The Volvo V90 is the follow-up to the popular V70, which was the premium estate of choice for many years until the likes of BMW, Mercedes and Audi really upped their game.
The V90 shares chassis parts and engines with the excellent XC90 SUV, and the S90 saloon. It reflects Volvo’s different approach to premium big cars, with relatively small-capacity four-cylinder, turbocharged petrol and diesel engines instead of a big V6.
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The load space isn’t quite as large as it used to be in the V70, so while the V90 is relatively practical, it’s not quite as good on ultimate load space as the likes of the Skoda Superb Estate or even BMW’s 5 Series Touring. That said, it has a usefully square boot floor that stays flat even when you lower the rear seats.
The real strengths of the V90 are its cabin and cruising refinement. The interior is roomy enough for four adults and superbly finished, with a clean, uncluttered fascia that’s easy to use. And on the move, the D5 diesel engine is a refined cruiser, even when you’re pushing along at motorway speeds.
Volvo estates used to be the epitome of the firm’s boxy styling, but the V90 builds on the company’s latest look to be one of the best-looking estates on the market.
Up front, there’s the same convex grille and headlights as on the XC90, complete with ‘Thor’s hammer’ LED daytime running lights. The side profile uses a small amount of texturing to hide the depth of the metal, and there’s a gentle sweep up beyond the C-pillar that culminates in a distinctive kink just ahead of the rear hatchback line.
Perhaps most unusually of all on a Volvo estate, that rear glass line is at quite a shallow angle - a stark contrast to the bluff vertical drops on Volvos of old.
The standard wheels are 17-inchers on the D4 Momentum editions, rising to 18in items on all versions of Inscription - but Volvo offers a range of 19in and 20in items as options on all trim levels. There’s no doubt that the V90 has a more sporty, classy look on the larger wheels - but it doesn’t look particularly under-tyred on the 18-inchers.
Two solid colours are available at no cost, but most V90s will be specced with one of the eight metallic finishes and two ‘premium metallic’ shades.
Inside, the V90 builds on the dashboard architecture and materials quality of the XC90, with leather as standard even on Momentum. Inscription gets a plusher Nappa material. The quality is right up there with the best in the executive estate class because, while there are harder, scratchier plastics, they’re generally well enough hidden.
The dashboard is dominated by the central nine-inch portrait-oriented Sensus infotainment screen - again, a standard feature across the range. Momentum editions get a small digital display between two conventional instrument dials, but Inscription models bring a fully digital display ahead of the driver.
Sat-nav, stereo and infotainment
Volvo’s Sensus infotainment system dominates the V90’s fascia - but in truth, it’s much more than just a controller interface for your music and smartphone. In fact, the nine-inch screen - turned around from the normal orientation to sit in portrait layout, like your smartphone - is a central hub that also manages car settings and everyday features like the air-con and heating.
That could be an issue if the system were clunky to use but thankfully, it’s extremely slick. The tabbed interface feels pretty intuitive, and once you’re up to speed with it, it’s pretty easy to jump between nudging the cabin temperature up by a degree and plotting out your next route on the navigation. The regular sound system is perfectly respectable, but Volvo also offers an optional Bowers & Wilkins system that is right up there for quality in the executive car class. It’s not cheap, though, at £3,000.
One negative point is the relative scarcity of USB sockets; there’s only a single one up front, so rear passengers don’t even have the option of charging, let alone feeding their music through to the car’s stereo. Volvo says it is working on offering an aftermarket kit to fix this - but it’s likely to be no more than a charger, leaving those in the rear seats frustratingly disconnected from the in-car entertainment.
Volvo has had the sense to focus the V90’s development on making it a capable long-distance cruiser instead of something you’d want to throw around a Welsh B-road, and it has, in the most part, succeeded.
On a motorway, you should be pretty impressed by the V90’s ability to eat up large mileages; the diesel engine has enough punch to get you up to speed pretty quickly, and once you’re sitting at a fast cruise, the motor fades away nicely into the background.
The rest of the dynamic package is sensible and safe; the V90 stays stable and composed under braking, and while its steering is a little light, it is at least consistently weighted as you wind on lock. It’s not as satisfying to use as the set-up in the BMW 5 Series Touring, though.
