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Volvo EX40 - EV Hour
We go over Volvo's big EV in the latest EV Hour, which in short can be summarised to a tale of extremes.
Audio transcription
"Welcome to another edition of Gamereactor EV Hour. The tale of the Volvo XE40 Black Edition is a tale of extremes, because there are things that I really love about this little Volvo, and there are things that I quite don't like. Now, I will confess right off the bat here that ultimately it balances out in a tiny recommend, because I do really think that the better things, the better aspects of the car, weigh out the less favorable, but I've done myself a favor this time and I've written my notes down. So, what don't I like about it? Maybe we can throw out some very nifty little infographics here. I like, I love the driving experience from inside the cabin, the quietness, the safety, and the build quality, those little things that add up, and the exterior from some angles. It's a pretty car, you've got to admit, but what I don't like are some of the interior bits, the entirety of the UX UI design within the screen, and the exterior profiling from some angles. That's interesting, and a bit different."
"So, how about we take this for a spin? Let's go! As I said in that opening intro bit, the main part that is great about the Volvo XC40 Black Edition is definitely the way that it drives, and while I did expect some experience and heritage to come into play, it is a Volvo after all, it was a lot more apparent than I thought, and I've been really positively surprised by how this is placed on the road. We're talking basic stuff first and foremost, so throttle response is way more sporty than you'd think, and the steering is very immediate and better than in a lot of sportier cars, which is also very surprising. The one-pedal drive system has some of the best sort of lane assist and automatic braking that I've seen in modern EVs, which is also very surprising. It all amounts to a car that you can very much count on in all manner of different scenarios that you might find yourself in, and that is really cool. And my guess is that that's what makes Volvo a Volvo, and it's also what their customers have grown to expect over the decades. That is very apparent here. This is great to drive, but there's also smaller things that I didn't think that I would notice, but maybe I've just gotten to a point where I'm experienced enough that I do. There's no tire roar, there's no outside noise getting into this cabin. It's quiet, it's comfortable, the seats are amazing. So it's not all of the interior that's bad. The main parts of it, turning this big circular object in front of me, sitting in this seat, and driving is fantastic, which is also why the rest of the stuff in this cabin becomes all the more disappointing. Before we get into the more ranty parts of this segment, I want to acknowledge that it's not that this particular cabin in the XE40 Black Edition is non-functional."
"There is everything you need right here, it's just organized in a way where you can't really feel that this car costs as much as it does. And, well, we've already seen that Volvo has begun to introduce slightly updated versions of this particular cabin concept, so this really is kicking something while it's down, but I think that I ought to tell you about it anyway."
"This is the main cabin of the XE40 Black Edition, and it is pretty much unchanged compared to previous versions that we've taken a look at together. You have a pretty nice central command screen right here, which basically mirrors Apple CarPlay or Android Auto, which is fairly nice.
There's also built-in Google-based apps here, which works fairly well. There's nothing inherently wrong with this screen right here. You also have controls on your steering wheel for cruise control and lane assist and basic volume and voice assist and inquiry buttons. It's all here, basically, and it works fairly well. This particular version also has these kinds of panels. I'm sure it's meant to invoke some sustainability play. These light up, by the way, in particular lighting conditions when you turn the car on or something like that, and it looks fine, but there really isn't a lot of gadgetry or stuff here that you would want to interface with, and that brings me to this screen here. I just don't really like it, and I don't think it belongs in cars that costs what this costs. Sure, right here, as you can see, I have Apple CarPlay running, but it requires a freaking USB Type-C cable to function. That should be criminal at this price point, that it is not directly wireless. At the same time, this screen is way too small. It is flanked by these really weird off-putting vents here, and they've put this big button here, which always takes you home to some sort of center screen area, but the overall sort of app list and settings list is very confusing, at least to me, where you get these kind of weird, like, I can, see, I can basically create an expanded menu right here, but where are my car settings? Where are they? Well, they're on this little cog icon down here, which takes me to an additional list, which is just a bunch of texts and icons on black backgrounds. This is not good interface design, and I think Volvo knows that."
"Otherwise, why would they change it? Now, you get all of the toys that you would want, so 360-degree camera, which is great, with direct camera control, if that is what I want. There is also a parking sensor and automatic parking brake, which is great, and a lovely sort of suite for the climate control. As I said, there's nothing inherently functionally wrong with the cabin."
"It's just old-fashioned, outdated, and it just doesn't feel like that I'm in a car that can cost the same as an XPeng G9, particularly a version of the G9 where there would be a massive partner screen right over there, with streaming services and music streaming built right in, wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto from a much larger central screen, and just an overall nicer feel."
"Now, not everything can be compared to an XPeng G9, but Volvos are not cheap, which means that when you sit in them, you should feel that uncheapness. You should feel like a premium customer who have ordered and is basically enjoying a premium product, and that is very true for almost every aspect of this car, except when I sit here. And finally, on one final point, I like when particularly these SUV crossover vehicles that is meant to invoke some kind of off-road capability have a bit higher center consoles than this. I want to feel enveloped by the car and feel like that it's got me in such a way, but there's just so much space here and that could have been more, like, better designed, I feel like, and it's something that, for instance, the Polestar 2 gets right immediately."
"So, rant over. Moving on to the next thing. There's better news with basic specifications, luckily. Upwards of 572 kilometers on a charge is good, 200 kilowatt charging is acceptable, and then there's the looks. Sure, it looks like it's all hood and no cabin, but this black edition, I think, is beautiful. I really dig it. I actually prefer it in some ways to more modern Volvo designs we've gotten since then, and that's saying quite a lot. I know it feels like a bit of a mixed bag, that I don't really like the interior, and I think it might be too expensive, and I think it's positioned oddly in the market next to some of the, for instance, Chinese rivals, but also rivals from mainline competitors in the market that have been here for decades."
"But still, I want to end on a positive note, not for any particular reason, and certainly not to appease Volvo, but that the company is still built on a foundation of driving prowess and capability that it steadily maintains today. That is certainly still the case with the XE40 Black Edition, and it has survived the transition to EVs. It is still very, very nice to drive the XE40, and you trust it implicitly, completely, when the snowfall finally hits, like it has here in Denmark."
"The roads are slippery, but I have complete faith in this driving machine to keep me and my children safe. That counts for something. It truly does. So while we wait for the broad reinvention of what the Volvo cabin should be, so that they once again can charge full price for their products, and we would thank them for it, well, that, I think, is coming up very soon."
"And if you've already seen, the new interior concept in the XE90 and the XC90 certainly bodes well for the future. So, once again, it is time to say goodbye to the XE40. I hope I get to revisit it, because it certainly is, above all, an interesting machine. See you on the next one."
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