2025 Volvo EX30 Review: A Nightmare on Your Street?

• Fantastic drive with plenty of power.

• Irritating electronics.

• Touchscreen interface convoluted.

Kids in 10 years will never understand the struggle of using a key to start a car, a common trope in older horror movies. Back then, nothing was more stressful than watching a potential victim flee from a bad guy only to fumble with their keys. Today’s good news is that some vehicles, like the all-new 2025 Volvo EX30, do not require such an archaic tool to enter your vehicle.

20-year-olds will remember how these victims would search their pockets, find the right key, unlock the door, jump in, slam it shut, and then struggle to get the key into the ignition. Obviously, the car wouldn’t start, leading to frantically repeated cranking and steering wheel smacking, and finally—just as the villain reached them—the car roared to life, and they sped off. In the EX30, once onboard, the driver only needs to pull down on the column shifter and go.

But it’s not always like that, and therein lies a major issue.

Modern Volvo bugs

This scenario came to mind as I reviewed the 2025 Volvo EX30. Its key fob is maddeningly inconsistent. Sometimes, it refuses to recognize me as I grab the door handle, leaving me stranded for up to a minute or more. Other times, the car lights up and unlocks from several meters away. Once inside, there’s no key needed to start—sit down, put it in reverse, and drive. It’s a far cry from the tactile, anxiety-inducing moments of old horror flicks, and it’s a reminder that future movies won’t include this nostalgic element of suspense.

But it’s not always get up and go.

One out of every three occasions, after selecting Drive, the 2025 EX30 would move forward without a crucial element: power steering. For between one and over 10 meters of travel, I could be found wrestling with the wheel. In some cases, an overly eager right foot would have brought me dangerously close to the vehicle ahead of me.

Furthermore, the EX30 will seem as though possessed with a mind of its own by drivers. Not only can the lane assist not be permanently shut off, but it also functions erratically. Dotted lines will excite it three out of four times, whereas solid lines will only strike fear in its electrical soul one out of four times. Same for double solid lines – I tested it.

And then it got worse. On two occasions, the EX30’s central nervous system, the touchscreen, remained blank for 3-5 minutes after driving off. As such, I had NOTHING. Literally, there were no HVAC controls, speedometers, or flashers to indicate turns. This is a serious problem…

Incredible power

And yet, I loved driving about in the 2025 Volvo EX30.

On the flip side, EV performance today is astonishing. Most EVs, including the EX30, are far quicker than the average car or SUV from only a decade ago. The EX30’s instant torque and rapid acceleration would have left those older cars in the dust—not to mention rushing away from a bad guy in our favourite horror movies. It’s both a technological marvel and a testament to how far automotive engineering has come.

The tested EX30 was a rear-mounted single-motor model. Blessed with 268 hp and 253 lb-ft of torque, the small SUV shuttles to 100 km/h in only 5.3 seconds. FYI, the dual-motor model needs scarcely more than 3.5 seconds… Either way, the EX30 is really quick and responsive. Perfectly matching the performance is ride quality, which is excellent. Ideally combining comfort and control, the small Volvo proves to be nimble, sharp, and quite entertaining.

Another but…

Range is a miss. The 69-kWh battery pack provides the 2025 Volvo EX30 with up to 420 km. On paper, the statistic is acceptable; however, in practice, it’s nowhere near the estimated number. Throughout the week, following full charges, the screen never displayed a range of more than 340 km, with a lowly 300 km on one morning. Ambient temperatures were above freezing, between 5 and 10 degrees Celsius, and heating was minimal.

The EPA’s estimated combined 18.1 kWh/100km was off by about 6 kWh, or 33%, as indicated on the display. The experienced figures will worsen along with the weather limiting the EX30’s long-distance useability.

The bottom line is that the 2025 Volvo EX30 is a tremendous electric SUV, but it needs to return to the shop for a serious software tune-up. Until then, I’m not certain I would risk one.

2025 Volvo EX30

1 of 10