Volvo EX30 Ultra Review: Minimalist Marvel

What we like:

Excellent liveability

Good electric range

Comfort and ride quality

Cool and high-quality Scandi-minimalist design

What we dislike:

Rear space

Majority of controls centralised in touchscreen panel

When you think of Volvo as a brand, it brings to mind cars that were designed with nothing but a pair of set squares and a ruler, or even the car of choice of your secondary school principal. But gone are those days of just seemingly plain and functional design. With its brand-new entry level offering, the EX30 brings along with some excitement and pizzazz to the Swedish marque.

The EX30 stands out with a clean, modern look that is characterised by Volvo’s signature minimalist aesthetic and sturdy Scandinavian design. Its front end is flanked by Volvo’s iconic Thor’s hammer LED headlamp design. Like all electric-powered Volvos, it does not have a traditional grille, but it is instead a center piece marked by its logo, which if you asked me, looks pretty cool.

The interior of the EX30 epitomises Scandi-minimalism. At the forefront is its 12.3-inch vertical touch screen that combines the driver’s information and controls in one place. Having to activate the adjustment of its wing mirrors via the touch screen and opening of the centrally located glovebox takes some getting used to, but otherwise once you are all set up, you’re good to go.

Interior fit and finish feels very high quality and well put together, as you’d expect from Volvo. It scores high marks for the use of sustainable materials, including the use of waste from jeans factories, disposable plastic bottles, fishing nets, and even chopped up uPVC window frames. Even its wood trim is responsibly sourced.

I quite like the unique design of its centre console, which expands to reveal a large storage space beneath it when pushed once. Push it once more and it retracts mid way, just in case you may have larger items to place in its front foot well, and this helps with the option to slide out either one or both of its cupholders.

The squarish-shaped steering wheel takes some getting used to, but after a day of driving it, I’d think you’d barely notice it. You have a sense of serenity piloting the EX30 – with an unblocked view of the road ahead of you, all but flanked by a neatly tucked in Harmon Kardon sound bar, which made for a peaceful drive of this BEV.

Being based on the same platform as the Zeekr X and Smart #1, the EX30 is the smallest car of the Volvo range. Rear space is most suited for short journeys, but combining its rear-wheel driven powertrain with a short wheel base makes the EX30 pretty fun on the road, and agile around corners.

Power is more than sufficient at 268 bhp, and with 343 Nm of torque available on tap, this crossover reaches 100 kph in 5.3 seconds. Its steering is accurate enough, and its softly sprung nature reminds you that the EX30 is geared towards day-to-day comfort on commutes. It rolls a little through bends, but makes up for this with a pliant ride for passengers.

We started our drive with the EX30 at 90% charge on the battery. At the end of it, the 69kWh battery managed to eke out 307km with 17% left of charge and a reported remaining range of 75km. In our minds that comes pretty close to the reported 475 km of range, notwithstanding that we took the EX30 on rather spirited drives which included a couple of standing starts!

I was left with a sense of sadness at the end of our drive with the EX30. Although its minimalist cabin design felt like quite a departure from the ordinary at the start, rather surprisingly, it was easy to get used to, very quickly. Coming in at a retail price of $240,000, it is a slightly premium option in the world of BEVs today. However, I think this is more than worth its price, given the level of quality that Volvo offers, and day-to-day liveability that it brings. Like a glove that fits the palm of your hand, I can see how this Volvo could be For Life.

Photos by James Wong

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