Volvo's latest EV is its best yet, and best value too, but still comes up a bit short to the competition.
News EVs and Transportation 2027 Volvo EX60 first drive: An ultra-smooth SUV for around $60k Volvo's latest EV is its best yet, and best value too, but still comes up a bit short to the competition.
By Tim Stevens May 20, 2026 3:00 am EST Tim Stevens Never mind the anti-EV fear, uncertainty and doubt you may be hearing in the news lately, because a trio of stellar battery-powered crossovers is hitting the market this year. BMW's iX3 is already on the roads in Europe and will be arriving here soon, while the Mercedes-Benz GLC with EQ Technology won't be far behind. I've driven both of those, and they're both great, but what about the third?
That would be the Scandinavian choice, the Volvo EX60, an all-electric sibling to the company's most popular model here in the US, the XC60. It was unveiled earlier this year with an appropriate amount of fuss and fanfare, including promises of a next-gen driving experience with more range, more efficiency and more technology than any Volvo that came before.
Does it deliver? After a few days behind the wheel, I can confidently say that it does, but I fear it may come up short compared to the competition in one key area.
Nordic style Tim Stevens Volvo may not have the broadest spectrum of cars on the market — its American portfolio numbers fewer than 10 distinct models these days — but if you're a fan of straight-laced Scandinavian design as I am, it's hard not to find each of them quite compelling.
Plenty of folks are certainly into the XC60, the company's mid-sized crossover. Volvo sold more than 41,000 of these last year, and while that doesn't compare to the nearly 500,000 RAV4s that Toyota moved in the same period, that one SUV is a third of Volvo's total US sales.
The all-electric EX60, then, is Volvo's most mass-market emissions-free play yet. No surprise then that the design is familiar. At a glance, it looks very much like a two-thirds scale version of the three-row EX90 , but there are some differences. The rear has its own style, and everything else is just that much more simple and straightforward.
Look under the skin, though, and you'll see some more radical changes. The EX60 marks Volvo's first real foray into megacasting, the use of high-pressure molten alloys to create large, complex parts in one shot. Bigger parts mean faster assembly, lower weight and theoretically lower cost.
The EX60 also marks the debut of a new onboard processing system that Volvo evocatively calls HuginCore, a nod to Odin's pet raven, meant to symbolize thought. In actuality, it's a combination of an NVIDIA Drive AGX Orin and Qualcomm Snapdragon 8255. Volvo says this system not only makes for a more capable car at the beginning, but one that will be comprehensively expanded over the years through OTA updates.
Part of that will be an expanded suite of active safety features that someday, Volvo promises, will enable the EX60 to more or less drive itself around, but only so long as you keep your hands on the wheel. We'll have to see what the future holds, but it's a disappointing limitation given that competitive SUVs from BMW and Ford offer hands-off driving today.
Starting strong Tim Stevens As important as a car's exterior design is, its interior is far more significant to your daily satisfaction, and thankfully, the EX60 does a lot of things right on the inside. It starts with the availability of a natural fiber interior that Volvo calls its Tailored Wool Blend. It's pleasant to touch and feels like it'll hold up well to daily abuse. That said, if you're hauling kids who can't keep from squeezing their juice boxes, or dogs with sensitive tummies, you might want to instead opt for the synthetic Nordico or leather surfaces.
The overall layout of the interior feels like a cross between the extremely minimalist EX30 and the still pared-back EX90, but with some significant improvements on both. The biggest one is the presence of real, physical controls on the steering wheel, not the capacitive touch pads found on those other two.However, that steering wheel is extremely small and skinny, which makes driving the EX60 feel a bit off.
All the other controls are quite good, and while I do miss Volvo's formerly trademark giant volume knob in the middle of the dashboard, the roller-style volume control works quite well. You can even press it in to pause whatever you're listening to, or use the buttons on either side to advance tracks.
That's a comprehensive suite of media controls, and the car has an available speaker package to back that up. Step up to the Ultra trim, a $7,100 premium over the base Plus model, and you get a 28-speaker Bowers & Wilkins sound system among a variety of other upgrades. Cue up some Atmos tunes in Apple Music , and you'll find yourself in one of the best rolling soundstages on the road, at any price point.
Apple Music runs on an Android Automotive-based operating system, which offers extensive integration with things like Google Maps, providing range estimates for your trips and helping you find chargers along the way. Gemini is also built in here, but the experience feels a bit disjointed.