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If there’s a blot in the copybook, it’s ride quality. That’s not to say the V90 is particularly harsh or uncomfortable; it’s right up there with other big estates like the BMW 5 Series Touring and Audi A6 Avant. But even on the optional air suspension, the V90 comes too close to moving between feast and famine.
In the ‘comfort’ setting, the car shows a slight tendency to ‘waft’ over crests and suffer from excessive body roll in corners. But if you firm things up, you get a more planted feel in bends but will be more aware of road imperfections, especially at lower speeds. It’s not bad, but the overall set-up is a little more compromised than the 5 Series on air suspension.
There is, incidentally, a conventional suspension set-up on the V90 - but we haven’t been able to find a Volvo test vehicle that’s not on the optional adaptive system, and we’d wager it’ll be the same when you ask for a demo model at your local dealership.
Regardless of which engine you choose, you’ll end up with an eight-speed automatic transmission. There’s no manual gearbox, for the time being at least, but you’re unlikely to miss it, because the auto has smooth and quick shifts. It does get caught out a little more frequently than BMW’s eight-speed unit, but not to the point where it’s an issue.
The V90 gets an arsenal of safety equipment - both active (which tries to stop the accident) and passive (which protects you when it’s happened). Its features include large animal detection, which is designed to watch for creatures like elk and moose, but is also said to be capable of warning you when deer are at the side of a dark road in front of you.
The car also gets Volvo’s latest semi-autonomous technology, called Pilot Assist. You still need to keep your hands on the wheel to let the car know you’re ready to intervene, but do that and it’ll look after acceleration, braking and keeping the vehicle in the right lane. It works at speeds of up to 80mph, so it’s possible to use it on long journeys - though the real strength is in slow-moving or stop-start traffic on urban dual carriageways.
Engines
The engine line-up comprises two twin-turbocharged 2.0-litre four-cylinder diesels. The entry point is the D4, which produces 187bhp and 400Nm, enough to take the V90 from 0-62mph in 8.5 seconds. The D4 is available with front-wheel drive only, and it’s the greenest offering in the range, with CO2 emissions of 119g/km. We’ve yet to try this engine, though.
The more potent engine is called D5; it packs 232bhp and 480Nm, and features a trick electric compressor, called PowerPulse, that’s designed to spin up the turbocharger with air and reduce the amount of turbo lag – the delay between pressing the throttle and the engine providing its maximum boost.
The D5 is offered with four-wheel drive only, but while it’s noticeably quicker than the D4 (0-62mph takes just 7.2 seconds), it’s also a couple of BIK bands higher thanks to CO2 emissions of 129g/km.
On the road the D5 feels extremely punchy and comfortable with a car of the V90’s size. You rarely need to rev it much beyond 2,500rpm, and it’s perfectly happy to sit at around 1200rpm when you’re holding a fast motorway cruise. Volvo’s PowerPulse technology doesn’t quite eradicate turbo lag, but the engine’s response is impressively quick and the power delivery feels smooth and linear.
The engine is refined for a four-cylinder diesel, with not much harshness or rattle to speak of. It quietens down to a hush once you’re up to speed, too; you’re more likely to hear wind noise from around the large side mirror than any diesel thrum.
Volvo has a strong reputation for safety, and the V90’s sister car, the XC90 SUV, posted a record score in the tough EuroNCAP crash tests. As such, we’d expect the V90 to be the benchmark in the class when it goes through the same evaluation.
The crash test rates passive safety - or the car’s ability to protect the occupants and pedestrians in an accident. But Volvo is also focusing on avoiding the crash in the first place - active safety - and the V90 gets plenty of functions on that score, including large animal detection, which can spot deer emerging from the side of the road and take avoiding action, and semi-autonomus Pilot Assist, which can keep the car in lane and at a safe distance from the car in front, at speeds of up to 80mph.
It’s too early for the 50,000 owners in our Driver Power survey to deliver a verdict even on the XC90, which shares lots of components with the V90 - and since the V90 is almost completely changed from its predecessor, the V70, it’s hard to use that car for comparison either. However, we’ve heard no horror stories emerging from XC90 owners so it appears that Volvo’s SPA chassis technology and its four-cylinder engines are proving reliable so far. We’d expect that to continue on the V90.
Warranty
Volvo’s standard warranty is for three years or 60,000 miles, whichever comes soonest. That’s a little shorter than the cover offered by BMW, which last for the same period but with no mileage limit. Volvo offers the chance to extend the warranty - either adding a year, or adding a year and a further 20,000 miles.
