Volvo S90 review

Interior

Dashboard & tech

The interior of the S90 is a truly special place to be. It has a clean, minimalist design that feels incredibly modern and upmarket. At the heart of the cabin is a large, portrait-style touchscreen that controls most of the car’s functions. It looks great and helps to create an uncluttered dashboard, with very few physical buttons.

The system comes with satellite navigation, DAB radio, and Bluetooth as standard. While it looks slick, it can take a little getting used to and can sometimes be a bit fiddly to use when you're on the move. The overall quality is superb, with premium materials that make the cabin feel luxurious and calming.

Comfort

Comfort is where the Volvo S90 really excels. It’s designed to be a supremely relaxing car, and it does a brilliant job of isolating you from the outside world. The seats are some of the best in any car, offering fantastic support that makes even the longest of drives feel effortless.

The ride is generally smooth and composed, gliding over most road surfaces with ease. It’s an outstanding motorway cruiser, remaining quiet and serene at speed. It’s worth noting that models with larger alloy wheels, like the R-Design versions, can feel a bit firmer over bumps, but it’s never uncomfortable.

Quality

Volvo has become a real contender in the premium car market, and the S90’s interior quality is a testament to that. Everything you see and touch feels solid, well-made, and expensive. From the soft-touch plastics to the elegant wood or metal inlays on high-spec models, the attention to detail is impressive.

The S90’s cabin feels like a genuine luxury product, easily matching its German rivals for build quality. It’s a very pleasant and high-class environment to spend time in.

Practicality & boot space

Interior space

Sharing its foundations with the larger XC90 SUV means the S90 is a very spacious car. There’s a huge amount of room for passengers in both the front and the back. Rear-seat passengers, in particular, are treated to limousine-like legroom, meaning even very tall adults can stretch out and get comfortable.

The bright and airy cabin adds to the feeling of space, and there are plenty of useful storage areas for your odds and ends. It’s a fantastic car for carrying four adults in complete comfort.

Boot space

As a large saloon, the S90 has a very practical boot. It offers 500 litres of space, which is more than enough for a family’s holiday luggage, a couple of sets of golf clubs, or a very big weekly shop. While it’s not quite the largest boot in its class, it’s a good, usable shape.

The rear seats also fold down in a flexible 40/20/40 split, which is a really useful feature. This allows you to carry long items while still having space for one or two passengers in the back, adding a dose of versatility that you don't get in all saloon cars.

Versatility

While the V90 estate version is the champion of practicality, the S90 saloon is still a very versatile car for its class. The generous passenger space and large boot make it a brilliant family car for those who don’t need the ultimate carrying capacity of an estate. Its ability to be both a comfortable commuter and a luxurious long-distance cruiser makes it a great all-rounder.

Driving

Driving experience

The S90 is all about providing a calm, relaxed, and hassle-free driving experience. It’s not a car that’s trying to be a corner-carving sports saloon; instead, it focuses on comfort and refinement. The steering is light and accurate, and the car feels incredibly stable and secure on the road.

It’s an exceptional motorway car, where it eats up the miles with effortless ease. While rivals like the BMW 5 Series offer a more engaging and fun driving experience on a twisty road, few cars can match the S90’s ability to soothe away the stresses of a long journey.

Performance

The S90 comes with a range of smooth and efficient 2.0-litre, four-cylinder engines. The diesel options, badged D4 and D5, are great for high-mileage drivers, offering strong pulling power and excellent fuel economy. The petrol engines are quieter and smoother still.

At the top of the range is the T8 Twin Engine plug-in hybrid. This model combines a petrol engine with an electric motor to produce impressive performance, with a 0-60mph time of under five seconds. It can also run on pure electric power for short journeys, offering the potential for very low running costs.

Running costs

Fuel economy & CO2 emissions

For such a large and luxurious car, the S90 can be impressively economical. The diesel engines are the most frugal choice for long-distance drivers, capable of returning very good MPG figures.

The T8 plug-in hybrid is the star for low running costs, especially if you can charge it regularly. It’s capable of around 20 miles on electric power alone, which could cover many daily commutes without using any petrol. This also gives it very low CO2 emissions, making it an attractive option for company car drivers.

Value for money

The S90 is a premium car with a price tag to match, sitting alongside its main rivals from Germany. However, it offers a very generous level of standard equipment, even on entry-level models, which makes it feel like good value.

On the used market, the S90 can be a fantastic buy, offering a huge amount of luxury, space, and style for the money. Volvos tend to hold their value well, but you can still make significant savings compared to the new price.

Reliability & Warranty

Volvo has an excellent reputation for building safe and durable cars, and the S90 feels incredibly solid and well-engineered. It should prove to be a reliable choice. From new, the S90 came with a three-year, 60,000-mile warranty, which is standard for the premium car sector.

Safety

Safety features

When you think of Volvo, you think of safety, and the S90 is a showcase of the brand’s leadership in this area. It received the maximum five-star rating when it was crash-tested by the safety experts at Euro NCAP, with some of the highest scores ever recorded.

Every S90 is packed with an incredible amount of standard safety technology. This includes Pilot Assist, a semi-autonomous driving system that can help with steering, acceleration, and braking on the motorway. You also get automatic emergency braking that can detect pedestrians, cyclists, and even large animals, day or night.

Trims & Engines

Trim levels

Volvo kept the trim level choices for the S90 nice and simple. The range starts with Momentum, which is very well equipped. Standard kit includes 18-inch alloy wheels, the 9-inch touchscreen with sat nav, leather upholstery, heated front seats, and the full suite of advanced safety systems including adaptive cruise control.

The R-Design trim gives the car a sportier look, with a different grille, larger alloy wheels, and a firmer suspension setup for sharper handling. Inside, you get supportive sports seats. The Inscription trim is the most luxurious, adding features like fine Nappa leather, ventilated front seats, and elegant wood trim for the ultimate premium feel.

Engines

All engines in the S90 are 2.0-litre, four-cylinder units. The diesel options are the 187bhp D4 and the more powerful 232bhp D5, which uses clever ‘PowerPulse’ technology to improve responsiveness. Petrol models were also available.

The range-topping engine is the T8 Twin Engine plug-in hybrid. This powerful setup combines a turbocharged and supercharged petrol engine with an electric motor, sending power to all four wheels. It’s both the fastest and, potentially, the most economical model in the range. All S90s come with a smooth automatic gearbox as standard.

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