2025 Volvo V90 Cross Country: A Luxe Wagon With Moves Like Jagger
The 2025 Volvo V90 Cross Country B6 AWD, seen here in the Ultra trim level, is powered by a supercharged, turbocharged and hybridized 2.0-liter inline four-cylinder engine.
My algorithm really gets me.
I went online to find a couple of numbers having to do with our test car, the long-legged, high-stepping Volvo V90 Cross Country B6 AWD Ultra ($72,935, as tested). This is a car I would buy if only to get my mainframe into the sumptuous driver seat. With an exterior design largely unchanged since its introduction as a 2018 model, Volvo’s lengthy, lightly lifted family wagon has always been a classy choice and never more so than now. Shopped against the charmless commodities and empty signifiers that currently dominate bestselling lists, it presents like a member of the Swedish royal family.
The V90 CC is built on the latest edition of Volvo’s Scalable Product Architecture (SPA) that was introduced in 2014. With unusual prescience, SPA was designed to be powertrain agnostic, able to accommodate gas, mild hybrid, and plug-in systems, depending on market demands. The future-proofed SPA platform leaves Volvo well positioned to deal with the current uncertainty.
Soon the algorithm whisked me away to a service technician’s training room, where I got a deep-dive on the company’s super/turbocharging engine technology. All V90 CCs coming to the States have the B6 package, consisting of a transversely mounted, turbocharged and intercooled 2.0-liter four-cylinder, augmented by an electrically driven supercharger.
Introduced in 2022, the e-supercharger replaced the previous belt-driven blower; the juice to drive it comes from the motor/generator and/or the small buffer battery.
The Volvo V90 CC B6 AWD, seen here in Ultra trim level, is built on Volvo’s global vehicle platform called SPA, which can accommodate gas, mild hybrid and plug-in-hybrid powertrains.
Jeez, what a lot of plumbing, I thought. What a code princess. I wondered how long super-turbos had been around? My algorithm was way ahead of me, queuing up a history of forced-induction in aviation engines. Consequential examples include the Lockheed P-38 Lightning and North American P-51 Mustang. It then predicted I would enjoy a documentary about the lusty, busty pinups painted on World War II aircraft. Right again.
What is the advantage of pairing two kinds of forced induction? Both superchargers and turbochargers increase the density of air going into the engine. Mechanically driven superchargers produce maximum torque at low rpm; but as engine revs rise, they incur increasing parasitic losses owing to the drag of the blower.
Turbochargers have the opposite problem, suffering from “lag” at low speed—a latency caused by the turbine wheel’s own inertia—but coming on strong at high rpm, where they produce maximum power. In the Volvo engine bay, the strengths of one technology compensate for the weaknesses of the other.
In WWII warbirds, the issue wasn’t engine speed so much as altitude. Planes equipped with two-stage, turbo-enhanced supercharged engines could fly higher, faster and farther. Click here to learn more.
Volvo has been evolving its super-turbo tech since 2016. In 2022, it was upgraded to incorporate 48V hybrid circuitry, largely in the interests of powertrain refinement. The 48V, 13-hp starter/generator is able to refire the engine almost instantly, which all but eliminates engine vibration during stop/start cycling. It’s almost undetectable. The hybrid arrangement brings with it regenerative braking. An eight speed transmission and on-demand all-wheel drive are standard equipment on B6 models.
Introduced for model-year 2018, the V90 CC is a slightly lifted version of the company’s full-size premium wagon, with competitors including the Mercedes-Benz E450 4MATIC All-Terrain.
My first concern is about the knitting. What with the fancy electric supercharger, a turbocharger with an electrically actuated bypass valve, the regenerative braking, the multimodal eight-speed automatic and AWD, this thing lives and dies by control code. When you step on the gas does it move out with seamless predictable power; does it accelerate, rev, shift gears and throttle smoothly, always with itself? Does the brake pedal feel natural and linear in response, with no palpable difference at the threshold between hydraulic and regenerative braking?
The V90 CC answers in the affirmative to all of that. With its 295 hp and 310 lb-ft available across a broad domain of performance, the little super-turbo is always alert, flexible and willing. Though not as quick on its feet as the Mercedes-Benz E450 4MATIC All-Terrain wagon (0-60 in 4.6 vs. 6.4 seconds, per Car and Driver) the Volvo is no slouch, with 3,500 pounds of towing capacity and EPA combined fuel economy of 25 mpg.
On the open road, our V90 CC displayed an excellent balance between ride comfort and confident handling/cornering, a balance made easier by the active damping system and rear air suspension, bundled as a $1,200 option on our test car. Well worth it. For a big family limousine, the V90 CC has a nice, sharp edge around a fast corner, with lots of lateral grip and surprisingly little body roll. I’m thinking of asking the 21-inch Pirellis to join me in plural marriage.
While the decor hasn’t evolved much over the years, the cabin amenities and menus of onboard technology have kept up with the premium-luxury market. The Volvo infotainment system enjoys the services of Google built-in, with Google Maps, Play and Assistant. The comms connect wirelessly through Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. There are four USB-C outlets, two in the front and two in the rear.
Based in Gothenburg, Sweden, Volvo Cars is owned by the Chinese conglomerate Geely Holding Group. Since being acquired in 2010, Volvo has spent more than $1.3 billion building a vast manufacturing campus in South Carolina and toward establishing a domestic battery-supply chain across the South to power the next-generation EV designs. The Trump administration’s hostility toward EVs in general and Chinese interests in particular could leave those projects in doubt.
The V90 CC—a flagship, built in Torslanda, Sweden—is as Swedish as reindeer jerky. But it would still be endangered by an import tariff on European vehicles. A 25% tariff on our test car would have pushed the price over $90,000. Uffda!
One question the algorithm didn’t address was the one I started out with: Are these small, complex, highly stressed engines reliable over, say, 50,000 miles? Where are we at 100,000 miles?
On this score the all-seeing algorithm might as well have been one of those magic eight-balls. Answer unclear. Ask again.
2025 Volvo V90 Cross Country B6 AWD Ultra
Powered by a mild-hybrid four-cylinder (295-hp/310 lb-ft), an eight-speed transmission and on-demand all-wheel drive, the V90 CC B6 AWD can accelerate from 0-60 mph in 6.4 seconds (Car and Driver).
Base price $64,800
Price, as tested $72,935
Powertrain Supercharged and turbocharged 2.0-liter inline four with direct injection; 48V mild hybrid starter/generator; eight-speed, multimodal automatic transmission; open center differential; on-demand all-wheel drive.
Power/torque 295 hp/310 lb-ft
Length/wheelbase/width/height 195.2/115.8/80.8/60.7
Curb weight 4,277 pounds
0-60 mph 6.4 seconds (Car and Driver)
EPA fuel economy 22/29/25 Towing capacity 3,500 pounds
Cargo capacity 69.0/25.2 cubic feet (behind first/second row)