When you're getting navigation prompts, you'll hear one voice. Speak to the car and ask it to change some setting or another (like temperature or seat heaters), and you'll hear a second voice. Start a conversation with Gemini, and you'll get yet another, different voice.
It all feels a bit haphazard, and Gemini's sluggish responses can be a bit of a drag, too. Still, AI is a massively powerful addition. Being able to not only find restaurants on your route but also get detailed reviews and ask questions about your dietary restrictions is a game-changer. I even asked Gemini for suggestions on scenic, fun detours from what was proving to be a boring highway route, and it sent me up a delightful road to a scenic overview.
There were some other software annoyances, though. The digital key functionality failed after a lunch stop, with the car refusing to go even though the paired iPhone was present inside the cabin. Bluetooth had to be disabled and re-enabled before the car would operate. Also, during one photo stop, I was outside of the car long enough for it to power all the way down. It took a good 20 seconds to boot back up before I could drive. Thankfully I wasn't much in a hurry, but hopefully, all this will be improved before the EX60 hits dealers later this year.
On the road Tim Stevens Volvo chose the Catalonia region of Spain for the launch of the EX60, a stunning area full of narrow, twisting roads out in the country and terrible, chaotic gridlock in the city of Barcelona. It's a great place, then, to test out how well a car can get your adrenaline flowing when you're looking for fun, and how well it can sooth your frazzled nerves when you just want to survive amidst a swarm of manic scooters.
The EX60 is definitely better at the latter than the former. I sampled both the slower, single-motor P6, which puts 369 horsepower to the rear wheels, and the quicker, dual-motor P10, with 503 hp to all four wheels. The former had the standard, non-adaptive suspension, the latter, Volvo's more advanced adaptive suspension, which can dynamically react to road conditions or be manually stiffened via touchscreen controls.
Yes, the latter was a bit quicker and will surely offer a bit more confidence in low-grip situations, but otherwise, there wasn't a lot between the two. Both felt eminently relaxed and composed in all situations, accelerating smoothly and cruising over the worst asphalt I could find without complaint.
The adaptive suspension did add a bit more compliance to the ride, plus the ability to stiffen things up slightly, but I wouldn't call either engaging. That's a feeling accentuated by slow steering and that curiously tiny, skinny steering wheel. Both the P6 and P10 are quick and responsive under acceleration, even on the highway, which is the best place to test the EX60's active safety suite.
The EX60 generally does a great job of keeping itself centered within the lane, with an adaptive cruise system that spotted traffic early and modulated speed smoothly to stick with it. But, that lane-keep system also had an annoying tendency to skew to the right whenever passing an exit, and it was extremely abrupt in applying adjustments whenever I intentionally let the car wander over towards the white lines on secondary roads.
Range and competition Tim Stevens Despite those few quirks, the EX60 left me with the impression of an ultra-smooth, calm and competent SUV that would make for an extremely welcoming space at the beginning or the end of a long day at work. It also delivers solid range. The P6 will do up to 307 miles on a charge from its 83-kilowatt-hour gross battery pack, the P10 up to 322 from 95 kWh.
Not enough? Volvo has an even longer-range flavor coming next year, the P12, which will do 400 miles from a 117 kWh battery, and also steps up to 670 hp. That, though, will come at a cost, which is probably the EX60's biggest challenge.
Pricing on that top-shelf P12 isn't yet set. The dual-motor P10, though, starts at $60,750, and the single-motor P6 is $58,400. That's fair compared to a plug-in hybrid XC60, which starts at $62,545, making the EX60 all the more attractive for those already in the family. But, for anyone starting fresh, it doesn't necessarily stand up against BMW's new iX3, which starts at $61,500 for a model offering 434 miles of range BMW's SUV also charges at 400 kW, while the EX60 P12 and P10 top out at 370 kW. The P6 is slightly slower at 320. That means the P12 can gain 173 miles in 10 minutes, the P10 165 and the P6 155.
Wrap-up Tim Stevens Volvo's EX60 is a great-looking, great-driving SUV that just left me wanting more after two days behind its tiny little steering wheel. It wasn't exactly rewarding when I tried to drive it more aggressively, but when I relaxed a bit and took my time, and the opportunity to enjoy that 1,820-watt sound system, I became quite enamored.
But where the EX60 doesn't necessarily excel is the value proposition in this segment that is already ultra-competitive and just keeps getting more cutthroat. As Volvo continues to evolve into more of a luxury marque, that may not be a concern, but for any buyers doing the math on monthly payments and cross-shopping, it may prove less compelling.
