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The Volvo EX30 Cross Country features some different styling details to the standard EX30; the high performance all-wheel drive powertrain remains, in a compact SUV body style.
The Volvo EX30 went on sale in the UK in 2023 and the EX30 Cross Country has now been added to the model range. Other Volvos have also had Cross Country models, so what benefits does this trim level offer?
The Volvo EX30 Cross Country shares the same body style as the standard EX30 but there are a few different styling details. The front of the Cross Country model adds a dark grey plastic ‘grille’ featuring what appears to be contour lines – officially this is referred to as a ‘topographic-etched Kebnekaise mountain range graphic’ (Kebnekaise is the highest mountain in Sweden). The ride height has been raised by 19mm to give 196mm of ground clearance and the Cross Country has matte black cladding around the wheel arches and black wheels in a different design to the standard car (combined with the ‘Vapour Grey’ colour of our test car). The Cross Country also has skid plates, although these aren’t visible. The name ‘Cross Country’ doesn’t appear on the car’s badging, but instead is tucked away on the rear pillars.
The powertrain is unchanged from the standard EX30 Twin Motor model – this means a 69 kWh battery (64 kWh usable capacity) with twin motors delivering all-wheel drive and producing 428 hp of power and 543 Nm of torque.
The interior is virtually identical to the standard model, with an extremely minimalistic dashboard. This is a compact SUV, so there’s fairly tight rear legroom (with a high rear seat), 318 litres of boot space, increasing to 904 litres if the rear seats are folded down, with a large space under the boot floor for charging cables, and a very small ‘frunk’ under the bonnet. One of the car’s many features that is hidden is the external button to open the tailgate.
A compartment with two drinks holders (with a pale yellow base) slides out from under the central armrest between the front seats, and underneath this is a storage area (also with a pale yellow base) with the option to adjust it to make it shallower or deeper.
So there’s not a huge amount of difference between the standard EX30 Twin Motor model and the Cross Country variant aside from some minor visual changes, and it’s probably a matter of personal preference whether you prefer the appearance of the standard model or the Cross Country.
The EX30 Twin Motor model has a maximum towing weight of 1,600 kg.
The Volvo EX30 Cross Country has a driving experience that is almost identical to the standard EX30 Twin Motor model. The car is compact (4,233 mm in length) and it weighs under two tonnes, with 428 hp of power and a 0-62 mph time of 3.7 seconds. The result is an EV that feels agile and responsive to drive.
The EX30 Cross Country variant has slightly softer suspension than the standard model, and it shares the all-wheel drive powertrain of the EX30 Twin Motor, delivering all that performance to the road with lots of grip. However despite having three options to adjust the steering’s weight, even in the ‘firm’ setting, the steering still feels light.
The EX30 is very refined overall, resulting in it having the comfort of a bigger car when covering lots of motorway miles.
Featuring the name ‘Cross Country’, you would imagine that a key difference between this and the standard car would be the fitment of tyres that are designed to work in mud and snow. But no, our test car had Goodyear EfficientGrip Performance SUV 19-inch summer tyres, so they’re not dedicated mud and snow or even all-season tyres. However all-terrain 18-inch tyres are available as an option.
Another reasonable expectation would be an off-road drive mode, but no, that’s not present either.
So the Volvo EX30 Cross Country doesn’t really have any substantial changes to give it improved off-road ability.
And then there’s the car controls. The EX30 has an incredibly minimalistic interior, with no physical buttons. Ironically, no physical buttons results in far too much button-pressing for the driver to operate basic car controls.
All information and car controls are on a relatively small 12.3-inch central touchscreen. There’s no instrument display in front of the driver, and no head-up display. So the driver has to constantly take their eyes away from the road ahead to look at the central touchscreen to adjust virtually all car controls as well as to check on the vehicle’s speed, and one of the biggest issues is constantly having to look away from the road to the centre screen for satnav directions.
There are a few digital shortcut controls at the bottom of the screen, for example one for drive modes (with a choice of Range, Standard or Performance), although, somewhat strangely, when in Park this button disappears and is replaced by a button to open the glovebox. Although there are no separate controls for heating and ventilation, you can press the cabin temperature read-out button to adjust the cabin temperature, and the fan button to adjust more climate settings. But even these controls with some form of shortcut buttons require at least two button-presses to adjust settings (even the on-screen volume control – the only volume control available for the passenger – needs two presses) and trying to select, for example, Apple CarPlay, can be even more time consuming.
