It’s a tribute to the talent of Volvo’s inside designers to have made the cabin of the EX30 such a neat, tactile and interesting place to be. It 145mm 15mm Centre makes use of loads of recycled supplies, but its mouldings and trims really feel inviting, stable to the contact, and each attention-grabbing and various.
And then you definately begin to discover what’s lacking. In entrance of you is neither a driver’s instrument binnacle nor a head-up show. The automotive’s electrical window switches are on the centre console to your left, and so, instantly to your proper, the door console incorporates neither audio audio system nor any switchgear. Clever, centrally mounted, drawerstyle cupholders (which slide out from beneath the centre armrest) and a small, centrally mounted glovebox forward of them make a lot of the fascia and surrounding cabin structure symmetrical, in order to not add manufacturing complexity for right- or left-hand drive.
There is little in the best way of a decrease dashboard, with further storage accessible as a substitute in a shallow lined ground bin forward of the centre console. Above that, the automotive’s 12.3in, portrait-oriented touchscreen infotainment system sits, carrying a simplified digital instrumentation panel at its uppermost edge, and all the things else – from journey pc knowledge to navigation mapping, audio, telephony and local weather controls, and so many secondary controls for issues like foglights, wiper management and ADAS methods – accessible under.
Suffice to say, it is a fairly daring ergonomic rethink – and, in our guide, a problematic one. Although the steering column does have bodily stalks for transmission management (proper) and predominant beam/flip indicators/windscreen washers (left), and there are additionally a number of bodily switches on the steering wheel spokes, that’s nonetheless rather a lot for one ‘centralised’ touchscreen console to handle. It falls down for top-level accessibility of key capabilities – and severely sufficient to represent a big drivability downside. It takes too many particular person interactions to deactivate the motive force monitoring or pace restrict alarm methods, for instance – and, with out a tactile bodily cursor controller, diverts an excessive amount of of your consideration from the street within the course of.
Volvo claims that an over-the-air software program replace for the infotainment house display screen, due later this 12 months, can handle the issue, and nicely it could. Still, in the principle, you would possibly count on a safety-centred Volvo to be rather a lot less complicated and simpler to function, and rather more reassuring than distracting to drive, than this – to not say extra sensible (neither second row nor boot area deserves credit score in a category of considerably extra sensible choices).
Multimedia
Volvo’s 12.3in infotainment system for the EX30 is powered by Google Automotive software program, however the firm has promised wi-fi mirroring with Apple and Android handsets for the reason that automotive’s debut. It was disappointing to search out on our take a look at automotive that Apple compatibility has thus far been omitted (the identical factor occurred with the Polestar 2 when new), though Volvo claims it is going to be added by way of an over-the-air software program replace.
Top-level navigability for the system lacks the consumer configurability of rival methods, and so your most accessed capabilities can stay hidden behind layers of menus. Volvo permits some adaptation of the house display screen however not of shortcut toolbars, which might make a giant distinction. As it’s, controls for capabilities that instantly have an effect on the automotive’s drivability (and that reset to ‘on’ robotically) merely aren’t accessible sufficient.
A advantage of the nav system being Google-based is anybody with a Google account may have their saved addresses and up to date locations ready for them. Our automotive’s Harman Kardon premium audio sounded slightly skinny for its lack of door audio system.