2025 Volvo EX30 Review: Minimalist Interior, Maximum Power

Is the 2025 Volvo EX30 a Good Electric SUV?

• It’s certainly a quick one. For fans of Scandinavian minimalism, the EX30’s eco-friendly, upscale interior will be a hit — assuming those fans can fit inside the cramped cabin. An increased starting price over what was initially announced, however, makes the EX30 a less appealing choice in today’s market.

How Does the 2025 Volvo EX30 Compare With Other Electric SUVs?

• Few electric vehicles match the drama of the EX30’s exterior or the simplicity of its interior, but many do a better job being a relatively affordable second car or city runabout, often at a lower price. Given our test vehicle’s price — which approached $50,000 — the list of alternatives is long and diverse.

The 2025 Volvo EX30 had a lot going for it when it was first announced: a sub-$40,000 starting price, a driving range close enough to 300 miles that many buyers would consider it, daring exterior styling and more. That was back in 2023, however, and the world is a bit different today. Contrary to what was initially planned, the U.S. will be getting only the priciest Twin-Motor Performance version, at least for now; a more affordable single-motor variant has been relegated to the back burner. A dual-motor Cross Country version is on the way for the 2026 model year.

Related: When Trends Collide: Electric 2026 Volvo EX30 Gains Cross Country Derivative

We tested an Ultra trim level that arrived in a glowing coat of paint, dubbed Moss Yellow; it’s named for “the yellow reindeer lichen, or polar moss, that grows on the rocks” in Swedish forests. The color grew on me (pun intended), and I really enjoyed the EX30’s sharp and futuristic exterior aesthetics. The sole option on our test car was a $500 Climate Package, which added heated front seats and a heated steering wheel. All in, the EX30 we drove was priced about as far away as possible from the affordable starting price Volvo had previously announced: It had an as-tested price of $48,395 (all prices include destination).

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Once we got past the initial shock of its paint and styling, would the EX30 impress?

How Much Does the 2025 Volvo EX30 Cost?

• Plus: $46,195
• Ultra: $47,895

Those prices are before any options, though once you add a heated steering wheel and heated seats to the Ultra, the remaining options are mostly accessories. The EX30’s near-$50,000 starting price puts this commuter-oriented small SUV in the territory of several decently sized (and longer-range) electric SUVs like the Ford Mustang Mach-E, Volkswagen ID.4, Hyundai Ioniq 5 and refreshed 2026 Subaru Solterra.

1 / 72025 Volvo EX30 | Cars.com photo by Christian Lantry

How Does the 2025 Volvo EX30 Twin-Motor Performance Drive?

Quickly. It drives very quickly. Volvo quotes a 0-60 mph time of just 3.4 seconds for the 422-horsepower Twin-Motor Performance version, which would make this little EV the quickest Volvo ever made. Unfortunately, it lacks the tires to put that power to the ground in everyday situations; I found it incredibly easy to spin the tires under hard acceleration. While the EX30 may approach the 0-60 time of the Hyundai Ioniq 5 N, Volvo didn’t bother to add anything to rival the (significantly more expensive, to be fair) Ioniq 5 N’s performance in any way but a straight line.

Was forgoing tire grip and handling performance worth it just to eke out an EPA-estimated 253 miles of range while maintaining significant straight-line speed? I’m not so sure. The EX30 is more efficient than a similarly equipped Mustang Mach-E, Ioniq 5 or ID.4, but, for my money, I’d rather have normal EV acceleration — which is still very quick — and more range. Winning stoplight drag races when I’m the only one knowingly participating gets old pretty quickly, and little else about the EX30’s driving experience makes it worth recommending. Its steering feels numb even by EV standards, with only vague feedback, and its ride is painfully firm.

On top of that, this Volvo’s driver aids can be annoying and intrusive. The driver attention monitor kept alerting me that I was tired and needed a break. Thank you, Volvo, for reminding me I have a 1.5-year-old. Other aids were similarly tuned to an aggravating level of intrusiveness. On one hand, these issues can be solved by turning off these features; on the other hand, it’s not much of an active-safety feature if it compels owners to turn it off to escape its annoying habits.

