2025 Volvo EX40 Twin Motor Ultra review: Minimal Effort

2025 Volvo EX40 Twin Motor Ultra review by The Road Beat

Words and pictures: Mitchell Weitzman

Don’t get me wrong—there are positive aspects to the new Volvo EX40, a compact all-electric crossover. But it’s the drawbacks that unfortunately define the experience. This is an EV assembled in Belgium by a Swedish, Chinese-owned company using a majority of parts sourced from China. Yes, modern Volvos are global products, but the lack of outright cohesion here feels deeper than its complicated logistics would even suggest. The end result is a car so uncomfortable that it’s hard to believe anyone truly drove it before signing off.

And yes, you read that correctly: my primary issue with the EX40 is comfort. While the interior initially impresses and the seats look minimalist and futuristic, the reality is grim; These are among the worst seats I’ve encountered in any new car at any price. In fact, the EX40 was so uncomfortable that I parked it with multiple days left in my test loan because I simply had enough.

How can seats go this wrong? Excellent question. The head restraints—their correct name, not “headrests”—have virtually no adjustment. Resultingly, they aggressively push your head forward at all times, forcing a posture best described as “desk neck”: hunched, craned, and unnatural. Only here, the restraint itself actively makes it worse. Try to relax and your face simply angles downward and comfort is never achieved.

The forward push also disconnects your upper back and shoulders from the seatback, eliminating lateral support entirely. Even at modest speeds through mild corners and bends, your torso slips out of position as you grab and hold on to the wheel. If you wear your hair in a ponytail, the uncomfortable head angle will only amplify the problem.

If this sounds exaggerated, consider the context. The EV and compact crossover space is now packed with genuinely well-rounded competitors that perfectly comfortable and with increased range, making the EX40 feel completely irrelevant. There are simply no excuses, and dot even its insane performance can save it. While this EX40 Twin Motor Ultra can hustle from 0–60 mph of 4 seconds dead, it's all for naught. Because when you do floor it, your neck just hurts more, and if you carry speed through corners, you'll fall out of the seat.

There are some wins. You can finally display both the reverse camera and the top-down camera simultaneously. The air vents feel excellent in operation, and the Harman Kardon sound system impresses. But the positives stop there. Real-world range barely clears 200 miles, well below the EX40’s EPA rating of 260 miles and about 25% short of what key competitors achieve now without effort. That’s last-decade EV tech.

Charging doesn’t help either. DC fast-charging tops out at 200 kW, not the 350 kW now common elsewhere. As a result, a 10–80% charge takes closer to 27–30 minutes, versus roughly 18–20 minutes in a Hyundai Ioniq 5 under similar conditions.

Ten extra minutes may not sound like much, but do that once a week and you’re looking at over 500 minutes a year—more than eight hours of your life spent waiting for your car to charge. That’s an entire workday, annually, lost to inefficiency.

Then there’s the price. Ringing the register at $62,045 as-tested, the EX40 Twin Ultra is objectively worse than rivals in nearly every measurable way all while costing extra. It isn’t even meaningfully nicer inside, either. Not to mention just how small is compact really is: measuring only 175 inches long while boasting a poor 16 cubic feet of cargo space behind the rear seats.

Despite carrying a luxury price tag, there are glaring design shortcuts. Most offensive is the large, blank circular button where an ignition switch would be in a gas car. For a vehicle that is exclusively electric, continuing to reuse the old XC40 dashboard is starting to feel lazy and tone-deaf. I like small cars and they have a great purpose, but for over 60 grand and it's uncomfortable and not particularly luxurious? It's a total joke.

Cruise control performance is another weak point. On freeway grades, it regularly sheds about 3 mph before aggressively accelerating back to the set speed at the crest. That behavior is not only annoying but terrible for efficiency by constantly having to accelerate uphill.

Volvo gives consumers no compelling reason to choose the EX40. With underwhelming range, outdated charging performance, and the worst seats I’ve experienced in a new car, this one is a complete pass. And that’s before mentioning the dated screen graphics, slow load times, and a radio system that never reliably connected to my phone nor remembered my last SiriusXM station. As Randy Jackson would say: “It’s a no from me, dog.”

More photos from the 2025 Volvo EX40 Twin Motor Ultra review

2025 Volvo EX40 Twin Ultra – Specifications

Price as-tested: $62,045 MSRP

Powertrain & Performance

• Drivetrain: Dual-motor with all-wheel drive

• Combined output: 402 hp

• Combined torque: 494 lb-ft

• 0–60 mph: 4.0 seconds

Battery & Charging

• Battery capacity: 82 kWh (approx. 79 kWh usable)

• Battery type: Liquid-cooled lithium-ion

• AC charging: 11 kW onboard charger

• DC fast charging: Up to ~200 kW

• 10–80% DC fast-charge time: ~27–30 minutes

• EPA-estimated range (Twin Motor): 260 miles

• Road Beat Real World Range: 210 miles

Dimensions

• Length: 175 inches

• Wheelbase: 106 inches

• Width: 75 inches

• Height: 65 inches

• Curb weight: 4,600–4,800 lb (depending on equipment)

• Rear cargo: 16 cu ft

• Rear cargo (rear seats folded): 57–58 cu ft

• Front trunk (frunk): ~0.7 cu ft

Chassis & Suspension

• Front suspension: MacPherson strut

• Rear suspension: Multi-link

• Brakes: Four-wheel ventilated discs

Wheels & Tires

• Standard wheels (Ultra): 20-inch alloy wheels

• Tires: Performance-oriented all-season EV tires

Towing

• Maximum towing capacity: 2,000 lb

Specs comparison against class leaders:

2025 EX40 Twin Ultra vs. Hyundai Ioniq 5 vs. Tesla Model Y – Key Specs