Volvo C40 (2023 - ) Electric review

Volvos are quite expensive these days (justifiably so - its tech and materials are up there with Land Rover, Audi and BMW) but tries to sweeten the pill with its Care By Volvo monthly subscription ‘ownership’ model. This rolls servicing, tax and breakdown cover into one – quite hefty – monthly sum, which is a convenient way to make the switch to electric but may not actually prove that much cheaper than the way you do it now. In terms of running costs the C40, like all electric cars, offers those with the ability to charge at home scope to ‘fuel’ their car for peanuts on off-peak electricity tariffs and big tax breaks for company drivers. The new motors and improved battery claim better efficiency than before so you should now go further for each kWh of electricity you put in, which is a good thing given increasing energy costs for both domestic and public charging.

Volvo has a solid if not spectacular reputation for reliability, the C40 sharing much of its technology with the XC40 Recharge and Polestar 2. As such it’s all proven kit, and electric cars are mechanically (if not electronically) simpler than petrol, diesel or hybrid equivalents so you’d hope there’s less to potentially go wrong. Volvo offers a three-year/60,000-mile warranty which is average, given some rivals offer five years and Kia even covers you for seven. The battery is covered separately by an eight-year/100,000-mile warranty. If you’re running it on the Care by Volvo subscription package this doesn’t matter anyway, given maintenance is factored in to the fixed cost.

Volvo is of course proud of its safety record and the C40 comes packed with all the latest kit to keep you out of trouble, and the inherent strength, airbags and other protection systems if a crash truly is unavoidable. Obviously the goal of the tech is to stop that happening in the first place, radar/camera monitored cruise control and Volvo’s Pilot Assist taking the strain out of driving (though you need to keep your hand on the wheel, of course) while blind spot warnings and automatic braking to bring the car to a halt if you’re about to reverse into an unseen hazard are all standard. You do have to go up a trim level from the base ‘Core’ model to get these features, though, so factor that into your budgeting if this matters to you. One thing we also noticed was in torrential rain the maximum speed of the windscreen wipers seemed rather slow, which felt like a small safety oversight.

Volvo knows how to build a comfortable car and the C40 uses its shared foundations with the XC40 to good effect, the combination of sleek lines with a raised seating position nailing what a huge number of drivers clearly like in their cars. For a small car, the C40 feels pretty spacious as well. Partly that’s thanks to the full-length glass sunroof, which lets the light spill in, front and rear. Sustainable fabrics made from recycled plastics are meanwhile used for the seats, carpets and mats and both look good and feel tough, while of course giving a satisfying glow of social responsibility. The ambient lighting has a textured effect adding a sense of depth to the interior. The clutter-free design of the interior also helps de-stress the driving experience, the only real negative being the poor visibility of the sloping roof and shallow windows. The rear seats are quite ‘inboard’ and headroom is tight but there’s decent enough legroom and even the central passenger gets a half-decent perch and space for their feet either side of the bulge in the middle of the floor. If you need to carry a lot of stuff the square back end of the related XC40 Recharge is probably a better bet, though the boot is still a decent size on the C40. On the road the C40 rides well, even for its trendy combination of big wheels and the lack of sidewall in the tyres. Like most EVs, the weight helps plant it to the road in that respect and only the harshest bumps intrude on the calm inside, wind noise and other annoyances also well supressed for a soothing experience on the move.

Volvo’s brilliant and clear touch-screen appears in the C40, with swipe-able menus for multiple functions but core features like nav, audio and phone easily accessible from the home screen. You get Google Maps and Google Assistant, with four years’ data allowance, all of which is fine if you’re an Android user, have a Nest smart speaker at home and run your life through Google Assistant. Less so if you’re an Apple fan, though the situation has improved since Volvo added CarPlay via an over-the-air update. Weirdly Android Auto isn’t currently available but should eventually be added the same way. In better news you do get LED headlights, a panoramic roof, powered tailgate and wireless phone charging. Move up a level and you get heated front AND rear seats, which is unusual for a car this size, plus a heated steering wheel. All very nice in the winter, but watch that battery range go down… There’s also a Volvo app to help you set functions remotely, like warming the car before setting off, or help in calling the emergency services, but we’ve never found car apps to be much use, to be honest.

We’d previously criticised the C40 for not having the range of its rivals and Volvo seems to listened, hence this updated version with a more efficient battery and a brand-new motor design, which has switched from the front to the rear in the Single Motor version. This benefits both efficiency and handling, and the sporty feel at the wheel suggests that, although they are officially separate entities, the Volvo engineers may have been hanging out with their colleagues at Polestar. The Single Motor version also gets a bit more power but the real story is increase in range to just shy of 300 miles by official claims. Our short test drive suggests that may be a bit optimistic but it’s a step in the right direction and helps the C40’s case when comparing it against the competition. The larger battery in the Twin Motor version now has more capacity than before as well, meaning the claimed range is now nearly 350 miles – a big step from the 278 miles of before. Again, you’ll do well to achieve that in the real world, we got around 250 miles of range when we tested it in winter, but it demonstrates just how quickly Volvo’s electric technology is improving. The 408 horsepower still feeling an almost naughty amount of power in an otherwise sensible Volvo. Frankly it’s actually way more than you need, the extra range of the Twin Motor perhaps more relevant than being able to hit zero to 62mph two and a bit seconds faster than the Single Motor.