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How Much Is the 2026 Kia Sorento Hybrid?

By Jared Gall

September 23, 2025

Share2026 Kia Sorento Hybrid | Manufacturer image

Key Points:

• The black-trimmed X-Line SX Prestige trim level joins the Kia Sorento Hybrid lineup for the 2026 model year.
• Terrain mode is now standard with all-wheel drive.
• The 2026 Kia Sorento Hybrid starts at $40,335 (all prices include the $1,445 destination charge).

The 2026 Kia Sorento Hybrid checks a lot of boxes for families as a three-row, six- or seven-passenger (depending on trim level) SUV that achieves up to an EPA-estimated 36 mpg combined. For the 2026 model year, Kia’s X-Line appearance package is now standard on the range-topping SX Prestige trim level, bringing no new content but featuring black finishes on the wheels and exterior trim pieces. Additionally, Terrain mode is now included on all-wheel-drive variants, adding customized vehicle settings for mud, sand and snow.

The 2026 Kia Sorento Hybrid is on sale now. The entry-level EX trim starts at $40,335 and the X-Line SX Prestige at $48,635.

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Related: Which Hybrid Vehicles Have All-Wheel Drive?

Shop the 2025 Kia Sorento Hybrid near you

New

2025 Kia Sorento Hybrid SX Prestige

$48,595 MSRP $48,595High Demand

Kia Certified

2025 Kia Sorento Hybrid EX

7,463 mi.

$37,989 $1,009 price dropGood DealCertified Pre-Owned

View all 2025 Kia Sorento Hybrid models for sale near 60606

Trim Levels

The regular gas-powered Sorento starts at $33,635 and is available in a wide range of trim levels, but Kia figures its Sorento buyers are looking for a little more standard content in the hybrid SUV. The brand only builds the gas-electric model in the top two trims, the EX and X-Line SX Prestige.

The EX rides on 19-inch wheels and features front LED lighting, heated side mirrors, a power liftgate, keyless entry and starting, and remote start. Its cabin is upholstered in synthetic leather and boasts heated and power-adjustable front seats (10-way adjustable for the driver, eight ways for the passenger), dual-zone automatic climate control, wireless phone charging, and a 10.25-inch touchscreen with navigation and wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.

Standard safety tech on the Sorento Hybrid EX includes forward collision warning with pedestrian and bicyclist detection, automatic emergency braking, adaptive cruise control, lane-centering steering, lane departure warning, blind spot monitors, rear cross-traffic alert, front and rear parking sensors, a driver attention monitor and automatic high beams.

In addition to its new black exterior bits, the X-Line SX Prestige gets rain-sensing windshield wipers, a panoramic moonroof and LED taillights. Inside, it features perforated leather seating, a 12.3-inch digital gauge cluster, a 14-way power driver’s seat, a 10-way passenger seat, ventilated front seats, a heated steering wheel, heated second-row captain’s chairs, second-row window shades, a Bose sound system and Digital Key 2.0, which allows owners to use a paired smartphone as the vehicle key and remotely monitor the vehicle.

Upgrading to the X-Line SX Prestige reinforces the safety suite with front cross-traffic alert, emergency steering assist, blind spot intervention, Kia’s Highway Driving Assist 2 hands-on semi-autonomous driving technology, a 360-degree parking camera, blind spot cameras, side parking sensors and reverse automatic braking.

Read More About the Kia Sorento Hybrid:

• 2021 Kia Sorento Hybrid Review: Big Vehicle With Small-Vehicle Fuel Economy
• Which 3-Row SUVs Offer Captain’s Chairs?
• Is the 2021 Kia Sorento Hybrid a Good SUV? 5 Pros and 5 Cons
• Research the Kia Sorento Hybrid
• Find Your Next Car

Powertrain Specs and MPG

A turbocharged 1.6-liter four-cylinder engine powers the Sorento Hybrid and is assisted by a pair of electric motors for a combined 227 horsepower and 258 pounds-feet of torque. The hybrid powertrain routes its output through a six-speed automatic transmission. The base EX trim comes with standard front-wheel drive; AWD is a $1,800 option on the EX and is standard on the X-Line SX Prestige.

