Volvos are safe.

That's perhaps one of the strongest automotive brand connotations in the world, and for a maker of family cars it's only a good thing. But it can also be limiting – the same as being the sensible friend, or the responsible older sibling.

So, in order to be successful in our buying obsessed modern world, the Swedish car company has been going after another brand association for around a decade now: to make Volvo cool.

These days being ‘cool’ means optimising ‘quiet luxury’ - and nothing says quiet luxury like the very popular ‘countryside core’ lifestyle. Back to nature, sustainability, slow living, off-grid - everyone wants a piece. And Volvo's Swedish heritage leans perfectly into this.

Naturally then, Volvo’s UK launch of its face-lifted XC90 SUV and new EX30 Cross Country EV took place in North Wales' jagged mountains, on its stormy beaches and up its slate mine tracks.

And how did the SUVs perform in this ‘Let’s go Cross Country’ trial? Motoring reporter Freda Lewis-Stempel threw them enthusiastically into the challenge to thoroughly test Volvo's newfound cross-country character...

The XC90 – move over Range Rover?

For as long as most people can remember, the Range Rover has been the luxury car for family life.

But today that patch isn’t so secure. And that’s because the XC90 is a Pinterest board of car designer dreams.

With a facelifted fresh graphic grille, slimmer 'Thor's Hammer' headlights and a more sculpted hood, the XC90's subtle 2025 glow-up has kept it as an undeniably good looking car.

But it's the inside that really sells this car. You know the feeling when you check into a hotel that’s so well done you think ‘I wish this was my home?’ The XC90 is that for cars.

The interior is scrumptious; it’s soft and supple, it’s glorious. 

On wet, wild Welsh days, I’d get into the XC90 and feel like I’d tucked myself up on the sofa with a hot water bottle, blanket and a cup of tea.

It feels lived in – it’s not like some chauffeur cars where you feel self-conscious and everything is so luxe it’s a bit precious, or the ‘minimal’ cars that are so sparse they are clinical to the point of uninviting.

It's just right – and that’s because the Volvo believes good design is simply a Swedish principle; Volvo uses the most exceptional natural materials to create a place you’re reluctant to leave.

Materials across the dash and door panels are tactile and hand-stitched, the leather is like butter, the Swedish flame birch smoothed to perfection, the crystal gear shifter is so pretty it belongs on a mantlepiece.

Volvo design team also masters the use of light and angles, to capture daylight and deepen ambience in the dark.

It's one of favorite - if not my favourite - car interior because it’s simply so effortless.

The XC90 can go anywhere – even up slates mines

At no point did I think I’d test the XC90’s cross-country credentials by throwing it up a slate mine (Llechwedd Quarry still produces 'Old Merioneth Vein' slate today but in signficantly lower quantities than the late 19th century).

But Volvo’s team thought it was a natural fit - and I was extremely happy they did.

Because whipping the XC90 around a time-trial quarry made me reconsider it as a leading SUV.

Does it have all the capabilities of a Land Rover Defender? No. 

But if I asked for a show of hands of how many people expect to take their AWD mild hybrid SUV off-road more than say into a muddy field, I’d imagine very few, if any, hands in the air.

Still, I was oversteering my way up that mountain with glee, whipping a circa 5-metre long by almost 2-metere wide SUV around some startling sharp hairpins like it was a rally Subaru.

With a 2.0-litre mild hybrid engine, 455hp, 400Nm of torque, 0-62mph in 5.4 seconds and Power Mode – which adapts the combined power output from the electric motor and internal combustion engine to max performance – the XC90 put some surprising pace and thrills into the time trial challenge. 

Not to mention how it flew over the holes in the track without sending me off to the chiropractor - thank you to the active air suspension.

This is where I say just watch the onboard footage – it rather does the explaining. 

Seven seat practicality for a fraction of some luxury price tags

I’m not about to say the XC90 is affordable, it isn’t to the majority of people. But if you are able to shop in the premium price bracket then it’s a lot cheaper than a Range Rover.

