Volvo XC90 Recharge long-term test: The ultimate PHEV for a rural life
Our car: XC90 Recharge Inscription Pro, T8 AWD plug-in hybrid
List price when new: £76,790
Price as tested: £76,790
Official consumption: 83+ mpg
Real world mpg: 26mpg (31-mile electric range)
The XC90 will bow out next year – a sad farewell to a popular, premium SUV. However, Volvo isn’t planning a slow, lingering goodbye. Instead, the Swedes have confirmed this will be a no-nonsense axe, as the long-serving XC90 is dispatched to Valhalla with the minimum of fuss.
With Volvo recently announcing the end of saloon and estate models in the UK – the latter once the bedrock of the brand – as well as the brand’s final diesel-powered models in early 2024, the hotly-anticipated EX90 electric SUV has a lot to live up to. Priced from around £96,000, the new flagship is also noticeably more expensive than our XC90 test car.
First impressions
Ever since the original appeared in 2002, the XC90 has improved from one generation to the next. A people-carrier that looks like a rugged off-roader, some also see it as a less ostentatious alternative to the image-conscious Range Rover. Others lament the fuddy-duddy, if outdated, portrayal of Volvo drivers, and just can’t imagine owning anything quite so middle class.
My country parish, not surprisingly, has a full complement of Volvo owners – young families, a retired colonel and more. There’s a brace of XC40s, including a full-electric Recharge, an old V70 estate and several XC60s. First photographs of the EX90 suggest they might all be blown away by the battery-powered newbie.
Apart from the highest levels of safety equipment (it is a Volvo), Google’s latest map data and illuminated wood, the EX90 will feature a massive 111kWh battery that’s claimed to be good for long commutes of up to 373 miles. Get your order in, quick…
So, where does that leave the combustion-powered XC90? Volvo still sells both mild hybrid, diesel and petrol versions for a while longer, as well as the conundrum that is the T8 Recharge plug-in hybrid - which is the car that we’ve lived with for the last few months. Recently updated to have a bigger, 18.8kWh battery instead of the old 11.6kWh unit, claimed figures would have you believe that the XC90 T8 PHEV is good for 43 miles on electric power only, before it’ll have to bother the 2.0-litre turbocharged and supercharged petrol engine.
The sun machine
I’ve driven the XC90 enough times to know that the SUV is a user-friendly, family-focused and beautifully appointed car. I’m just not sure how the Recharge works for people who, like me, live in the countryside and need more than 42 miles on a regular basis (or what proves to be roughly 31 miles of electric range in the real world).
Would I be better off driving a non-plug-in petrol, or even a diesel rival? I have solar panels on my house but cheap home charging might not be enough to justify the hefty price of Recharge ownership.
So, for the purposes of this extended test, I first decided to establish how long I could make a 70-litre tank of petrol last, using battery power for all my short journeys and plugging in after every trip. Books were opened, stakes were placed and I became something of a celeb in my local pub.
Of course, around town the plug-in hybrid is in its element when it comes to how the car drives – although the XC90 is a seriously large car and not some nippy, urban runabout. But I’m also guessing a lot of Volvo drivers live rurally and, as I’ve struggled to achieve 26mpg on longer trips, it does make that 80+mpg official figure look total nonsense.
What that petrol-electric combo does return is an awful lot of power. Some 449bhp in total, with 143bhp from the electric motor alone. Despite weighing 2.3 tons, the XC90 rumbles from 0-60mph in just 5.1 seconds and generally feels effortless, even if its real sweet spot is still as a capable cruiser.
Otherwise, this last generation XC90 is still a cosseting ride. Resting on air suspension, and with a sumptuous cabin swathed in leather, it offers limousine levels of comfort with the bonus of seating up to seven thanks to the fold-out seats hidden in the boot floor. There’s also masses of safety equipment and an outstanding Bowers & Wilkins sound system. You might question why you are waiting in a year-long queue for a new Range Rover…
Caught short
Having tried to run our hybrid XC90 for as long as possible using battery power alone, my idea finally ran out of steam on a 38-mile round trip to the Great Western Railway Museum in Swindon. The Volvo claims an electric-only range of 42 miles, however, I could not persuade the system to log more than 34.
Even with the energy-sapping climate control switched off and a gentle right foot, the XC90 soon reverts to gulping petrol again. Averaging 26mpg, that level of consumption is considered more of an addiction these days. It might also persuade long-distance commuters that the Recharge plug-in hybrid is not the right model for them.
MPG figures for the XC90 will vary wildly depending on the type of road and driving style. I did manage 41mpg down the M4 at a constant 70mph with cruise control - but only once. It falls away dramatically around town, or with a mix of stop-start A-roads, despite the Volvo supposedly using the on-board sat nav system to help establish the most efficient way to use remaining battery charge.
Even so, if you can’t resist fully enjoying the 449bhp available when the rear-mounted electric motor and turbocharged/supercharged 2.0-litre engine join forces, economy plummets.
Final verdict
Inevitably, just as steam trains were once replaced with electrified lines and diesel engines, the XC90 is living on borrowed time.
Interestingly, however, Volvo now says it will continue to sell our Recharge test car alongside the EX90 for some time. The hybrid might be the most economical, cleanest and fastest model in the XC90 line-up but after several months in our test car, it really only offers limited application.
As a plug-in hybrid, the Recharge does return tax savings but like all hybrids, it cannot avoid the Congestion Charge. Once the 34 miles of battery range is gone, the big Volvo becomes very costly to run. It will also lose kudos to the EX90 which has more modern and streamlined styling.
At least after eight years on sale, the current XC90 still looks a handsome beast. Comfortable, spacious, the new Google Android infotainment system rectifies some of the problems of older versions, although the Volvo screen still lags behind the best of Audi and BMW.
Minor grizzles include the key fob. A smooth-sided square of plastic, the tiny buttons that open the doors and boot are located on one edge, with even smaller symbols. It’s a lottery which one you hit. The touch-sensitive switch to close the roof blind, or open the sunroof, is equally as fiddly, distracting and not very Volvo ‘safe’. Oh, and the ridiculous rear parking sensors that automatically slam the brakes on, even when I’m only reversing into long grass.
Still, I harbour a soft spot for the XC90. That vast boot can swallow six bales of hay at a time, it’s supremely comfortable and the cabin is a place of calm and very classy indeed. Ironically, living in the countryside and doing quite high mileage, I’d choose any model apart from our Recharge, but at least it gave them something to talk about in the pub.
