“It’s an old man car” – Volvo V90 T8 Hybrid
Almost yellowish beige leather with dark wood trim around the car does make it look like Volvos of the past.
Being the last is often nothing like being the first, when it comes to testing a car that’s going away for good. I’ve never been aware of this opportunity in the past; this time it was said to me between the words. For some reason I’m proud of this fact. I like this Volvo V90. Sure, the screen is not as big as in other new cars and it doesn’t have wireless Apple Carplay or Android Auto, but to be honest I never use it without the cable, as it drains battery of my phone faster than watching podcasts on YouTube while I cook. So it’s ok.
Almost yellowish beige leather with dark wood trim around the car does make it look like Volvos of the past. On the other hand, whenever I sit in it, it makes me feel like I’m in for a long road trip to the Alps. It just has this atmosphere of a family trip somewhere. Lots of leather, hot coco, comfortable and heated seats, even in the back, what more do you need? Just give me an address, I will put it in the onboard Google-based satnav and I’m on my way to do 1200 km to Grenoble.
I like that the hybrid system is working seamlessly and whatever was not working in the past in T8 hybrid models I believe was fixed in this decade on the market. To give you perspective how long a decade is, I was born in 1996, in 2016 I just finished my first series of exams at the University of Warsaw, for me it seems like it was ages ago. And Volvo V90 is still kind of the same, with one slight facelifting in 2020. Yeah, the year when toilet paper for some reason became the thing to have in wholesale quantity. That long ago.
The T8 hybrid system connects 2-liter petrol engine with electric motors that give you all wheel drive system. Electric on the rear, petrol in the front, 455 horses combined. Works great for everyday cruising. It’s a plug-in hybrid, so you can charge it too. Volvo also gives driver possibility to choose between modes:
Hybrid - native every time you start the car, works great. Mainly uses electric power when the battery is charged
Power - one that gives you all the juice of 455 hp, also allows to do simple skids on the snow.
AWD - offroad on a school run or in Alps to get to the chalet and you call it squelette when you buy brown Volvo estate hybrid.
Pure - just electric motors, lets you drive up to 120 km/h and up to 80 km on one charge.
It’s also big. Almost 5 meters of an estate car, with lots of space for all 5 people that can seat in it and 560 liters of boot space. If you’re moving and don’t want to dismantle Ikea furniture, You can always fold the back seats and flat space of more than 1526 liters will present in front of your eyes. It also looks like a space where you can put air mattress and sleep with your partner or create new human during the trip if you don’t have a family yet. Suitable song on a good audio can set up the vibe for that.
Volvo V90 has one of the best. Optional Bowers & Wilkins system is phenomenal. I’m not the one to have sex in the press car, so I was left with vibing in the Warsaw traffic to Jamiroquai “Virtual Insanity”. All 19 speakers with 1410 W of music power made me feel disconnected from all of the world around me and I felt I was the one on the treadmill. Audio system does have clear sound without unnecessary strong bass, which often happens to be recognized as good audio by my fellow Polish car testers.
I like this car. I did around 2500 km in Volvo V90 and Volvo V90 CC in the last five years (I test drove it twice. Once as V90 CC and now the V90. Not much difference. In Cross Country I could hear wind under the car when driving faster.). What is a bit sad and nostalgic about this test is that it marks end of an era. For many years big Volvo estates cars were what made the brand popular. Everyone in western Europe had one or knew somebody who had one. Even in the first every Top Gear challenge, Jeremy Clarkson drove Volvo estate car to show that it is a good choice for a first car. No matter how good the V90 is, simple truth is that you people decided to not buy it. I have data from my country for the 2024.
XC60 – 6174 cars sold
V90 – 95 cars sold
So… stop buying SUV’s, start buying estate cars before they stop making them at all. It’s my know opinion that they are probably better for the environment and you need one. So go to the nearest dealer and buy a new estate car. Do it quickly before they stop making Audi RS6 Avant, they already stopped Volvo V90 and Audi RS4 production lines…