It is completely quiet in the large Volvo EX90, and it impresses during the first drive in California with a high level of comfort and a nice interior.
TEXT Morten Beck PHOTO PR
On June 5, the first Volvo EX90 rolled off the assembly line in Charleston in the US state of South Carolina. Volvo would have liked to have seen that date earlier in the year, but the Swedes postponed the start of production to sort out loose ends. Software ends, among several things.
Volvo had serious starting problems with the little EX30 when it hit the market, so better be on the safe side. I do notice, however, a few tidbits that tell of a work in progress in one of the EX90s Volvo has brought to Southern California so that I and other motoring journalists can get a first drive impression.
There is no sound from the large Bowers & Wilkins system with 25 speakers, and although the instrumentation shows that I flash nicely when I have to turn, there is complete silence. The large 14.5″ touchscreen, beautifully integrated and perfectly sharp, does not respond to all presses.
A trip into a parking lot at Starbucks, where the car is locked for a moment, and the sound appears. The sluggish responses do not disappear, but they are in no way present in another EX90 that I also get to try. To be fair, the cars are early prototypes, and because we live in the era of over-the-air updates, the EX90 will of course be fine-tuned before the first examples reach customers.
An American in Europe
I have to get rid of the typical cliché. The EX90 is no slouch on the four- and five-lane highways of California. The 504-centimeter Volvo isn’t a truly large SUV in the U.S., and the Jeep Grand Wagoneer and Cadillac Escalade ESV make the EX90 look like it must be a larger Volvo model.
There are no plans for that, and on Danish soil the EX90 will be among the largest SUVs. The length ensures that the EX90 is one of the few electric cars in its class that can be equipped with seven seats. If you don’t want to settle for four seats for full luxury, five seats for optimal luggage space or six seats spread over three rows.
A large electric SUV would not have been my first choice for a new electric Volvo. It would have been an EX60 in a category where the sales and customer base in Europe is much larger than for a car as big as the EX90.
The EX60 is somewhere in development. It is of course on its way. I hope the EX60 comes with the same philosophy of comfort and well-being as the EX90, because the new top model is really worth using as a template for smaller models at Volvo.
Exceptional silence
If a car manufacturer trusts that the suspension in a new car model is top class, the manufacturer can safely present the car to journalists on American roads. Then it must also be really, really well screwed together, the undercarriage. Asphalt in the US is often as rough as a grater, and potholes even on the freeway can be enough to swallow a small car.
I’m driving the Ultra trim version of the EX90, which is required to get Twin Motor Performance with 517 horsepower, outbidding the current base model’s 408 horsepower. Air suspension is standard on the Ultra, but the 22” wheels on the test car will be 21” as standard.
The EX90 is uncomfortably heavy with a curb weight of up to almost 2,800 kilos. With that weight it could go either way. It goes the very, very pleasant way. The air-cushioned EX90 is free of the fragility and slight jitters of a Mercedes, and what’s more, the four-wheel drive, neutrality and better steering than in any other Volvo can make the SUV a predictable, easy-to-drive type on the way through the mountains heading for inland California.
At first I don’t think about it, but after an hour of driving on bad asphalt and with pickups with such noisy exhausts that they would never be allowed to drive in the EU, it dawns on me that the silence of the EX90 is unusual. It may actually seem surprising, because the EX90 is not shaped like the piece of hand soap we know as the EQS SUV, so the wind could take hold of the EX90 more. But it is completely, completely silent. Volvo has created a space that seems completely separate from the outside world.
The delicious wool upholstery
Volvo was the first, or at least among the absolute first, to introduce an upholstery made of wool. Partly wool, because Tailored Woolblend Zinc is made from 30 percent wool and 70 percent recycled polyester. It’s bright, delicious, special, comfortable, and for DKK 22,720 there are materials for every penny.
Woolblend of course also extends to the third row of seats, which the EX90 has as standard in Denmark. In the back row there is also enough light, but it is also cramped for even an adult of average height. I’m not disappointed, because who, in all but the rarest of circumstances, is going to cram seven adults into an SUV?
The wool interior is one of the only extras the EX90 comes with. 10 pages of extras, then you should visit Mercedes instead. It is an indirect way of saying that all EX90 editions have a lot of standard equipment.
