Volvo EX30 - long-term-review

Meet Moose. Moose is an 11-week-old Golden Retriever with a penchant for retrieving huge clumps of grass from the back garden, retrieving kitchen towels, and treating his newly exhausted owner as a mobile chew toy. So far, so Golden Retriever.

Moose was recently privy to a ride in the Volvo EX30 – because vet – and therefore had the opportunity to experience – literally for the first time in his little life! – the eerily silent acceleration offered up by the single-motor, rear-wheel-drive hatchback.

As has been explained elsewhere on this website, we’ve long passed the point where manufacturers treated an EV’s accelerator like an on-off switch, and the EX30’s pedal is what they call in the business ‘nicely modulated’, and what Moose would probably call ‘a bloody relief’.

Because it’s really not nice being flung into the seat backs when you’re a) 11 weeks old and b) just trying to get out of a junction cleanly. Sure, the EX30 is quick, but its bountiful reserves of electric power can be metered out gradually.

Calm and composed too, concepts Moose is as-yet unfamiliar with, what with him being an 11-week-old avatar of Gozer the Gozerian, The Destructor. It rides really nicely indeed. It’s not Citroen-spongy, but feels what they call in the business ‘polished’ and ‘premium’. The damping is what they call ‘well’, and there’s little fuss or irritation that seeps into the cabin. Look! Here’s the result of how accommodating Volvo made the suspension.

Does this mean it’s a boring car when you’ve deposited your 11-week-old Scrappy Doo back home and need to a) scream into the ether because he’s relieved himself on the rug again, and b) feel the need to stretch the EX30’s 268 electric horsepowers? Tricky.

On the one hand, it’s hugely fast – 0-62mph takes just 5.3s – and accelerates as though a treat was being dangled in front of its pretty little nose. The steering doesn’t offer any feedback, and even when you’ve got it in the heaviest of three settings, feels unnatural. But it’s accurate – that meaning, there’s no lag in response. Turn in, hold yer line, out the other end.

On the other hand, it all feels a tad… distant. Like the action is happening a layer removed from you. It’s got grip, but there’s no real interaction. It’s agile and doesn’t roll about like a tubster on his back enjoying the last gasps of sunshine in a freshly-chewed back garden, but it’s also not massively communicative. With all the emphasis on that screen – and lord knows we have our issues with it – it wouldn’t have hurt to code in a little more excitement as an option.

But for those times when your pants aren’t on fire and you’re just… driving, to the vets, or the pet store, or the place where they sell industrial strength cleaning fluids - basically your life, now - it’s very, very lovely. It just settles into the background comfortably, ferrying you and your 11-week-old agent of chaos in peace and tranquillity.