2025 Volvo EX30 Twin Motor Performance Ultra – Review by David Colman +VIDEO

Grrrr*

David Colman

Photos and Story by David Colman
Special Correspondent
THE AUTO CHANNEL

This electric-powered mini Volvo SUV simultaneously excited and infuriated me. The excitement part stems from the fact that it's one of the fastest motorized vehicles I've ever driven, posting a 0-60mph time of 3.3 seconds and a standing start quarter mile sprint of 11.8 seconds at 114mph. For a drag racing prepped V8 super street machine, that kind of performance would be outstanding. For an E-Volvo, of all things, those numbers are all but unimaginable. Not only does this petite rocket scorch the quarter mile, but it also handles well enough - even on stock issue 245/45R19 Michelin Primacy street rubber - to make its case as a top-notch autocross contender in SCCA contests nationwide. Simply put, this little urchin of an SUV is a ferocious performance car.

So what's the downside? For starters, it's an EV, with all the charging and range hassles that blotted copybook promises you. Maximum range, 100% charged, is just 253 miles. When the EX30 was delivered to my house in the sticks, the short run from last charge had already sapped the available range to 225 miles. After I discovered how insanely fast this little beast was on my first banzai pass up Route 1, the predicted range instantly dropped by a factor of 20 percent. In practical numbers, that meant my actual 9 mile trip over the hill to town sucked 25 miles of range from the predicted total. By the time I finished my 18-mile round trip, the range prediction had dropped from 225 miles to 165 miles when I got home. Extracting maximum performance from the EX30 Twin saps range longevity alarmingly fast. Two or three more 9-mile trips over the hill and I'd be looking at a nice little 5-hour séance with an EV plug. So give me gas power any day of the year.

But wait there's more bitching to be done. I can remember when Volvo was considered the safest car on the road. Maybe you remember the mantra: first car to install safety belts without government mandate; always driven by the slowest drivers on the road. Well, things have changed big time chez Volvo, because the cockpit organization of the EX30 insures by mal design that it's one of the most dangerous cars to drive on the road. The source of that danger has nothing to do with the speed it's capable of achieving or any flaw in its handling. Rather it stems from Volvo's bizarre, inexplicable decision to centralize all vehicle operations in a 12.3-inch center display panel.

This oversized "cell phone" is so overburdened with tiny bits of information that you would have a tough time making sense of it with the car stopped and a magnifying glass in your hand. But Volvo expects you to do every task (from setting your rear view mirrors to choosing your driving mode) by pressing tiny hot spots splayed randomly across that display panel. The fact that the panel is displaced to the center of the car ensures that you need to take your eyes OFF the road for seconds at a time to make any changes to your set-up. So much for Volvo's long vaunted driving safety campaign. Further complicating the operation of this little SUV is the fact that there's no head-up display directly in front of the driver, who has to crane his neck to examine the center display to discover the most basic information - like current speed. So try this on the Highway Patrol the next time you get busted for going 114mph (the EX's top speed): "But officer, I couldn't read the speedometer because there isn't one, and I thought 114 was the channel I selected on SiriusXM radio."

If that isn't enough to cool your speed jets, try this one on for size. I couldn't figure out how to turn this Volvo off. There's no such switch or button on the non-existent dashboard, and Greta Thunberg Green Volvo provides no printed Owner's Manual on board. In desperation, I consulted the overly brief operating tips guidebook where I discovered, to my utter amazement, that 5 (yes 5!) steps are needed to "Manually" turn the motor off when you're seated in the car. That means routing the display panel through 5 different screens and pushing the right button at each prompt. So when the CHP tells you to turn your Volvo OFF, you can reply, "Just a minute officer, I have to consult my guidebook, and follow the breadcrumbs to my gingerbread house to comply with your command."

So there you have it, the bifurcated personality of Volvo's latest EV effort. I loved it for the incredible potency of its twin mill electro powerplants, but hated it for its niggling operational shortcomings. Even so, ditch those rock-hard (TW 540/Traction B) Michelin Primacy tires and bolt on a set of the softest compound Michelin Sport Cup 2 tires you can find. Then take this potent baby autocrossing. You'll have the time of your life. As long as you don't run short of range, right in the middle of your fastest run.

2025 VOLVO EX30 TWIN MOTOR PERFORMANCE ULTRA

• MOTOR: Front and Rear Permanent-Magnet Synchronous AC
• HORSEPOWER 422HP (Combined)
• TORQUE: 400lb.-ft. (Combined)
• BATTERY PACK: 64kWh liquid cooled lithium ion
• FUEL ECONOMY: 109MPGe
• DRIVING RANGE: 253 Miles
• PRICE AS TESTED: $49.395

HYPES: Porsche Turbo Performance for $50K

GRIPES: Fussy Keyless System, Hazardous Display Screen Operation

STAR RATING: 8 Stars out of 10

* Google it.

©2025 David E Colman