20” alloy wheels, four-zone automatic climate control, panoramic glass roof, electrically adjustable front seats with memory, heated steering wheel, Bose sound with 14 speakers, wireless smartphone charging and electrically adjustable steering wheel. Only the 360-degree camera is missing in the basic Plus model, but the additional price is reasonable at DKK 9,400. The adaptive air suspension costs DKK 33,570 for the Plus, but is, as I said, standard on the Ultra level.
A screen basean environment
The electrically adjustable steering wheel requires Tesla tricks to adjust. As do the side mirrors, the climate control, driving settings and so on and so forth. Some things, like driving settings, are hidden too far in menus, but because the screen is large, climate settings are easy to navigate. Some functions in the list at the bottom of the screen change according to the car’s speed.
For example, the AWD Performance option, where there is permanent four-wheel drive and faster access to the 517 horsepower, is a setting option that only appears when the EX90 is quite up to speed.
After the thin material quality in the small EX30, which Volvo excuses with the fact that the car is “cheap”, it is a pleasure to see that the top model has had the big turn with metal inserts, solidity – and a digital instrumentation behind the steering wheel. It is small but wide and can show either Google Maps, the car’s vicinity with other cars in toy format – or simply just speed and range.
From the EX30 and the cheap shelves at Volkswagen comes a simplification that is foolish: the window winder in the rear doors can be controlled from the front door on the driver’s side, but only by changing the function of the buttons for the front electric windows. Here you have to hit a small field with directly invisible symbols. Driving safety suffers from these sorts of little things.
Safety is a priority in the EX90 as in no Volvo before it. That’s not saying much. On the roof, right next to the windshield, sits a block that looks like a blackout taxi sign. It is the LiDAR system that scans up to several hundred meters wide around the front of the car. It still has no direct function, but LiDAR must underpin the other sensors, radars and cameras that carry the many, many assistant and safety systems.
A lot of money, but not at all so a lot of money
There are limits to the possibilities of selling an SUV for over DKK 800,000 in Denmark. The market is not completely limited, and you can see that just by looking at the many Audi Q8 E-Tron and BMW iX driving around – on lease, perhaps, but they are still driving around.
Neither the Q8 E-Tron nor the iX are available with seven seats, and the Mercedes EQS SUV is an extremely expensive car compared to the EX90. The only direct competitor is the Kia EV9, which is also the car most reminiscent of the EX90. It is much cheaper, but here you can discuss brands and brands, and I don’t want to bore anyone with that here.
EX90 Twin Motor Plus with 408 horsepower, four-wheel drive, a huge battery of 111 kWh (range up to 613 kilometers) and the almost complete equipment costs DKK 812,876. There will also be, at an as yet unknown time, an EX90 with less power and rear-wheel drive, and then lower the price level, which I think is already reasonable.
The performance edition with 517 horsepower and Ultra equipment, which has 21” rims, matrix LED headlights, 360 degree camera, air suspension and doors with soft close, costs just over DKK 1 million, while the basic edition with 408 horsepower combined with Ultra -equipment level costs approximately DKK 952,000. I would not fall for it, but would rather equip the Plus version with air suspension, 360 degree camera, 21″ rims for under DKK 870,000.
If the next car is to be a large electric car, you should treat yourself to trying the new EX90. The design may be conservative, but what is hidden under the bodywork is worth experiencing.
SPECIFICATIONS
Volvo EX90 Twin Engine Performance Ultra
Motor: Electric motors (front and rear)
Performance: 517 hp/ 910 Nm
0-100 km/h: 4.9 seconds
Top speed: 180 km/h
Consumption: Not disclosed
Range: 613 kilometers
Battery Size: 111 kWh (107 kWh usable)
Charging capacity: 250 kW
Dimensions (L/W/H): 504/196/174 cm
Curb weight: 2,780 kilos
Draw weight: 2,200 kilos
Trunk volume: 377-2,107 liters
Price: DKK 1,009,728 (EX90 available from DKK 812,876)
Private leasing (one-off payment/monthly payment): Not disclosed
Tax basis, company car: Not disclosed
