Volvo ES90 first impressions: why BMW and Mercedes should be worried

It’s been a few years now since Volvo discontinued its largest saloon car – the S90. Now it’s back in all-electric form, but the new ES90 isn’t exactly a direct replacement.

It’s a bit of a mashup between a saloon, an SUV and a hatchback. Whatever the ES90 identifies as though, it’s a properly handsome thing which stands out against the German alternatives.

I took a trip out to Sweden for the launch of the new ES90 to have a poke around this new electric car, and on first impressions it should have the BMW i5 and Mercedes EQE quaking in their tyres.

You can check out our full news story to find out more about the ES90’s specs, but here’s a brief overview. You get up to 435 miles of range, 61 miles more than a BMW i5 can manage, and there’s a performance version with 680hp. Prices start from just under £70,000, and the first cars will hit UK shores in early 2026.

Standing in front of the car you’ll immediately notice that it’s quite a bit taller than you may expect a saloon car to be. It’s certainly got a more imposing stance than a Mercedes EQE. One slight issue comes when you open the bonnet to chuck something into the rather small front boot, and that is the fact that even I struggled to reach it to pull it back down – and I’m 6”3’.

This small niggle aside though, the ES90 is a fabulous-looking thing – and this continues when you step inside. I was expecting it to feel a bit like an EX90 which had been squashed, but the cabin is totally unique and beautifully built.

There are a lot of recycled materials in here, including fabric which is made of recycled plastic bottles. It doesn’t feel recycled though, everything feels nice and expensive, and the build quality is brilliant as well.

Interior storage is also decent. You get a good-sized centre cubby under the armrest, two big cupholders and large door bins. The glovebox is pretty average though, and it can only be opened through the screen.

Let’s talk about that screen for a minute. It’s a 14.5-inch portrait display with Google built in, and it’s really easy to use. The graphics are clear and bright, it’s responsive to your touch and all the menus are easy to navigate. It’s just a bit annoying that all of the car’s functions are controlled through it.

Personally, I can forgive the seat, mirror and steering wheel adjustments being done through a screen. Once you buy the car you’ll set that up once, save it to your profile and never touch it again. It’s things like climate controls which are annoying to operate through a screen when you’re driving. You get three buttons in total – one for volume and two for skipping tracks backwards or forwards.

Moving to the rear, the ES90 is a seriously spacious car. I can sit behind my driving position with loads of room to spare, and headroom is pretty good as well. You get a centre armrest with two cupholders and some extra storage, and the car we have here also gets rear climate control, as well as heated and ventilated rear seats.

The boot is a really good size as well. The hatchback tailgate makes it more practical than a BMW i5, although at 424 litres it’s around 70 litres smaller than that car’s. You do get a good amount of space under the boot floor though, and the seats fold completely flat to make loading heavy items much easier.

It would be nice if you could fold the seats down from the boot, but you have to go around to the rear doors to lower them. They’re also quite heavy to lift back into place. On the plus side, you can lower the rear suspension from the boot if you want to reduce the load lip.

The Volvo ES90 is a stylish, spacious and really well-made electric saloon which appears to have what it takes to worry the German competition. We’ll have to wait until we drive the car to come to a proper conclusion, but the ES90 certainly makes an excellent first impression.

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