Official EPA fuel-economy estimates are not yet available for the 2026 model, but the 2025 FWD Sorento Hybrid returns an EPA-rated 36/36/36 mpg city/highway/combined, while the AWD version is rated at 34/34/34 mpg.

Related Video:https://players.brightcove.net/1578086878/HyOJ1bP6_default/index.html?videoId=6364564526112

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Can the 2026 Dodge Charger Daytona EV Do Woodward Dream Cruise?

By Aaron Bragman

September 19, 2025

Share2026 Dodge Charger Daytona Scat Pack | Cars.com photo by Aaron Bragman

Key Points in This Article:

• The electric Charger Daytona hasn’t gone over well with Dodge fans, with sluggish sales since its late-2024 launch.
• But even at the nostalgia-laden Woodward Dream Cruise, the Charger Daytona still turned heads.
• A few key changes to the car’s Fratzonic Chambered Exhaust system would make this EV even more compelling.

The Woodward Dream Cruise is perhaps the quintessential celebration of American car culture. Every third weekend in August for the past 30 years, nearly 1.5 million people and some 40,000 classic, muscle, hot rod, exotic and specialty cars gather on a 16-mile stretch of suburban Detroit’s Woodward Avenue and hold the world’s largest one-day automotive-themed gathering. Automakers sponsor massive displays and people dust off their cars and hit the boulevard to pay tribute to a nostalgic time in the 1950s and ‘60s when cruising Woodward Ave. was what you did on a Saturday night, enjoying the drive-in restaurants, movie theatres, and just to see and be seen in a sweet ride.

Related: 2026 Dodge Charger: Jumpin’ Sixpack, It’s a Gas, Gas, Gas!

It’s a celebration of horsepower, art, creativity and, more than anything, the American propensity for loud, gas-powered speed — which makes what I drove this year particularly curious: a 2026 Dodge Charger Daytona EV four-door. I’ve attended every Woodward Dream Cruise since the first one in 1994 (it was canceled only once, in 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic), and I’ve done it in a hot Mopar every single time. But I’d never done it in an electric car, and I was curious to see what the car enthusiast public’s reaction would be to the first-ever electric muscle car.2026 Dodge Charger Daytona Scat Pack | Cars.com photo by Aaron Bragman

The Ride in Question: Electric Muscle

When Dodge discontinued the old Hemi-powered Challenger and Charger back in 2023, the brand’s star performance twins had become synonymous with relatively inexpensive, accessible, everyman speed … which is why their replacement made a lot of folks scratch their heads. The 2024 Dodge Charger Daytona looked incredible — it was styled like a fully modernized 1968 throwback — but swapping out the iconic Hemi V-8 engine for all-electric power was a move everyone felt was likely to be brand suicide. Sad to say, that prognostication has thus far proven correct: Through the first six months of 2025, Dodge has sold barely 4,300 Charger EVs, a fraction of what the prior gas-powered models sold. That works out to about two sales per Dodge dealer  across the country, all year. Yikes.

Help is on the way in the form of a gas-powered Charger with the new Hurricane twin-turbo inline-six-cylinder engine, which is dubbed Sixpack here. But that’s still not the Hemi everyone knew and loved, and it’s unlikely to command the same fanatical following despite the Hurricane’s superiority in every quantifiable measure (except exhaust noise).2026 Dodge Charger Daytona Scat Pack | Cars.com photo by Aaron Bragman

In the electric Charger, Dodge tried to mitigate the “emotional allergies” caused by swapping out the Hemi by including something it calls Fratzonic Chambered Exhaust — essentially, an external speaker mounted under the car that creates a very loud fake “exhaust noise” tied to the car’s acceleration. You can also “rev” it while parked, and it’s as loud as the old supercharged Dodge Challenger Hellcat’s exhaust was, matching it for audacity if not authenticity.

