Volvo EX30 Cross Country Long Term Report

MILEAGE AT START: 2,129KM

MILEAGE NOW:  3,147KM          

PRICE: R1 170 000

SPECIFICATION

FOR: Modern by every measure. Exceptionally comfortable and seriously quick.

AGAINST: Too much reliance on tech for basic functions.

A day before the TopGear SA Awards, a Sand Dune-coloured Volvo EX30 Cross Country rolled into our office to begin a long-term test. The timing was fitting. That same evening, it drove away with our EV of the Year Award.

We’d already spent time with the EX30 last year. Ntsako even took one on a long road trip through rural Mpumalanga to prove that EVs could cope with South African distances. It mostly did. But living with the car day to day raises a different set of questions. Surprisingly, they’re not the ones you’d expect. EVs have been around long enough that the technology shouldn’t really be the story anymore. This should be accepted as just another electric car. Or so I thought.

With the EX30 Cross Country, something interesting happened: people actually wanted one. The Cross Country changes over a normal EX30 are simple enough. Volvo raised the ride height by 13mm, added skid plates, and fitted a bespoke black Cross Country grille, or “shield,” in Volvo-speak. Chunkier wheel arch cladding and black alloys on 19-inch Goodyear EfficientGrip tyres complete the look.

Underneath, this Twin Motor Performance version remains unchanged. A 69kWh battery feeds an electric motor on each axle, producing 315kW and 543Nm. That’s enough to launch this small crossover to 100km/h in an absurd 3.8 seconds. We tested the claimed 3.7 seconds, and we came very close. Charging is straightforward, too. At home or at public chargers, topping up the battery is simple enough, depending on the supply available. None of this is particularly revolutionary. Yet the questions kept coming.

The answer, I think, is its approachability. The EX30 sits squarely in the compact crossover segment, a category South Africans instinctively understand. It’s not too large. It’s not intimidating, and it occupies the same kind of mental space that hatchbacks did twenty years ago: sensible, everyday cars that almost anyone could imagine owning. Design helps too. The EX30 is minimalist but modern, clean without being strange, and crucially, you actually see them on the road. That visibility matters. It makes the technology feel normal.

For the first time with an EV, people aren’t asking **‘what it’s like to live with’**. They’re asking whether they should buy one, and how much it costs. At home, the reaction has been similar. The EX30 CC fits family life well. It’s quick enough to satisfy the enthusiast in me, delivering those addictive electric bursts of acceleration that still feel faintly ridiculous in a compact crossover from Sweden. Even my wife seems to enjoy the occasional surge. The performance arrives in a very Volvo way. It never feels like a sports car trying to prove something, just a very fast car going about its business politely.

Ride comfort is another highlight. Built on the Geely SE-A platform, the all-wheel-drive EX30 Cross Country glides over most surfaces with impressive composure. Combine that with the near-silence of the drivetrain, and it becomes one of the most relaxed cars to cover distance in. The steering is softly weighted and largely devoid of feel, but that seems intentional. This car is less interested in involving you than it is in shielding you from the outside world.

Step inside, and Volvo’s partnership with Google defines the experience. Everything runs through a single 12.9-inch portrait screen powered by Google’s automotive OS. It’s fast, intuitive and mirrors an iPhone quickly, though doing so temporarily disables the built-in Google assistant and apps. Switching between the two is easy, and with the car’s onboard WiFi, the EX30 has quietly become a mobile entertainment lounge. Waiting for kids at swimming practice, sitting in the driveway while someone finishes getting ready, or killing time between meetings often now involves a bit of YouTube. It’s like my own waiting room. I just have to bring my own drinks.

Despite relying on a single screen, I’ve grown quite fond of Volvo’s minimalist approach. At first, the lack of a driver’s display feels odd, but after a few weeks, it becomes second nature. Everything lives in one place, and your eyes adapt quickly. Jumping into a Chery Tiggo 8 PHEV recently, with its array of displays and visual clutter, made me realise something. There really is such a thing as too many screens. Still, there are frustrations.

As with many modern Volvos, too many everyday functions live within the touchscreen. Adjusting mirrors or dealing with grouped window controls requires digging through menus and then adjusting with buttons on the steering wheel, the only place there are real buttons, by the way. That’s using two separate spaces to adjust one’s mirrors. Then there’s the bigger issue: the key.

The EX30 can be accessed either through the Volvo smartphone app, which turns your phone into a digital key, **or** via the minimalist key fob, which has no buttons at all. In theory, the car unlocks as you approach and locks when you walk away. In reality, the sensors can be inconsistent. Sometimes the car hesitates when unlocking. Other times, it locks perfectly when you’d rather it stayed open. There’s also no simple way to leave the car unlocked when you’re not nearby, which complicates everyday things like asking one of the kids to fetch something from the boot. The phone app is meant to solve this, but it’s not always reliable either. These issues will likely improve through over-the-air updates, but for now, it’s the one area where the EX30’s clever tech approach becomes frustrating.

Still, those irritations don’t overshadow the bigger picture. The EX30 Cross Country feels like one of the most progressive interpretations of the modern car. It’s compact, fast, comfortable and quietly confident in the way it goes about its business. It really is trying to take care of you. It even addresses bad air entering the cabin, so you breathe the healthiest air possible. We like it.

We like its safety credentials, its effortless performance and even the quirky detail of the topographical map of Sweden’s Kebnekaise mountain range moulded into the front fascia. But more than anything, we like what the EX30 represents. For the first time in a long while, an EV doesn’t feel like the future. It just feels like a car, and that takes some doing.