Volvo EX90 2025 review

Priced north of $130,000, the first Australian EX90 deliveries should reach Australia by April next year.

This puts the Volvo nearly two years behind schedule, given it was unveiled all the way back in November, 2022. Software-related issues are said to be the culprits.

Initially there are two grades coming – Plus and Ultra – and both will be in Twin Motor specification, meaning there’s an electric motor on each axle for all-wheel drive.

Cheaper, Single Motor rear-wheel drive versions are also in the pipeline, which should make the EX90 even more accessible.

Volvo hasn’t released Australian specifications as yet.

However, we understand the flagship Ultra as tested features active dampers, air suspension, the extra agility of torque-vectoring tech for the AWD system, pixel LED headlights, a glass roof and 20-inch alloy wheels – though all that has yet to be confirmed.

Inside, Ultra buyers can expect 14.5-inch touchscreen with 360-degree camera view, a head-up display, 1610-watt/25-speaker premium audio with subwoofer, synthetic leather seat upholstery, wood décor, 'high level' ambient lighting and jewel-design switchgear.

There's also powered massaging front seats with driver’s side memory and cushion extenders, heated front and middle seats, power-fold/lift third-row seats, four-zone climate control with heat pump and air purifier, a heated steering wheel, wireless phone charging, Google Maps, Google Assistant, a digital key for a smartphone and more.

Within its luxury segment, that all makes the Chinese-built Volvo quite competitive, especially given there aren’t currently any other full-sized seven-seater EV SUVs not wearing the Kia badge on sale in Australia. Sorry, Mercedes-Benz EQB owners. It’s a size thing.

And keen pricing isn’t the only thing that looks sharp on the EX90…

Just like the EX90’s exterior, the interior has clearly been designed to be unmistakably Volvo. And thoroughly practical as an everyday middle-class family hauler proposition.

Thematically, the EX and XC90s are similar – room for seven and with plenty of it for the first five occupants, ample ventilation, sufficient storage, a centrally-located portrait touchscreen against a pleasingly horizontal dash layout, and a minimum of switch gear – though the EV takes the latter to a new level. More on that later. They even sit on the same length wheelbase.

But beyond these, it’s all change for the EX90, with the switch to electrification and the fresh architecture this entails resulting in a very different proposition overall. For better and for worse.

2025 Volvo EX90 Ultra

Let’s start with the positives.

This is one inviting and spacious sun-drenched cabin, aided by lovely design, ample ventilation and great vision.

Comfier front seats would be challenging to find. They feel scientifically tailored for the human body. The Ultra’s bombastic audio system sounds great while its large volume knob should be music to everybody’s ears.

2025 Volvo EX90 Ultra

Jumping from new to old 90, the XC seems bulky and padded out, to an almost imposing degree. In contrast, the detailed textures and light materials of the EX feels fresh and far more contemporary. An example of this is how cool the distinctive translucent-look backlit wood on an already classy dash looks at night. Gravitas without the weight.

More praise, too, for the Teflon-smooth immediacy of the touchscreen. Fingertips simply glide across the display.

Considering access to most vehicle functions live there, its slick and tactile hierarchical layout, which prioritises the important stuff and figures out which ones you use and then saves them to your user profile is one of the better multimedia layout executions, is inspired. On paper at least.  

2025 Volvo EX90 Ultra

But here’s the reality check. Having to dive into menus and fiddle with unintuitive buttons to merely adjust mirrors and the steering column is a chore. The same goes for opening the glove box.

Volvo, please end this distracting, intimidating and infuriating nonsense immediately. It completely flies into the face of safety.

Especially as our EX90’s screens glitched during testing, forcing us at one point to use the Waze app as a speedo. And doors regularly refused to lock and unlock, despite there being several ways of doing so.

2025 Volvo EX90 Ultra

And we’re also not fans of a glass roof with no blockout. Whether actual or imagined, the hot, glaring sun above can be too much for many people. However, a tack-on cover is coming soon.

Back to the good stuff, the middle bench seems comfy enough, third-row access is simple and fairly unrestricted, while once sat there, there are enough amenities as well as sufficient room for most adults.

All outboard occupants in the EX90 have access to air vents, cupholders, USB ports and storage. Strangely, though, not overhead grab handles. 

Further back, with all seats up, there is a decent 324 litres (VDA) of luggage capacity, expanding to 669L in five-seat mode and a useful 1288L with the middle row folded.

Additionally, under the floor is a sizeable cubby hole for hiding things in, though that is where you would expect to find a spare wheel. Instead, the EX90 makes do with a tyre-repair kit, which is unsatisfactory in Australia.

Finally, there’s also up to 46L of storage under the bonnet. Good for the cables that charge the battery pack beneath the Volvo.

In the EX90 Twin Motor, a pair of permanent magnet synchronous motors are fitted – one on each axle.

Combined with the more dominant electric motor out back, together they make 300kW of power and 770Nm of torque, for a 0-100km/h sprint time of 5.9 seconds, on the way to a 180km/h top speed.

Opting for the boosted Performance Pack model bumps those outputs up to 380kW and a formidable 910Nm, shaving a whole second off the 0-100 time (to 4.9sec).

2025 Volvo EX90 Plus

To handle all that muscle, the SPA2 architecture features a super-strong skateboard platform with a low centre of gravity (due in part to a 111kWh 400V lithium-ion battery pack nestled down between the axles), double wishbone suspension up front, a multi-link rear end and wheels of between 20 and 22 inches in size.

All these, along with a newly-developed torque-vectoring system, results in a big electric Volvo that grips as hard as it goes… and (at times, depending on tyre size) rides.

2025 Volvo EX90 Plus

So much for performance. The EX90’s provisional combined-average WLTP range varies between 570km to 614km, depending on specification. In the WLTP city cycle, Volvo quotes between 780km and 817km between charges.

Australian-market numbers are yet to be revealed, but over in the UK, the Twin Motor averages 16.1kWh/100km around town and 21kWh/100km overall.

With only highway and mountain-road driving around southern California, our test car’s trip computer read 23.5kWh/100km.

2025 Volvo EX90 Ultra

Currently there are no Euro NCAP or ANCAP crash-test figures for the EX90.

But Volvo’s obsession with safety means you wouldn’t bet against it being amongst the safest SUVs out there, period, backed up Lidar-enabled next-level driver-assist tech to minimise collisions. This stuff literally sees things that the human eye cannot.

The EX90 brings a suite of 'Advanced Driver Assist Systems' (ADAS) with several cameras and ultrasonic sensors to help keep the car out of trouble.

2025 Volvo EX90 Ultra

You’ll also find Autonomous Emergency Braking (AEB) with cyclist and pedestrian detection, cross-traffic alert/braking, intersection emergency braking, 'Run-off Road Mitigation', blind-spot alert with steer assist, lane departure warning/assist, oncoming lane mitigation, torque-vectoring cornering control, post-impact braking, night-time collision warning, occupant detection, rear-collision warning/mitigation, door-opening alert, driver monitor and adaptive cruise control with full stop/go.

At the time of publishing, ADAS and AEB operating parameters were not as-yet available.

2025 Volvo EX90 Ultra

On the passive safety front there are dual front, a driver’s knee, side and curtain airbags, though no centre front airbag – a technology Volvo deems unnecessary “if the basics are right”. Interesting.

Plus, there are anti-lock brakes, electronic stability control, traction control, trailer stability assist, understeer control logic, road-sign info and tyre pressure monitors, amongst other items.

The rear seats include ISOFIX mountings as well as child-seat latch points.