So, with the third week of August upon us, Dodge loaned me a new 2026 Charger Daytona Scat Pack four-door. We’d seen the two-door coupe before, but the four-door is brand-new for ‘26, and is arriving in dealerships. The “Daytona” trim denotes it being electric, and the Scat Pack name means it’s the high-performance version (the R/T has been discontinued for the electric Charger but will be returning as the lower trim for the gas-powered models early in 2026). Using a dual-motor setup for all-wheel drive, the Charger Daytona Scat Pack comes with 670 horsepower and the ability to get from 0-60 mph in 3.3 seconds, according to Dodge. Its 241 miles of estimated range, however, isn’t all that much to talk about.

Despite its staggering 5,828-pound base curb weight, the Charger Daytona four-door is brutally quick, handles well and has a sizable interior that’s comfortable for four people. It’s a big car — bigger than the old Charger four-door, and with fastback-hatchback styling that gives it extra utility. It is also expensive: $80,465  as tested (including destination fee). That puts it out of reach of a lot of former Charger and Challenger buyers, but it isn’t really all that much more than the old Hellcat Widebody models used to cost. Simply put, the ‘26 Charger Daytona Scat Pack is a beast, a hefty presence in traffic that turns heads far, far more frequently than I expected it to.2026 Dodge Charger Daytona Scat Pack | Cars.com photo by Aaron Bragman

‘Hey, What Is That?!’

Sitting at the stoplight in the Charger Daytona, I heard the honking first. Looking out my driver’s side window, the shirtless middle-aged guy next to me in the old, beat-up beige Chevrolet Suburban towing a bunch of lawn equipment was frantically motioning for me to put my window down. I did, and he immediately yelled across: “What is that?” That a man who I’d have guessed would be very familiar with the traditional Dodge lineup actually had no idea what the new Charger looked like made me wince inwardly. That cannot be a good sign, I thought.

Sure enough, the novelty of the new Charger Daytona became evident when I took it out to Woodward Avenue on Thursday night prior to the Saturday night main event. The Dream Cruise is now a weeklong event with people cruising every night, with less traffic and smaller crowds allowing for actual cruising versus sitting in gridlock traffic on Saturday. And everywhere I took the Charger, all up and down the 16-mile stretch of onlooker-lined boulevard, it drew immediate pointing, excited exclamations and shock (no pun intended).

This kind of reaction is not entirely surprising, either, because for the entirety of the Woodward Dream Cruise weekend, I did not see another new Charger Daytona out cruising. The fact that the Charger Daytona has been out for nearly a year now (it was introduced in late 2024 as a ‘24 model) and that it had zero public presence at America’s greatest celebration of muscle cars and power tells you just how badly Dodge product planning under European Stellantis management got it wrong.

But there is hope for the Charger, and it comes in the form of the actual, genuine interest everyone showed in my bright blue bomber. The number of exclamations of “Oh! That’s the new Charger four-door!” and people stopping in their tracks to get a better look tells me there’s definite enthusiast interest in the new car … but not its electric powertrain. And after driving it through the world’s biggest cruise-in, I think I know why.2026 Dodge Charger Daytona Scat Pack | Cars.com photo by Aaron Bragman

Fratzonic Doesn’t Work Quite Right

I like the Fratzonic Chambered Exhaust. It adds a level of silliness to an already absurdly proportioned, equipped and priced vehicle that actually does resonate well with the general public. No really, it does! The number of people who asked to hear it, or who giggled when I activated it, was considerable. It’s not the first EV to make fake powertrain noises tied to a drive mode and linked to the vehicle’s acceleration; that would be the Hyundai Ioniq 5 N. But here’s the problem with the Charger’s system: It doesn’t work as well as the Hyundai’s does, and that’s because it doesn’t properly emulate a gas engine’s characteristics like the Hyundai system does. There are three specific areas that make it unpleasant to use instead of a surprise-and-delight feature.