There’s also a ‘Vehicle’ button which brings up a screen allowing you to select options to switch off the lane keeping aid, the speed limit warning and driver alert (under ‘Quick Controls’), and under the sub-menu of ‘Settings’ then another sub-menu of ‘Driving’, if you scroll down, you can select ‘One Pedal Drive’ (high, low or off), as the gear selector on the right stalk on the steering column doesn’t give you any regenerative braking options.
One Pedal Drive is an example of a huge amount of car controls that don’t have any form of shortcut buttons, which means that you have to go hunting around the touchscreen trying to find them hidden in menus and sub-menus, which is not safe when driving.
Car controls such as these feel as though they’ve been designed by someone who has never driven a car. Voice-activated control can be used for some tasks, but not all.
And then there’s the window switches and door mirror controls. There are no physical controls on the inside of the doors at all. The mirrors have to be adjusted via the touchscreen, and the window switches are in the centre console, but there’s only two switches – you have to press a third button to control the rear windows. So once again there’s too much unnecessary button-pressing.
Even the electric driver’s seat only has one control, which has become multi-functional, moving the seat forwards, backwards, up and down, as well as adjusting the angle of the seat base and backrest.
In another display of minimalism, the EX30’s key has no buttons on it – you walk towards the car and hopefully it unlocks, and you walk away from the car and hopefully it locks. Yes, this has been done before by Tesla, but in our view this is a step too far – during our week with the car there were many occasions when it would have been useful to have buttons on the key fob to lock or unlock the vehicle without walking to the car.
The Volvo EX30 Cross Country Twin Motor Performance AWD Ultra has a WLTP combined electric driving range of 273 miles. During a week on test the car typically displayed a read-out of 272 miles, but this wasn’t an accurate prediction, and on long motorway journeys at 70mph the real-world range was averaging a disappointing 220 miles.
The EX30 Cross Country has a WLTP consumption figure of 3.4 miles/kWh and a maximum rapid charging rate of 153 kW, which should result in a 10% to 80% charge in 28 minutes. Using 11kW three-phase power, typically found at a workplace in the UK, a 0% to 100% charge should take 11.5 hours.
The Volvo EX30 Cross Country Twin Motor Performance AWD Ultra is priced at £47,060
There are three other versions of the Volvo EX30: Single Motor RWD, Single Motor Extended Range, and Twin Motor Performance, and Plus or Ultra trim levels are available.
The Single Motor RWD model has a 51 kWh battery (49 kWh usable capacity) and rear-wheel drive. The Single Motor Extended Range variant is rear-wheel drive and the Twin Motor Performance is all-wheel drive, and both of these models have a 69 kWh battery (64 kWh usable capacity).
All versions have a 272 hp rear electric motor, with the Twin Motor Performance version adding a 156 hp front electric motor, giving a total system power of 428 hp and 543 Nm of torque, compared to 343 Nm for the single motor variants.
The Volvo EX30 Single Motor RWD has an electric driving range of up to 209 miles from its 51kWh battery. The EX30 Single Motor Extended Range model delivers a range of up to 295 miles from its 69kWh unit, and, with the same battery, the Twin Motor Performance variant can manage up to 279 miles.
The Volvo EX30 Twin Motor Performance AWD Ultra price is £45,860, so there’s a £1,200 premium for the Cross Country model.
The Volvo EX30 Cross Country is compact, with lots of performance on offer, and it feels agile and responsive to drive. It’s refined and has comfortable ride quality, with all-wheel drive endowing it with impressive grip. The question is whether there’s sufficient reason to opt for the Cross Country variant compared to the Twin Motor Performance model. For an extra £1,200 the Cross Country with minor styling differences, but as standard, no tyres to give any better grip off-road or in the snow. With any EX30 model, there are no physical buttons in the cabin; all driving information and car controls and are on the central touchscreen, which means that you’re constantly looking away from the road to try and find car controls buried in menus and sub-menus, as well as to look at satnav directions. Ironically, no physical buttons results in far too much button-pressing for the driver to operate basic car controls. The Volvo EX30 Cross Country is awarded a Green Car Guide rating of 8 out of 10.
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