Volvo XC40 2025 review: Recharge Pure long-term | Part 2

As our XC40 Recharge completes its second month, it’s proving to be a total gem.

Unlike some cars I’ve recently run as long-term testers, like the Fiat 500e and the Ford Mustang Mach-e, which both had to grow on me over time, this XC40 is an instant hit. It does almost everything exactly as well as you expect it to for a premium electric small SUV.

That’s it then. Review done? Not quite. There’s still plenty you should know about this Volvo, including some issues I’m running into which may be a make or break for you.

Firstly though, can we appreciate the design of this car?

Inside and outside it looks slick and fresh, and this is despite this Swedish design kicking around since 2017. That’s a whopping seven years and despite only minor changes to the look, this Volvo could have been released today and you wouldn’t think twice. I still don't tire of even seeing early combustion versions of this car on the road.

It’s rare for such a modern design to be timeless like this, but I think a large part of it is down to Volvo not pursuing a sense of sportiness or aggression like many of its rivals. Without aggressive spoilers or air dams or diffusers, it’s quite happy to look more approachable and understated. As a result, there’s much less on this car which looks dated.

The only tweaks for its most recent update are to its wheels, which adopt a more EV-look finish.

Inside it is similarly stylish and contemporary, although there's a handful of areas where you can tell the XC40’s age.

This includes the now smallish-looking multimedia screen, which we mentioned in the previous chapter, although I’ve also noticed a few more areas where I think there could be improvements.

For example, there are more hard plastics in this car than I first noticed. Much of the door trims are hard plastic, which is not only hard to the touch, but can be prone to collecting scratches.

The same can be said for the centre console area. It’s a little cramped and clad in a mix of scratchy matt and gloss finishes.

Annoyingly the bits which don’t collect scratches get covered in fingerprints and as anyone who has owned a car with piano-style gloss black finishes will tell you, it’s near impossible to keep it clean (and I’m so borderline OCD I keep a microfibre cloth in the centre console).

Still, I like the cloth trim seats, which I’m still finding comfortable, and the blocky but minimalist steering wheel is one of my favourite ones out there in a small SUV.

Is the Volvo XC40 big enough as a family car?

Now, two months in, there are also more things about this car’s practicality I’ve noticed.

For example, it took me this long to figure out the weird section of the console with a flippy cover thing is actually a bin designed to be used with a liner.

You can even remove it completely if you want more console space. You probably will want more console space, too, because cabin storage is one of this car’s weak points.

Unfortunately, as it’s based on a combustion car platform (Volvo’s 'Common Modular Architecture' or CMA for short) this means concessions are made to the floor of the car to accommodate transmissions and drivelines in combustion versions.

This means no cool storage cutaways or a flat floor in the back seat, and it does make the XC40 feel a little cramped compared to its dedicated EV rivals.

Even some cars in a completely different segment but the same size-bracket, like the Kia Seltos or the Haval Jolion are fantastic examples of making a cabin with similar dimensions feel huge.

Still, if you want more space, you’ll soon be able to buy an Audi Q4, or you could have BMW’s X1 which has grown into something a bit larger. You have to like the styling of those vehicles, though.

Some other additional things I’ve noticed include the rear doors. They don’t open as far as I’d like (an increasingly common and annoying trait which is probably for safety reasons).

I can imagine this will make it a bit of a pain for fitting a child seat or something. Also, as even this base version of the car gets a panoramic glass roof, there’s no dome light in the rear, making it hard to see anything back there at night even when the doors are open.

At least the XC40 gets a near-blackout rolling blind for the roof, which will help keep interior temperatures under control under the Australian sun.

How much driving range does the Volvo XC40 Recharge Pure Electric have?

Range and charging has been a mixed bag for me in the last month. It’s not this Volvo’s fault, but the public charging network is struggling to keep up.

The good news is, now with an additional month of urban commuting, the average energy consumption is starting to drop.

I’ve seen as low as 16.8 on the dash, but  the car is currently showing me bang-on 17kWh/100km. This is notable not only because it’s continually performing better than the official 17.3kWh/100km, but it’s vastly improved compared to the original front-biased AWD Volvo XC40 Recharge which was a total power hog, eating 21.3kWh/100km on my test back in 2022.

Clearly the switch to rear-wheel drive with new motors has made a significant improvement on this front.

As a result (and to my surprise) the XC40 is showing more than the WLTP-certified driving range on a full charge. The official number is 435km but mine is showing 450 at around 95 per cent battery. Impressive.

From driving EVs pretty much non-stop for the last four years, I can tell you anything above 400 or so is pretty solid, even for freeway mileage (by the time you’ve chewed through 350km or so, wouldn’t you want a break?)

The bad news is the charging network. For the first time since I first long-term tested a Nissan Leaf back in 2022 I’m having trouble finding time to charge! It will be a different story if you’re able to charge at home, but because I’m in a '70s unit with no power to my garage, it’s a struggle to use the public network right now.

My local shopping centre parking has two 50kW DC charging bays as well as six 11kW AC charging bays. This used to be a relative oasis for those needing to top an EV up, but now the site is completely overburdened.

Despite the council now charging people for use of the AC units, all eight spots seem to be permanently occupied during the day and early afternoon. I really have to pick time on the fringes to charge it.

This is making me thankful the XC40 has a lot of range because it is now quite efficient, so if I can nab a DC charger for about 40 minutes once a week it’s enough to keep me on the road.

You should know, though, at this stage the charging network is struggling to keep up with the growing EV demand, so if you’re looking to purchase one, I’d double check how you’re going to charge it (and see how busy the locations are), particularly if you can’t at home.

Is the XC40 Recharge Pure electric good to drive?

The XC40 continues to be a pleasure to steer compared to most cars which have rotated through my garage. The ride improvement for the most recent model year update has proven to be more comfortable than cars like the Haval H6 and Nissan Qashqai (which I understand aren’t rivals to it, but it’s interesting to see an EV handle its weight so well compared to combustion or hybrid alternatives).

It’s almost an annoying car to critique in this sense, because it’s so good at daily duties. The light steering and effortless take-off and acceleration make me enjoy coming back to it after driving something else. It’s even much quieter on the new tyres than it was before.

Here’s the thing, I drive a lot of cars. Some of them objectively have some impressive qualities, but this is one of the few I’d own myself.

My partner likes the XC40 a tad more than the Polestar 2. She says it’s comparatively easier to see out of the Volvo and she’s much more comfortable driving it as a result.

She also appreciates how light the steering is, but misses the 360-degree parking camera that this RWD version has trimmed out of its spec for some reason.

The thing I’m also enjoying about it this month is the lack of invasive or annoying safety systems. The lane keep works its magic only when it really needs to and the car isn’t constantly beeping at you or throwing up warnings.

It’s a refreshing reprieve from a lot of more mainstream cars I’ve driven lately from brands like GWM and Hyundai which seem to want to do the majority of the driving for you (or are happy to chastise you for transgressions, genuine or not).

This isn’t to say the XC40 doesn’t have the required safety systems, it has almost the lot, as you may expect from a Volvo, they just work and don’t require turning off to make the car drivable.

Tune in again for our final chapter next month. We’re planning to compare the XC40 to one of its key rivals, the compelling new BMW iX1, plus we’ll pull a final energy consumption number, and I’ll have a go at figuring out how much this electric SUV has cost me to run over a three month period.

Acquired: June 2024

Kilometres driven in August: 398km

Odometer: 3000km

Energy consumption for August: 17.0kWh/100km