Any dedicated seven-seat family SUV needs to nail practicality and when it comes to the Volvo XC90, there are clear pros and some surprising cons.
One of the many pros is the seats. As mentioned, they look schmick, but are also supremely comfortable and offer the perfect level of bolstering and support. The T8 has a seat adjustment memory function that can be programmed into the driver profiles that also tailors other functions to suit different drivers.
The quality of the materials and build quality of the cabin is largely impressive. Even the damping of the indicator stalk has a feeling of high-end quality.
Volvo’s digital instrument cluster is clear and easy to navigate, once you work out what the buttons on the steering wheel do. They don’t have words on them so it takes a while. The driver’s manual comes in handy for this.
The big story in the cabin is the new 11.2-inch multimedia display. Volvo uses a Google platform and the car comes with Google Services which includes Google Assistant voice control, Maps and Play.
I’m a fan of Apple CarPlay and once I have assessed a car’s in-house multimedia system I often defer to CarPlay. It’s simple and familiar. But aside from using CarPlay to connect once, I used Volvo’s system for the vast majority of my time with this car.
Logging into your Google account means your favourites come up on the map and there is no downside to functionality. If I had the car for longer I would've added Spotify to the system and logged into that, too, but I was happy listening to digital radio on the phenomenal 19-speaker Bowers & Wilkins sound system.
The screen takes some familiarisation, but once you understand the home keys and how to switch between apps, it’s a pleasure to use. It has a clear layout, nice graphics and is responsive. Yes, the air con controls are mostly housed in the screen, but if you tap the lower part of the screen the entire climate menu appears. It is light years ahead of Volvo’s previous screen set-up.
Most functions are housed in the screen, although there are buttons just under the screen for volume and audio on/off, front and rear demisters, hazard lights and a button to open the glove box.
Storage up front is just okay. The console houses shallow cupholders and a handy upright phone holder, as well as the device charging pad. It’s a shame there’s no under console storage, but the transmission tunnel might be too chunky for that.
The shallow central bin houses two USB-C ports and a 12-volt outlet. Bottle storage is decent in the front door cards.
The panoramic sunroof only has a sheer blind (it’s powered) which is less than ideal in a country like Australia. It’s been fine in winter but I’m curious to know what it’s like in the height of summer.
The second row features manual window blinds to keep your little ones cool.
There’s some back support for the second-row seats but the base is flat. Some of the seat fabric in that row looks like it doesn’t quite fit, but I think that’s the nature of the leather with the intricate designs.
In terms of space, there’s ample leg, toe and headroom, and the rear backrests recline for extra comfort on long trips. The bases roll forward and back and the seats are split 40/20/40.
Kids will likely fight over who has to sit in the middle seat because the combination of an intrusive transmission tunnel and the rear of the front centre console protruding into the space means it is not a great seat.
Occupants have access to chest and knee-level air vents, heated seat and digital climate controls, map pockets, two USB-C ports and a central fold-down armrest with a fiddly cupholder mechanism. The rear doors will only house small, narrow bottles.
Accessing the third row of the Volvo is challenging. For starters, to move the second row seats forward you need to use the lever at the top of the seat and the roller under the base to move them. And they are heavy seats. That leaves just enough of an aperture to get into the third row.
But first you have to raise the third row. Sadly there’s no lever in the boot area to quickly raise or lower the third-row seats. You have to either climb into the boot and reach for the lever at the top of the seats, or reach through the back door and try and raise them that way. And again, they are heavy.
It is a deeply unintuitive system and leaves you exhausted and frustrated. Especially when you consider other seven seaters have a much more functional and lightweight third-row arrangement.
Once in the third row, it’s clear it is for humans with tiny legs only. It is not a space appropriate for six-foot tall men like me, even for short distances. You do get ample headroom, air vents, cupholders and storage boxes on either side that open up to show a kid-friendly spider web design with a friendly looking spider. Cute!
The seats fold flat into the boot floor and the loading lip is level with the floor so loading heavy or long items should be a breeze. You can adjust the air suspension from the boot to lower the height further which is always a handy feature.
It comes with a solid cargo blind but you need to remove it if you want to raise the third row. When putting it back in, it catches on the third-row seat belts, so it’s not the best design.
In terms of boot features, the Volvo comes with a household charging cable that is housed neatly under the boot floor in a stylish bag. Many PHEVs and EVs still don’t have a dedicated spot to house a cable so you have to take up boot space with a chunky cable bag. Good job, Volvo.
It has a powered tailgate, a few nooks and a pair of 5.0kg hooks. However, it doesn’t have a spare wheel of any description. Just a tyre repair kit. This is due to packaging restrictions, but it’s never an ideal solution.
In terms of space, the Volvo can swallow 640 litres of cargo with the second row up and 301L with all three rows in place. That latter figure isn’t bad compared to some seven-seaters.
