Volvo EX30 - Electric motors, performance & drive

We’ve only driven the Volvo EX30 Twin Motor Performance Ultra model so far. It takes pretty much the same amount of time to say that name as it does for the car to cover the 0-62mph sprint – a quite ludicrous 3.6 seconds. That’s a little bit swifter than the Smart #1 Brabus, and the same as a Bentley Continental GT Speed, Porsche 911 Carrera 4S, or, to single out a car that was a supercar icon of its day, the Ferrari Enzo. 

This high-performance Volvo offers very few visual clues to its potent acceleration, looking almost identical to the regular model. It could be one of the most unassuming performance cars out there, and will certainly raise some eyebrows if you make a speedy getaway at the traffic light Grand Prix. The fact that the Performance model is available from a little under £42,500 means buyers looking for hot hatch pace in an under-the-radar, ‘Q-car’ package might have found their new hero. 

Fortunately, this Volvo’s chassis has much of the sophistication lacking from the unfinished-feeling Smart. There’s a firmness to the ride quality that doesn’t ever cross the line of being harsh, which means that there’s little pitch or dive under hard acceleration. In the torrential conditions of our first UK drive, it proved possible to still excite either axle with clumsy throttle inputs, but the balance is neat, and once the steering is switched into its heaviest ‘firm’ setting, it feels precise and positive. It's a shame, then, that the stability control cuts in abruptly at the first sign of wheel slip or when the car gets upset by a mid-corner bump.

There is regenerative braking just like most electric vehicles, which is a system designed to generate a little bit of electricity that goes back into the battery when you lift off the accelerator to slow down. It’s not as variable as in the Kia Niro EV, which uses paddles on the steering wheel to adjust the strength of the slowing force. To switch this system on or off in the EX30, you need to go into a systems setting menu buried within the infotainment system, which is highly distracting while driving.

Aside from a little wind rustle at higher speeds, there aren’t many distracting noises inside the EX30. The ride maintains its composure at motorway speeds, while the Twin Motor Performance (as you'd expect) keeps enough in reserve to get past slower traffic.