First, the loudness and activation of the Fratzonic system is tied to specific drive modes. If you’re just driving around normally, in one of the normal modes, you can’t switch it on independently (but you can completely shut it off for totally silent running). It’s louder in Sport mode and loudest in Track and Drag modes. This does somewhat emulate real exhaust systems that open additional flaps and valves when you activate sportier drive modes, but there’s no reason it shouldn’t be completely independent of drive modes here. Sometimes, you want the noise without the Drag drive mode changing everything else about the car’s behavior. Fix No. 1: Decouple Fratzonic from the drive modes and make it independently selectable.2026 Dodge Charger Daytona Scat Pack | Cars.com photo by Aaron Bragman

Second, when you’re accelerating, the Fratzonic “engine noise” rises with your speed … and stays there. If it was a gas car, you’d be yelling “Shift, shift!” and thinking something was wrong with your transmission, or that the nut behind the wheel doesn’t know how to drive a stick shift. It’s almost like a continuously variable transmission’s soundtrack, where the CVT brings an engine to an optimal rpm and keeps it there. It feels unnatural and is unpleasant to listen to if you’re cruising at higher speeds. Fix No. 2: Fratzonic exhaust sounds are fake anyway, so add fake transmission shift points as part of the acceleration noise to keep it sounding realistic.

Third, while you can “rev” the exhaust sound when the gear selector is in Park, you can’t when you’re in Neutral. Anyone cruising a boulevard past people who want to hear your car rev, fake or not, knows that you need to be able to put the car in Neutral, let it coast and give the accelerator pedal a few stabs to entertain the audience. Can’t do that in the Charger Daytona; it makes no noise when you do, making this an inadequate cruise-night car for that reason. Fix No. 3: Allow drivers to “rev” the Fratzonic system while the car is rolling along in Neutral.

Shop the 2025 Dodge Charger Daytona near you

New

2025 Dodge Charger Daytona R/T

$46,414 MSRP $62,685

$600 price drop

New

2025 Dodge Charger Daytona Scat Pack

$65,533 MSRP $75,185

View all 2025 Dodge Charger Daytona models for sale near 60606

There’s Certainly Potential

While some Dodge fanboys might never accept the idea of an electric muscle car, the idea is not without some promise. The Charger Daytona is the first of its kind and has largely been shunned by the traditional muscle-car buyer, but that doesn’t mean a revamped electric Dodge muscle car doesn’t have a future. Putting the gasoline Hurricane engine in the Charger might help the Charger (even though it’s still not a Hemi), but the electrification of Dodge needs to happen without electric powertrains replacing the gas engines its customers crave.

The few fixes to the current electric Charger Daytona listed above would go a long way toward helping to establish its credibility with enthusiasts, and the beautiful part is that it wouldn’t require any hardware changes. It’s all just software controlling the noise the Charger makes, and it shouldn’t be a huge deal to modify.2026 Dodge Charger Daytona Scat Pack | Cars.com photo by Aaron Bragman

But to truly establish the Dodge brand as a purveyor of electric sports machines, a rethink needs to happen regarding what the brand stands for and how an EV fits into it. A lighter, cheaper, more forward-looking sports car with a new name would likely be a better idea than trying to make the Charger an EV. Let the Charger go back to being a proper gas-powered muscle car suitable for cruise nights, and bring us something truly new for Dodge’s next chapter.

More Dodge Charger News From Cars.com:

• 2026 Dodge Charger Sixpack: Are Six Cylinders Enough or Does It Need a V-8?
• Dodge Adds Sedan to 2026 Charger Daytona EV Lineup
• 2024 Dodge Charger Daytona Scat Pack Review: Identity Crisis
• Going for 10.6: Drag-Strip Testing the 2021 Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Redeye
• Research the Dodge Charger Daytona

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