. But a kerb mass of just shy of two tonnes will always see it playing in the forwards, rather than on the wing.

In reality, the transformation to the Cross Country version of the EX30 is a pretty commonly used move from the Volvo playbook and has been for decades now. You add some wheel arch extensions, bigger wheels and tyres, all-wheel-drive, hike the ride height and call it a Cross Country. The end result certainly looks interesting with a distinctly SUV set of general proportions, but some truly Scandi-Fwooar detailing.

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So, trips to the snowfields, then? Sure, and it’ll get you to the chain-bays pretty damn quick with a 0-100km/h time of sub-four seconds. What about impressing the neighbours? Another big thumbs up; the interior is funky as all get out with the square steering wheel, and the groovy, cast aluminium (that’s what they look like, anyway) interior door handles give the thing some real wow factor.

But you can’t help wondering whether all that calculated cool is at the expense of some practicality. For instance, the lack of instruments dead-ahead of the driver mean all the info is displayed Tesla-style on a portrait-mounted central screen. A head-up display would soften the collision between fashion and form here, but there isn’t one (a head-up display, that is).

The Volvo is far from huge inside, either, with a luggage capacity of 318 litres, although that expands to 1000 litres if you fold the rear seat down.

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The performance speaks for itself, but there’s always the EV question-mark of what happens to range if you start to get cheeky with the accelerator pedal. As it is, Volvo claims a 417km range and energy usage is a relatively high 19.1kWh per 100km. On a three-phase 16-amp socket (which almost nobody has at home) you’re looking at a charge time of eight hours, while a DC fast-charger will take the 69kW battery from 10 to 80 per cent charged in 28 minutes. Decent numbers, but nothing earth-shaking.

Sticking with the physics for a moment, the EX30’s ride and handling equation is likewise determined by falling apples and text books. Thanks to the kerb mass of the Cross Country, not to mention the unsprung weight of those big wheels and tyres, the engineers have been required to fit springs to suit. The end result is far from terrible, but if you pay attention, there’s a sense that the small-bump ride is being compromised by the large bump control. But the EX30 is in good company there.

Other elements, however, are pure Volvo including the comprehensive safety kit that includes a centre air-bag, whiplash protection built into the seats, Isofix points, a Harman Kardon stereo and a five-year Google Assistant subscription.

You’ll like it, but will you love it?

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Specs

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