Volvo EX30 Cross Country hits Australia: Do we need an EV soft-roader that’s faster than a Porsche 911 GT3?

October 27, 2025October 27, 2025 Iain Curry 15602 Views 0 Comments EX30 Cross Country, volvo ex30, Volvo EX30 Cross Country

Electrification has transformed the automotive world in countless ways.

For one, the EV revolution means we can tack on a click-baity headline like the above, and it actually be true.

A new Porsche 911 GT3 Touring is up there with the most desirable sports cars in existence, setting Aussies back roughly half a million dollarbucks, but not before you’ve gone grey on the waiting list.

Said GT3 cracks 100km/h in a face-altering 3.9 seconds, yet Stuttgart’s finest would be out-dragged by this off-road ready-ish Cross Country Swede.

It’s a small Volvo SUV. It’s fully electric. It has suspension and adventure-like bits optimised for dirt road driving. Yet it’ll reach 100km/h in only 3.7 seconds thanks to twin electric motors and does so for around $76k on the road.

At a recent Volvo Australia event, we had a first look at the new EX30 Cross Country, which joins the $59,990 EX30 Plus, $66,290 EX30 Ultra and $71,290 EX30 Ultra Performance in the small EV SUV lineup.

2026 Volvo EX30 Cross Country costs from around $76,000 on the road.

The Cross Country version comes only in dual-motor all-wheel-drive guise, delivering a mega 315kW and 543Nm to realise that bonkers acceleration. In our previous tests, such performance doesn’t feel entirely suited to this not-so-sensible Volvo.

It uses the same 64kWh battery as other EX30s, but range drops a smidge to 417km due to extra weight and worse aerodynamics.

It features front and rear bash plates, plastic wheel arch extenders, more black plastic for the face and rump, a softer suspension tune with 19mm raised ride height over a standard EX30, larger tyres on black 19-inch alloys, and the option of 18-inch rims with all-terrain tyres.

In the metal, it’s a desirable looking funster. We poked around Volvo Australia’s early-access right-hand-drive EX30 Cross Country (the only one in the country at the time), but it remained unregistered so we couldn’t have a drive, sadly.

In its Vapour grey paint – inspired by windswept Scandinavian limestone houses don’t you know – and with roof box and blacked-out trim, it certainly looks the part. Ours was on the standard wheel and tyre pack, and reckon it’d look way more purposeful on knobbly tyres over smaller wheels.

You can spot it’s been raised a bit, but this still doesn’t look like something you’d want to trust over soft sand. Bogging one wouldn’t be much fun.

That said, the softer suspension will doubtless make this Cross Country the comfiest EX30 to drive… the road-specific versions are on the firm ride side.

As for actual off-roady stuff, our Cross Country has hill descent control, but no specific drive modes for sand, mud or snow, only a generic “Electric off-road mode.”

You score tailored drive modes in the rival Subaru Solterra EV SUV through its X-Mode, as you do with its twin-under-the-skin Toyota bZ4X AWD.

Neither of these off-roady rivals have sold in any great number in Australia, questioning the desire for lifestyle rough road EVs.

Here’s the thing. Our Volvo Cross Country has ground clearance of 190mm. A Toyota bZ4X and Subaru Solterra trump that with 212mm, as does the cheaper EV rival Jeep Avenger with its 200mm and off-road driving modes.

Even so, Volvo Australia product manager Michael Rowland said the EX30 Cross Country was “Our lifestyle hero” and suggested they’re hoping to shift 600 of them per year.

“It’s designed to take you to those places of natural beauty. As you may know, the Swedes, they love nature. It’s a very important part of their culture.”

The target for Aussie buyers would be dirt tracks, accessing beach camping sites and some mild off-roading, and Volvo will (hopefully) be first to acknowledge you won’t be climbing mountains or rock crawling in an EX30 Cross Country.

2025 Volvo EX30 Cross Country. — Volvo EX30 Cross Country with optional all-terrain tyres. But will it still do 0-100kmh in 3.7 seconds on loose dirt?

It fails the first test of a true off-roader by not having a spare tyre, or even the option of one.

Overwhelmingly this will be a sealed road vehicle, but with looks suggesting its owner is a True Blue adventurer. And that’s just fine.

The EX30 Cross Country has more interesting lifestyley looks than most EV SUVs, and if you love mad GT3-beating acceleration while hauling camp fire logs on the roof, it’s all there with the squeeze of a big toe.

Iain Curry

A motoring writer and photographer for two decades, Iain started in print magazines in London as editor of Performance BMW and features writer for BMW Car, GT Porsche and 4Drive magazines. His love of motor sport and high performance petrol cars was rudely interrupted in 2011 when he was one of the first journalists to drive BMW's 1 Series ActiveE EV, and has been testing hybrids, PHEVs and EVs for Australian newspapers ever since. Based near Noosa in Queensland, his weekly newspaper articles cover new vehicle reviews and consumer advice, while his photography is regularly seen on the pages of glossy magazines.