I’ve always been a fan of the hot hatch and the 2025 Volvo EX30 is being added to the list of favorites.

Starting on the outside, the Moss Yellow color will make it easy to find in the parking lot. The color was inspired by the color of lichen on Swedish granite rocks. Although the EX30’s front grille is the typical EV flat design, the Volvo logo helps break it up. I was surprised to learn that the headlights were height adjustable which I’ve typically seen only in off-road style SUVs. Volvo used black painted centers to create a negative space in the shape of a star, for their 19” wheels. The stubby rear design gave a great side profile but it did make the cargo space suffer a bit.

Getting in, this EX30 was equipped with the Mist Pixel Knit wool interior. Volvo manages to surprise me every time with their high quality “cloth” options that look and feel better than some high end leathers in ultra luxury competitors. The ergonomics of the seats were perfect and had me wanting to drive for hours. I did miss having a venting option as the EX30 read an outside temperature over 100 degrees! The EX3’s steering wheel was in a square off shape with flatter parts on the top, bottom, and sides. I’ve come to enjoy these types of steering wheel as I think they offer better hand positions for turning

Under the hood, I found a large amount of plastic covering the electrical system below. It did have a small frunk area, but it wasn’t insulated so make sure you don’t put your ice cream in there. As far as performance, the electric twin-motor system was delivering 422 horsepower and 400 lb.-ft. of torque. Volvo says the 0-60mph time to be 3.4 seconds and I was close to that time. Even though that’s an insanely low time, the drivability was one of the best I’ve ever experienced. It was civilized in every day stop and go traffic and wasn’t always wanting to offer sickening acceleration. Of course when you request it, get ready to give you an exhilarating experience.

Overall, the 2025 Volvo EX30 was the unsuspecting hot hatch that I fell in love with.