Volvo EX30 Cross Country (2025 - ) Electric review

As the most expensive version of an otherwise affordably pitched car the Cross Country is a more difficult sell than the regular EX30, which makes genuine virtue of clever cost-cutting design. Sure, it has Volvo’s premium style and some neat materials on the inside. But it can’t match more traditional models in the range like the EX40 (as the XC40 is now known) or XC60 for quality, even if the price is now in a similar ballpark. It’s possible this may be concealed by the monthly finance or lease rates, but try for size before you buy. More generally it’s the usual story for electric cars, with cheaper running costs if you can charge at home or run it as a company car thanks to (while they last) incentives like favourable Benefit in Kind. The base price means, unlike more affordably priced EX30s, you’ll cop the ‘expensive car’ VED rate and a chunk more tax for the first five years of whether you buy privately or lease.

The EX30 is one of a new generation of Volvos developed under its ownership by Chinese giant Geely, meaning it shares tech with other models in the group like the Smart #1 . Suspicions from our first drive in the EX30 that it had been somewhat rushed to market seem to have played out in anecdotal evidence of electronic wobbles. Generously we’ll put this down to teething troubles we’d hope can be addressed with things like over-the-air updates Volvo has already enacted for the EX30.

Tricky one. Volvos sell on safety and, true, if you are unfortunate to run into anything, the EX30 will take care of you and your fellow passengers with airbags and the like. Unfortunately, the likelihood of that happening is made somewhat higher by the fiddly user interface where nearly everything goes through the central screen, requiring too much time with your eyes off the road. For which the car then tells you off. It’s ridiculous it’s easier to adjust the interior ambient lighting than operate something as safety critical as foglights, the latter buried layers deep in the menus. We moaned about this on the original EX30 launch, Volvo said it was something it could address and that improvements have been made to the system with bigger graphics. But it’s still way too fiddly. Nor do we trust the Pilot Assist system, the supposedly automated lane changes merrily running you over the white lines if you don’t intervene on the steering yourself at the end of the manoeuvre. Begging the question what the point of the system is. And how dependable the aids really are.

In the name of (implied) off-road cred Volvo has fitted smaller wheels, softened the suspension and given it a bit more ground clearance to live up to the Cross Country branding. Which is great around town over speed humps and poorly surfaced roads, where the EX30 has impressive comfort and refinement. But a slightly weird combination with the power of the Twin Motor Performance set-up that’s your only option on the Cross Country. That aside, it’s stylish and airy thanks to the standard panoramic roof, the driver and front-seat passenger well catered for in terms of space and comfort. But there’s no escaping this is a small car, and rear legroom and bootspace are on the tight side. This is less of a problem for the standard EX30, given it’s priced to compete with similarly-sized rivals like the Jeep Avenger and related equivalents from related brands like Fiat, Vauxhall, Citroën and the rest. But for this money there are more practical alternatives for family buyers.

The Cross Country is only available in top-of-the-range Ultra trim, meaning you get all the good stuff available on the EX30. The fact pretty much everything is included simplifies the buying process, and we like the fact you can take your pick of the various (and attractive) paint and upholstery options without incurring any extra cost. While there are some cheap bits the important stuff you see like the dash, door handles and the rest all feel of impressively high quality, much of the cost saving coming through putting everything through the large central screen. Which is both a blessing and a curse. Google-powered navigation and the rest is welcome but dig deeper and the user experience – UX in the jargon – gets infuriating, with laggy screen reactions demanding several stabs of your finger to get a response and ridiculous multi-purposing of controls like using the steering wheel buttons to adjust the mirrors and having to press a button on the seat and THEN on the screen to adjust the position. Honestly, we’d rather just have manual seat adjustment than go through that faff. All of this is forgivable on the entry-level EX30 given the winning combination of premium looks and punchy pricing. But with the Cross Country’s bottom-line closing on 50-grand we’re inclined to be a little more critical. Which is a shame, because it’s otherwise a very stylish and appealing product.

We’ll grudgingly give the Cross Country top marks purely for the quantity of its performance, given it has over 400 horsepower and can hit zero to 60mph as fast as most supercars. But if we were scoring for relevance we’d be less generous, for the fact nobody needs this to go this fast in a small family crossover and, novelty aside, max acceleration is brutal to the point of discomfort. If it had half the power, a bit more range than the claimed 280 miles and a little more space inside it would be pretty much spot on for its intended purpose. Somewhat awkwardly for the EX30 Cross Country this is exactly what its EX40 big brother offers, for only a fraction more cash. Or is yours for less money with single motor versions of the regular EX30.