Great Power Comes with Great Responsibility. The Volvo C40 Recharge EV Review!
Here is our take of the Volvo C40 Recharge over a period of six days and clocking slightly over eight hundred kilometers. To start off the review, we were handed the key to a Crystal White unit which really makes the car stand out by accentuating the car’s exterior design especially when it comes to its wide stance and fastback cues. The tradeoff from a slight reduction of rear headroom is the improvement of aerodynamics judging from the claimed extra 12 km driving range over the XC40 EV. Upon unlocking the car, we were greeted by a progressive light animation from the rear taillights which gives the car a sense of sophistication to it.
Climbing into the driver’s seat, you will be greeted by Volvo’s signature minimalist look which consist of a center 9-inch touch screen which now runs on Google OS. The 12-inch instrument cluster in front of you does provide all the info you need and nothing more, as the rest of the sub menus can only be found within the center touchscreen. One interior detail where the C40 stands out will be the backlit topography pattern trim which illuminates at night which is a rather nice touch. For the upholstery, the C40 is fitted with a Charcoal (black) interior with a suede-like fabric for the supportive front seats which are supposedly made of recycled materials.
To counteract its dark interior, the C40 has a panoramic glass roof which floods the cabin with daylight. To our surprise however, there is no sunshade for the glass roof so thankfully it’s heavily tinted which reduced most of the heat one would expect. Despite having a sloping rear roofline and a panoramic glass roof, the rear headroom is actually still adequate even for a person who is 184cm tall. Compromises from the sportier shape would be the reduced rear visibility and increased rear blind spot, plus boot capacity of 413 liters instead of 460 liters from the XC40 EV. Sound insulation is very good especially for an EV and the 600W 14-speaker Harman Kardon system never disappoints.
So you must be wondering how does the car drive? When compared to the XC40 EV, we noticed a touch better ride and less body roll in the C40 probably due to the 6mm longer wheelbase and/or different suspension tuning. Despite its sporty looks, it is still no sports car in the handling department although it does have sports car performance. Using the same 78kWh battery with dual electric motors from the XC40 EV, the identical 402hp and 660Nm of torque launches the C40 on all four wheels to 100kph in just 4.7 seconds. The intense acceleration is where you will get most of your fun in the C40 and the effortless overtaking never gets old.
For those of us who require going through traffic on a daily basis, the level-two, semi-autonomous Pilot Assist feature takes away most of your stress and fatigue after a long day at work. Volvo always lead in standard safety equipment and the C40 is no exception. The C40 is equipped with the City Safety suite which consists of collision avoidance & mitigation with intersection support; pedestrian, cyclist and large animal detection, front and rear collision warning and mitigation support, Driver Alert Control, Lane Keeping Aid, Run-Off Road Mitigation with Road Edge Detection, Oncoming Lane Mitigation, Blind Spot Information System (BLIS) with Steer Assist and Cross Traffic Alert (CTA) with Autobrake. In short, no other brands comes close to offering this much active safety systems for the money.
Charging times are identical with the XC40 EV, with the C40 taking about 7.5 hours for a full charge with an AC input (Type 2 connection) of 11 kW. There’s also DC fast charging of up to 150 kW with a CCS2 connection, where a 0-80% state of charge (SoC) is achieved in just 28 minutes in ideal conditions. During our six day drive, we did encounter a few setbacks as we do not have a Type 2 home charger so we had to rely on public charging for us to charge the car.
For instance, we were planning on a spontaneous short trip to Seremban with the car which at that time only had around forty percent of charge. Thinking that a nearby DC charger would only take us twenty minutes or so to get enough range to get there and back ended up to be a 2 hour wait as there was someone ahead. Our conclusion for owning an EV as your daily in Malaysia is this: your lifestyle must fit within your EV’s range and charging needs. As a second car however, an EV is much more justifiable but having a Type 2 charger at home is still almost a necessity. The large number of convoluted phone apps one have to install just to find all the available charging stations and inconsistent payment methods for them is something a first-time EV buyers must be aware of.
As a car however, we have little to fault the C40. With a price tag of RM288,888 on-the-road without insurance, it is exactly RM10k more over the XC40 EV which is not too bad if you’re looking for a stylish yet very quick city crossover. Just like any other locally assembled EVs on sale in Malaysia, the C40 will benefit from the government’s excise and sales tax exemption for CKD EVs until December 31, 2027.
Customers will have five colours to choose from, namely Fjord Blue, Black Stone, Silver Dawn, Crystal White and Sage Green. Each purchase will come with a five-year, unlimited mileage warranty, an eight-year, 160,000-km battery warranty, five years/100,000 km free service, plus five-year roadside assistance and a seven-metre-long 10 A public charging cable.
Between the C40 and the XC40 EV, which one would you go for?
