AutoTrader SCORE
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STYLING8/10
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Safety9/10
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PRACTICALITY7/10
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USER-FRIENDLINESS6/10
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FEATURES7/10
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POWER7/10
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COMFORT8/10
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DRIVING FEEL6/10
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FUEL ECONOMY7/10
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VALUE7/10
Time waits for no one, as the saying goes.
As it happens, it doesn’t sit idly by for vehicles, either. Volvo knows this and made what appears to be a key update to its much-loved XC40. With the all-electric XC40 Recharge stealing much of the model’s limelight in recent years, the addition of mild hybrid power to the conventional version the 2024 Volvo XC40 should give the gas version the boost it needs to stay competitive.
Power: 7/10
Typical mild hybrid applications smooth out power delivery and provide livelier, more fluid performance, so fitting a 48-volt electric motor to the XC40’s 2.0L engine held some promise. The turbocharged four-cylinder served up 247 hp and 258 lb-ft of torque without the mild hybrid add-on. And now? It officially puts out exactly the same amount of both.
Unsurprisingly, the new XC40 B5 doesn’t really feel any livelier than the old one. It still zips through traffic decently, and pulls well when passing, but there’s no additional excitement here.
Fuel Economy: 7.5/10
The revised powertrain earns a combined rating of 9.0 L/100 km – barely better than last year’s number. However, real-world testing across a total of about 1,000 km finished with an indicated average of 8.4 L/100 km, and that’s with a set of winter tires which usually diminishes efficiency somewhat. The XC40 requires premium-grade gas.
Driving Feel: 6.5/10
In the past we pitted the XC40 against competitors from Jaguar, BMW, and Cadillac, and the Volvo came out on top every time due in no small part to its driving dynamics. The XC40 remains a snappy handler with good response to steering inputs. The standard all-wheel drive setup ensures the power meets the pavement where there’s the most grip, and even when wearing winter tires it’s still fun to hustle the XC40 around on-ramps.
The brakes provide strong stopping power, too, with a very firm pedal requiring more effort than we’re accustomed to these days. The abrupt throttle response seems at odds with the eight-speed automatic transmission that often gets confused about which gear is the one it needs, often with a reluctance to downshift at less than anything less than a very heavy throttle foot.
The result is some herky-jerky reactions to driver inputs some of the time, and an elastic-band feel the rest of the time when the Volvo is in too tall a gear and its little engine needs time for its turbo to spool up. Add to this an aggressive ignition stop-start feature and the drive experience was less refined than it was in earlier XC40s we’ve driven. This is all stuff the hybrid system is supposed to improve, yet that doesn’t seem to be the case here.
Worse still, on several occasions with moderate throttle, the shifts between first and second gears felt as if the clutch was slipping as the revs climbed during a weird hesitation before the gear engaged. The XC40 has no paddle shifters, but a manual mode is possible by moving the gear selector side-to-side making it the only way to ensure consistent performance from our tester’s transmission.
Comfort: 8/10
Despite a ride that’s a bit on the stiff side, the XC40 is quite comfortable. The harshness of most road imperfections is softened before it reaches the cabin, and there’s good body motion control that keeps passengers from being tossed around inside the cabin. Wind and road noise are surprisingly absent, although the engine transmits a gruff soundtrack to the cockpit at even moderate throttle load.
In typical Volvo fashion, the front seats are wonderfully supportive and make for comfortable places to cover long distances. The rear seats are also comfy and there’s decent leg- and headroom, especially for a machine with such compact overall dimensions.
Practicality: 7.5/10
A pair of adults can comfortably fit in the back of the Volvo, and the 452 L of cargo space behind the rear seat is reasonable, while the liftover height is low for easy loading and unloading. Plus, Volvo has done a great job adding in useful features like the rear cargo area floor that folds up to create a trio of hooks from which to hang grocery bags, preventing their contents from flying all over the place.
Features: 7/10
Our test unit was a top-tier Ultimate trim featuring niceties like front and rear heated seats, leather upholstery, a panoramic sunroof, and adaptive cruise control. However, many of those features are commonplace these days even amongst mainstream crossovers this size. The 600-watt stereo offers clean, powerful sound, but it’s only offered in the top trim.
