Volvo has been quietly building luxury sport utilities with Swedish flair, content to let its German neighbors go with aggressive grilles and big badges. The 2025 XC90 Plug-in Hybrid (officially the T8 Recharge AWD) exemplifies that professorial outlook.
Some universities focus on sports and motivational quotes while others quietly sip espresso and quote from the classics. Volvo is the car company that has traditionally been like the latter, quietly introducing innovation and useful real-world practicality amidst understated luxury.
At a glance
- PHEV made with clear goals in mind
- Simple design inside and out
- Safety is Volvo’s top priority
I spent a week with the latest iteration (the "2025.5" model year) of Volvo's largest SUV, and walked away impressed. Not because it's flashy or does anything wildly different, but because it’s stubbornly committed to being really good at what it should be: a comfortable, efficient, and safety-obsessed family hauler. One that just happens to pack over 450 horsepower (331+ kW) under its clean Nordic styling. The XC90 is the epitome of Volvo as a carmaker.
The 2025 XC90 Plug-in Hybrid (PHEV) pairs a turbocharged four-cylinder engine with an electric motor and a new 14.7-kWh battery, which replaces a heavier 18.4 kWh unit. This setup delivers 455 horsepower (335.5 kW) and 523 lb-ft (709 Nm) of torque, which is far more than this SUV really requires to drive normally.
Electric-only range sits at a respectable 32 miles (51.5 km) per charge, though this greatly depends on your foot's relationship with the throttle. That might not sound like much, but in daily driving it’s plenty. I managed four days of errand-running and school drop-offs without waking the gas engine at all. The A/C was off and I plugged in daily to make that happen, of course. When the battery finally did run dry on a longer drive, the switch to hybrid mode was seamless and drama-free.
Charging is handled via a Type 2 port with a max rate of about 6.4 kW. That means a full charge on a Level 2 home charger takes about five hours – roughly twice that with a normal household plug. That’s about average for a PHEV. Most will not draw more than 35 amps.
Get inside the XC90 and you're greeted by Volvo’s signature minimalist elegance. It’s all clean lines, muted colors, and textures that feel like they were handwoven by someone described as an "artisan." Not in that fake corporate muted packaging way you see in the grocery store, but in a more "mass-produced by someone who cares" kind of vibe.
The seats are superb and road-trip-grade. Okay, maybe not in the third row. But I can’t say that for most three-row luxury SUVs. Most go about pretending they can seat seven humans without deploying a shoehorn. The XC90’s third row isn’t huge, but it’s much more accommodating than most in this segment’s size range.
Volvo’s Android Automotive infotainment system returns with a few more refinements for 2025. It’s snappy, Google-integrated, and finally less reliant on tapping through submenus to adjust simple things like heated seats. It still requires some time to learn, but this is a nice evolution forward as this G-based system improves. The driver display is crisp and fully digital.
I’m old, I know, but I don’t actually prefer the analog gauges from back in the day. No glare, no bouncing arm, and easy-to-read precision is fine by me. I know that’s probably hypocritical given how much I complain about a lack of buttons on dashboards. I think my lack of interest in tech for tech’s sake versus everything old-school is a Gen X thing.
Being known for safety, Volvo doesn’t skimp with the 2025 XC90 Hybrid. All-wheel drive is standard, the rear axle being powered by an electric motor. Pilot Assist is Volvo’s semi-automated highway system with lane-keeping, adaptive cruise control, collision avoidance tech, and so on. Pretty much any safety gadget you can name is standard on the XC90 PHEV. Trim level options are limited to adding surround-view cameras and a head-up display, along with Volvo’s infamous integrated child booster seats.
Despite its curb weight flirting with 5,500 lb (2,495 kg), the XC90 handles like a much smaller machine. The air suspension (standard on the PHEV) smooths out bumps with Volvo’s usual stoic calm, and body roll is nicely restrained for something with seven seats and a battery pack the size of a small dorm fridge.
Steering is light and a little numb, but that’s par for the course in three-row vehicles. You don’t buy a Volvo to carve canyons. You buy it to cruise confidently, safely, and without ever worrying if the little one remembered her seatbelt.
The 2025 Volvo XC90 T8 Recharge is quietly competent and capable without much fanfare. It sees a few under-hood improvements this year, but is otherwise still the fortress of calm it’s always been. Its potential power output and traditional Volvo practicality are almost an oxymoron. It’s difficult for me to find any real fault with this three-row SUV.
Product page: 2025 Volvo XC90
