- Styling: Keeping It Timeless
- Interior: Upscale Swedish Coffee Shop Vibes
- Powertrain: Not As Refined As It Could Be
- Infotainment: Embracing Google
- On The Road: Your Money’s Worth
- Verdict: Luxurious, Not Opulant
Ideal across the board – as an executive cruiser or family hauler, the S90 Recharge is close to perfect.
If you're someone that regularly has to load a few people into a car and you don't want a crossover but rather something a little more elegant, then the Volvo S90 offers a full-size luxury sedan for the job. This cruiser comes with Scandinavian style and opulence, and it doesn't require you to stretch to Mercedes S-Class pricing.
The standard model packs in many features off the bat, including smooth-grain leather upholstery, ash wood decor, Google Built-In, and sophisticated ambient lighting. The T8 Recharge version of the S90 reviewed here is a plug-in hybrid that we spent a week with, and it brings the turbo and supercharged hybrid powertrain up to 455 horsepower, while it's capable of delivering up to 38 miles of range on electric power alone.
Styling: Keeping It Timeless
Volvo doesn't get in your face with styling. The S90 doesn't need an absurdly large grille, so it doesn't have one. It doesn't need sharp creasing making shapes down the side, so it doesn't have them. It doesn't need 21-inch wheels, so it doesn't fit them. Instead, you get distinctive styling that is, and will continue to, age well. Standout design elements like the distinctive Thor's Hammer headlights and C-shaped LED taillights do the talking, and the recently updated grille lets you know it's a Volvo. The entry-level (yet confusingly-named) S90 Recharge Plus model comes with 19-inch alloy wheels, while the rest of the line-up incorporates 20-inch units.
Interior: Upscale Swedish Coffee Shop Vibes
We've raved about Volvo's interior design before, and the S90 range doesn't disappoint with its standard smooth-grain leather upholstery, genuine wood inserts and decor, and interior lighting that suggests Volvo looked at what Mercedes has been doing and did the opposite. The result is something that's never even heard of the word garish and would soothe even the most aggressive road-rage artist stuck yet again in LA traffic into just relaxing with a podcast. However, a few luxuries are, surprisingly, missing. For example, the driver has to make do with a manually adjustable steering wheel.
The front is comfortable, but riding in the back is far from being stuck in a penalty box. The seats recline a little, and there's legroom for a basketball player back there. Just as impressive is the 13.5 cubic feet of cargo space, which seems built for airport runs and comes in more than what the S-Class has available.
Powertrain: Not As Refined As It Could Be
Whether you go for the B6 S90 with mild hybrid or the T8 Recharge version, you're getting a turbocharged and supercharged four-cylinder engine that has a lot asked of it. The Volvo S90 Recharge gives that smooth power better, but it still doesn't feel as effortless as competitors using V8s or twin-turbo V6s. However, its gas-only competitors aren't getting 30 mpg combined, let alone 38 miles on an electric charge alone.
While the T8-powered Recharge generates 455 hp and 0-60 mph in a claimed 4.3 seconds, it's not a car that urges you to use it all. Instead, that power gives the S90 Recharge a surety of acceleration when needed and more than enough to make sure you get to that meeting or flight despite having to go back for Astrid's laptop that she left in the office. Again.
Infotainment: Embracing Google
The S90's infotainment hasn't made any great leaps and bounds and still features everything anyone needs here in 2023, including Apple CarPlay. However, Volvo has chosen to embrace Google and hands-off navigation directly to Google Maps, which is a smart move. Google Built-In also means Google Play is native to the infotainment system and the apps that come with that (such as Spotify) and Google's voice assistant. Unlike some other automakers, though, Volvo is advertising “all data included,” which includes remote services via the Volvo Cars app.
The S90 Recharge Ultimate trim makes a Bowers & Wilkins sound system available that’s beautifully tuned with speakers capable of surround sound. If music is your thing, it’s well worth the upgrade at $3,200.
CarBuzz/Ian Wright CarBuzz/Ian Wright
On The Road: Your Money’s Worth
The Volvo S90 Recharge starts at $65,650 and, in any trim level, delivers a smooth, comfortable, and relaxing ride. The Ultimate version comes in at $71,200 and doesn't add anything to the ride quality, which smooths out the bumps nicely until you reach longer stretches of poorly maintained road. You can add adaptive air suspension optionally for an even more sublime feel.
Off the line, the S90 Recharge is quick but trying to keep up the pace in anything but a straight line, and it starts to show its weight. If you're looking for some sportiness with your executive transporter, then it's time to look at the German brands. However, if that's not important but cultured comfort with the power to overtake slower traffic and cruise with certainty on the freeway are the main ingredients you seek, the S90 Recharge starts to look like a bargain.
Verdict: Luxurious, Not Opulant
Our time with the S90 Recharge was curiously refreshing. While other automakers playing in the large sedan space are throwing technology's equivalent of the kitchen sink at their cars, Volvo is focusing on comfort and safety. The S90 range isn't an example of minimalism – that would be a nonsense claim – but it is an example of luxury that isn't wasteful. For example, the infotainment screen is the right size, and the system isn't trying to be a laptop. Volvo understands that what most drivers and passengers want in a car is a navigation system that's smooth and some means of playing music, podcasts, or an audiobook. Volvo can add to that with comfort and a relaxed ambiance on top of that.
Cynically, it could be claimed Volvo has created the perfect Uber Black car. And that may actually be the case. However, we would say that Volvo has delivered an executive sedan that doesn't waste money and does deliver style and substance. Ask yourself this: How often do you actually change the steering wheel position? Volvo has ticked every box other than that one.
Keyword: Driven: 2024 Volvo S90 Recharge Is An Executive Delight