User-Friendliness: 6/10
Volvo has gone all-in with its Google-based infotainment system. The Google Maps navigation integrates into the primary vertical screen or in the gauge display, plus onboard Google Assistant and Google Play store are included, so it’s possible to add popular apps like Spotify. For Android users, these features are likely more appealing than those of us deeply entrenched in the Apple universe. Even still, CarPlay is available, although there’s no wireless connectivity.
The best contemporary systems do a better job at multitasking – for example, allowing both audio and navigation to be displayed at the same time. Volvo’s system does not. Some of the climate controls are embedded into the system, too, and they’re accessed by small controls stuck at the bottom of the screen.
When it worked, it was decently responsive, but at one point during testing the system locked onto one display, requiring a hard reboot by holding the system’s Home button for roughly 30 seconds. (This was a solution I Googled on my phone, since the owner’s manual is offered digitally through the infotainment system that wasn’t working at the time, and there was no printed owner’s manual in the glovebox.)
It wasn’t the only electrical gremlin to visit during this test. While hosing the car down in a self-serve car wash bay, the driver’s window inexplicably rolled half-way down, requiring a panicked series of button-pushes to get the window back up again. A few minutes later, the passenger window did the same trick, although this time it wasn’t noticed until after the dashboard got a wash, too. A look through the Volvo owners’ forums show that these phantom window activations have been an ongoing concern for a number of years across multiple models.
Safety: 9/10
The XC40 is well-specced with standard lane-keeping, blind-spot monitoring with rear cross-traffic alert, and automatic braking. For all the advanced goodies, it’s odd that the XC40 doesn’t have automatic windshield wipers, and its back-up camera displays only a small image on the lower half of the infotainment screen and requires a driver input to bring up the 360-degree view rather than defaulting to it.
Styling: 8/10
Volvo’s designers have been doing a great job across the full lineup for several years, creating machines that are clearly of the same family that are aging very well. The XC40 is distinctive in its class, with short overhangs and a tall, boxy profile compared to, say, the Lexus UX or BMW X1.
Volvo offers the XC40 in variants with blacked-out or bright trim work, and riding on wheel sizes that range from 18 inches to optional ones as big as 21 inches on the Ultimate trim. The styling is even better inside, with plenty of examples of clean lines and great material choices. The fuzzy door inserts are made from recycled plastic bottles, while the leather covering the seats feels both durable and posh. The real wood dash trim and the crystal gear selector are nice touches that serve as reminders of this little Volvo’s status.
Value: 7/10
The XC40 Core’s starting price of $49,939 is quite enticing, but it’s missing a lot of features one might expect for a premium offering. The mid-trim Plus adds just over $5,000 and several key upgrades, while our Ultimate test unit steps up to nearly $60,000 after freight fees are added. Regardless of trim, the XC40 faces formidable competition from every other premium brand, each of which offer similarly-sized crossovers all within a few thousand dollars up or down of the Volvo.
The Verdict
The key attributes of the XC40 that have made it such an enticing entry amongst crossovers like it continue to work in its favour five years after its introduction. It remains a stylish machine inside and out, and its engaging handling means it can be fun when desired while remaining a sensible commuter. But with each passing year, the market is flooded with newer, more spacious, more efficient, and higher-performing alternatives. Those insistent on an XC40 would do well to consider the electric version if it fits their lifestyle. Time keeps ticking, and it seems Volvo is letting its gas-powered XC40 languish in the face of its all-electric future.
| Engine Displacement | 2.0L |
|---|---|
| Engine Cylinders | Turbo I4, 48-volt mild hybrid |
| Peak Horsepower | 247 hp @ 5,500 rpm |
| Peak Torque | 258 lb-ft @ 1,800 rpm |
| Fuel Economy | 9.9 / 7.8 / 9.0 L/100 km cty/hwy/cmb |
| Cargo Space | 453 / 1,328 L seats up/down |
| Model Tested | 2024 Volvo XC40 B5 Ultimate |
| Base Price | $56,150 |
| A/C Tax | $100 |
| Destination Fee | $2,620 |
| Price as Tested | $58,870 |
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Optional Equipment
None
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