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Irish Examiner

Volvo EX40 Black Edition review: bold design but falls short on the open road

THEY were never really my cup of tea, the Sabs — all trouser-shredding riffs, which was great, but the idiot savant vibe from Ozzy Osborne was never a schtick I could swallow, and the suggestions that axe-meister Tony Iommi's genius was up there with Bach, Mozart, and Beethoven always rang a little hollow. Of course, Birmingham's favourite sons went out in a blaze of glory a couple of weeks back, headlining a heavy metal fest at Villa Park, just around the corner from where they all grew up in the Aston suburb. It was their last ever gig and the crowds turned out in their multitudes to send them off; they came from every corner of the globe to pay homage, even if Ozzy had to sing from a throne-like chair for most of it due to ongoing health issues. Fair play to them, I thought, as I read the reviews of the Brummie extravaganza, but still of the opinion that they were never really my type of band. Rock 'n' roll has had its low points, for sure, but I always felt that anyone who can get arrested for piddling up against the wall of the Alamo, left a bit of a (sic) low water mark even for the heavy metal brigade. Oddly, all this came to mind when I was in possession of Volvo's new EX40 Black Edition and while the only real comparison between Black Sabbath and the Swedish outfit was the density of the metal they utilise, it seemed like a strangely fitting appraisal. Unlike bassist Geezer Butler posing in earlier publicity shots in ill-fitting leather pants, this 'Black' actually looks like a ticket into a groupie's affections. It looks meaner than Sharon's old man, a Midlands impresario who once (allegedly) dangled fellow manager Robert Stigwood out of a fourth-floor window for territorial infringement. Drop dead (no pun intended) good looks don't necessarily make for a good end product and sadly that's one of the two stools which this car falls between. This car is a central element of Volvo's thus far unimpressive EV push, but it's not really at the races by comparison with the opposition. Nailed on drop-dead appearances hide a few dynamic flaws. Around town it is almost angelic — smooth as an Iommi solo — but get it onto the highways and byways and the tune falls away quicker than the solo album sales figures. Volvo's spacious interior If the exterior is Scandi-goth, the inside is much more laid back, a bit like a backstage green room with a pleasant guy running the bar. It's familiar, homely, and you can work the stereo and have a Birmingham Back Forty on tap. As a Deep Purple fan back in the day, the Sabs always seemed uncouth and, well, from Birmingham, though in fairness, the city did also produce the mighty Jeff Lynne and his Electric Light Orchestra. No, back then, Purple were always my band, with the twin driving forces of Jon Lord's Hammond B-3 keys and Richie Blackmore's searing fretwork on his mighty Fender Strat. Highway Star — from the essential Machine Head album — was (and is) a driving song sans pareil with both Lord and Blackmore excelling on duelling solos, but sadly for the EX40, it would probably never fit the template for the 'wild hurricane' of the tune. Certainly, it does have a menacing effect on other motorists who, upon seeing it in their rearview mirror, quickly skedaddle out of its way and then wonder why it's not belching flame in their direction or chopping their Micra into bite-size pieces like something out of Mad Max. The malevolence of the look is a bit out of place in terms of what it's actually capable of. There is 249bhp on tap from the rear-wheel drive, single motor extended range version we tried, and this produces a brisk 7.3 second 0-100 km/h time and a top speed of 180 km/h. But this is not a beast of the B-road. It's a Volvo and therefore it is safe, predictable, and honest. Around town it is a sweetheart — lovely to whizz around in and comfortable to a fault. Point it at a corner out on the open road though, and it deserts any dynamic pretences quicker than Ozzy might bite the head off a dove. The Volvo EX40 Sadly — and unlike both the EX30 and the EX90 — the EX40 is largely bereft of open road composure and while the ride is solid, the handling is far from being nailed on. Given that Volvo's other two pure electrics are so good in this regard, it is something of a mystery as to why this one isn't. It felt to me that maybe they got the weight distribution askew because the car did not feel balanced when pressed on — a bit like the Oz these days, bless 'im. The official range of the car is 520-575km and you might get close to that tootling around town, but it's more like 450 when you get on its case. In comparison with the latest electrics, that's only OK and when you see what coming down the tracks (the new BMW iX3), technologically it looks olde worlde. It is the case that the Black Edition is only a specification level, albeit a rather chic one and while it looks great (even if it too is a tad old school in terms of the interior decor and tech), the sum of its parts is a bit like a two-chord Status Quo number — good tune, but nothing musically challenging or new. On looks alone, many people will fall instantly in love with the car and provided they're not expecting that look to provide any great excitement while driving it, they will be well pleased with themselves — and rightly so. Like rock 'n' roll, image can take you a long way in the motoring game, but that one factor alone is very unlikely to sustain a lengthy career. To do that, you gotta come up with the tunes, man. And like 'em or not, that's exactly what the Sabs did. Paranoid, The Age of Reason, Snowblind — you name it, they pretty much nailed it. With the EX40, however, Volvo has a touch of Wheels of Confusion rather than anything else. 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