Servicing
The standard servicing interval on the V90 is 12 months, with the schedule alternating between interim and major services. Volvo hasn’t confirmed servicing costs for the vehicle yet but it is expected to follow other models in the line-up by offering an interest-free service plan to spread the cost.
There’s no way of avoiding this, so let’s just get it out of the way: Volvo’s big estate is no longer the biggest load-carrier in the class. In a paradigm shift from the days of the 760 and V70, the V90’s load capacity is beaten by most of its rivals, including the BMW 5 Series Touring and Audi A6 Avant - and dwarfed by the likes of the Mercedes E-Class Estate.
In fact, with the rear seats in place the V90’s boot is actually marginally smaller than the V70’s; the relatively rakish angle of the rear hatchback is to blame.
Boot
While the V90 may not be the largest estate in the class, it is fair to say that its load bay should be enough for most users. With the rear seats in place there’s 560 litres on offer - and with them lowered, the capacity extends to 1,526 litres.
By comparison, the BMW 5 Series Touring’s boot extends to 1,620 litres when the seats are folded down, and the biggest wagon of all, the Mercedes E-Class Estate, can manage a whopping 1,855 litres.
At least the Volvo’s space itself is pretty clever, with a nice flat floor to slide big loads on, a pop-up divider that can help to stop items rolling around and conveniently placed handles to drop the rear seats without having to open the back doors.
Leg room, head room & passenger space
Inside the cabin, there are few grumbles. There’s decent room in the rear for three adults, although the middle seat is pretty thin and has less lateral support than the other pair. Two grown-ups will have more than enough space in the same area, though, and headroom is decent in the front and rear; this would be a comfortable car for four six-footers on a long journey.
The tapering roofline does make it a little darker in the rear cabin than it would be in an E-Class Estate, mind you, and it also means that while front passengers can get in and out easily, taller rear occupants may need to dip their head slightly as they jump aboard. It’s far from an awkward squeeze, though - to the point where you may not even notice it unless you’ve had lots of experience travelling in an E-Class or a 5 Series Touring.
There are two ISOFIX points in the outermost rear seats, and they are relatively easy to access; you simply flip up or remove plastic tabs covering the mounting hooks, so you don’t have to worry about your seat chassis snagging on the base of the seat back.
Volvo offers the V90 with a choice of four-cylinder diesel engines and the more modest of the pair, badged D4, is a bit of a star performer on economy and CO2 emissions. Even when paired with an eight-speed automatic gearbox, it emits just 119g/km of CO2; that puts the V90 into a cleaner Benefit in Kind band than the BMW 520d Touring, and matches Audi’s cleanest .
The more potent D5 isn’t quite so economical, and its extra shove drags CO2 emissions up to 129g/km; that’s still cleaner than the 525d Touring, though, as well as the six-cylinder 530d Touring.
The V90 D4 gets a 55-litre tank, which gives a theoretical range of 760 miles on the official combined fuel economy figure of 62.8mpg. In the real world, you should be able to achieve north of 600 miles between fills, especially if your route includes some empty motorways.
The D5 model has poorer official economy, at 57.6mpg, but it gets a slightly larger fuel tank (60 litres) so its theoretical range remains the same as the D4’s.
In the near future Volvo will also launch a plug-in hybrid version of the V90, badged T8 Twin Engine and mixing a turbocharged petrol engine with electric motors for around 404bhp. It should manage CO2 emissions of just 47g/km, despite prodigious performance - though it will be noticeably more expensive than even the D5 edition.
Insurance groups
The V90’s insurance groups basically fall into two categories, depending on whether you’re dealing with the D4 or the more potent D5. The more efficient D4 unit falls into group 27E in Momentum trim, rising to 28E if you choose the better-equipped Inscription.
Move up to the more potent D5 powertrain and the groups jump to 33E (Momentum) and 34E (Inscription), but even these are pretty competitive within the class. BMW’s 5 Series Touring, for example, falls into group 34 in 520d SE spec, and that jumps to group 36 for 520d M Sport.
The overall view, therefore, is that the V90 is extremely competitive on insurance costs.
Depreciation
There’s no data on the V90’s residual values just yet; however, given that there’s likely to be strong demand from long-time Volvo estate buyers, we’d expect depreciation to be in the same ballpark as the car’s rivals from BMW and Audi.
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