A seven-seater Range Rover starts from £120,055, while a BMW X7 costs at least £92,140. The Volvo will set you back £72,760.

The seven-seat can fit two 170cm wide passengers, and each second-row seat slides and reclines individually to make sure third row occupants have as much room as possible.

And in all trims the front and second row passengers get heated seats, while the highest trims get ventilated front seats with massage function too.

Not everyone needs a seven-seater but if you do then get the XC90. Or if you want a five-seater with extra room and a have a big budget then get it too. 

It's that good.

The EX30 Cross Country - a mini Volvo worth the money or wide of the mark?

The EX30 is ‘an espresso shot of Volvo’. 

That’s how EX30 senior interior designer Eric Gunnarsson Hornsten describes it.

It’s supposed to be the EX90 compressed, but it doesn’t seem like an espresso shot of the EX90 Volvo – or other Volvo SUVs for that matter, and I hopped between the XC60, XC90 and EX30CC back-to-back so it was easy to compare and contrast.

The proportions are on point for a smaller SUV, and the cladding and cut outs give it ‘muscles’ and a rugged roadster look. 

Looks aren't the issue - Volvo knows how to design cars.

But the only differences between the EX30 Cross Country and the normal EX30, is that the CC is kitted out for adventure. 

This means higher ground clearance, black matt exterior design cues and larger, all-terrain wheels.

That’s it – and it costs £14k more than the normal EX30 for it.

There are four curated interiors, two of which are inspired by nature – ‘Pine’ and ‘Indigo’. All interiors are recycled, with materials including linseed, recycled denim and tailored wool. Volvo of course is admirably environmentally conscious.

The interior is undoubtedly well made but it lacks the homeliness you want in a Volvo. Instead of feeling light, fresh and soft, it feels sterile and too sparse. It’s also not the most spacious in the back - marks down for practicality. 

There’s a 12.3-inch portrait touchscreen that controls everything –  don't go looking for buttons because you won’t find any. 

And there's no driver’s display so you can only know if you’re veering over the speed limit by glancing across to the infotainment screen. Some people love this (i.e. Mini owners) but I find it hugely distracting.

It just a bit ‘off’, and the driving experience is the same.

There’s acceleration, and a huge amount of it, with 428hp and 0-62mph in 3.6 seconds. It’s a cross-country bat out of hell. But that doesn’t mean it's particularly well tamed; the steering is loose, the acceleration feels flighty, there’s body lean in corners. 

The EX30CC is very smooth though and irons out all the cracks in the road. But then lots of small SUVs can manage this.

My takeaway would be that the EX30CC seems like it's tried to copy its older siblings and has ended up a bit bland rather than finding its own flare. 

Cars & motoring verdict: Volvo's upmarket shift to SUVs is going in the right de rigueur direction

Volvo means to be on a roll. Taken from the Latin verb 'volvere' (to roll), branding executives turned 'Volvo' (I roll) into a registered trademark in 1911.

The badge itself is the alchemical symbol for iron because Volvo's first product was iron ball bearings and Sweden's famous industrial age product was iron.

So, positioning Volvo in a lifestyle segment that reflects rolling up your sleeves and getting stuck is not only a smart, topical move, but one that goes back to Volvo's roots. As was a trial of its new cars in an industrial-meets-wild-country setting.

The lifestyle push is working: between 2013 and 2023 Volvo increased its sales in the UK by 54 per cent (and that's despite the fall in registrations during the pandemic). 

And 2024 was Volvo's best ever sales year with 763,389 cars snapped up, an increase of eight per cent compared to the full year of 2023. 

In the year to date up to September, SUVs accounted for over 87 per cent of Volvo's sales. Positive sales of its electrified models played its part, but so did Volvo having its mojo back. 

The EX30 might not be for me, but the XC90 is Volvo at its best. 

And Volvo at its best is very hard to compete with when it comes to quiet luxury.