Volvo EX30 Review: US Journalists’ Year-Long Nightmare | PiataAuto.md

“Hey, Volvo, what’s wrong with you? Your car interiors used to be smart. They were complex at times, but easy to use. Remember those air conditioning controls with buttons that cut out the profile of a man? How clever! Pressed on the head and air was blown to that area, to the feet, too. It was sophisticated, but super intuitive to use.” — those from Edmunds begin their criticism.

Journalists say that the car gives pleasant sensations in the manner of driving and physical reactions, and in theory it should have become a favorite in a year’s operation. Even the autonomy is not critically low, and the power seems sufficient to sometimes surpass you even with Porsche models.

But Volvo interiors have migrated a lot toward austerity in recent years, Edmunds says. And in the EX30 they went too far. The remaining physical buttons are few in number and seem uninspired and bizarre, and almost all the controls have been passed digitally, with annoying latency in reactions.

The car gives you the feeling that it has unnecessarily complicated all the things that were simple before. Even when they went to a laundromat, the journalists encountered difficulties. The machine recommends activating the laundry mode. To do this, tap the machine symbol, then tap Settings, then Control, then Machine Modes, then choose Laundry Mode, then Start. This closes the mirrors, disables the automatic wipers, parking sensors and automatic braking.

Then, the car had to be put in the neutral position of the gearbox lever. On the Volvo EX30, the lever must be held in one position for more than 2 seconds to activate N. In a short time, the mechanisms of the laundry showed signs of being stuck. The machine engaged the parking brake even though it was in Wash Mode. And there is no physical button to disable the handbrake. The entire laundry had to be stopped urgently. Anxious moments followed in searching for a way to unlock the handbrake.

But the most annoying, nightmarish feeling is one where Volvo has put all the controls in digital format on the big central screen, but as soon as you take your eyes off the road to look at it to press anything, the car emits irritating alerts telling you to look at the road. And the system is extremely strict, making every button press generate new and new irritating alerts.

American journalists say that even when you look at the time on the clock, the car sounds alerts. The most absurd thing is that even when you take a curve, the car will shout again to look at the road, because it could identify the look by looking to one side or because it does not see your eyes directly. The Volvo EX30 thus becomes a car that simply blows you away. A nightmare, as the Edmunds say.

“We are happy to adopt new technologies when they improve life and the experience in a car. But this Volvo does exactly the opposite,” say the journalists and recommend that Volvo drive their own creation a bit more, to understand that they need to add more buttons and make it less “absurd in hi-tech”.

“Even BMW has large screens with many often complex functions, but the frequently needed functions are always at hand, often through physical buttons, and then the experience is not so difficult. Volvo, if you hear us, do something with this car, start by adding some buttons,” say journalists from Edmunds.