OTOH Lucid and Rivian seem the real deal. (Enough that I own stock in both, even their vehicles are not for me!)
Rivian does have that contract with Amazon, so perhaps it will survive? And its pickup truck isn’t designed by a five-year-old.
I have a ‘23 Ioniq5 and really like it. It’s not perfect, but I know there have been changes for the ‘25 version that have improved things. It’s super fun to drive, comfortable, and has a better range than a lot of them out there. Feels like a small car but has tons of room.
Plan today was to test drive a few with my wife but she under the weather, stomach bug, and sent me out to preview a couple.
Started out at the Volvo dealer (EX30) as I was pretty sure that the minimalist infotainment interface would be a deal breaker. Cross one off quick.
I freaking love that car!
The screen is actually very very easy to use, easy to reach and understand. It is just a fun vehicle. Not crazy to have to look to the middle to see speedometer but not horrible. Discount pricing puts the higher end Ultra twin motor performance model (0 to 60 in 3.4 seconds) at about $45 K. Not out of the range as the others and that is with the climate package that includes heated steering wheel. Not a huge storage area but we don’t need that. Listed range is 253, enough for us, granting even real world, especially cold weather, likely significantly less. I get that longer range and fastest charging is important to some. I still have the PHEV for road trips (even understanding it is doable with the BEV).
The Leaf, if all had worked well, was a value car. This feels luxury.
From there went to the Kia dealer. Even though I called ahead and asked no Kia Niro EVs in stock, but test drove an EV6. Much more a traditional feel but low seats and would be difficult for my wife with some hip issues to get in an out of. Controls are a reach for me. Not as bad as the Leaf’s were but not as close as the Volvo’s. And yuck! Yeah I get that you get used to that toggling but just bad. Not impressed.
My wife is picking up (after my chicken soup for dinner) so tomorrow we will try the Ioniq 5 and she will try the Volvo herself.
If the Ioniq 5 doesn’t grab her and the Volvo does then I think we have winner and won’t even bother with the Toyota BZ.
Really not what I was expecting to conclude.
So the Volvo site states the current $4K manufacturer incentive ends March 2. Am I really under the gun to buy by then? Or do they routinely run new ones?
There’s also a Costco incentive of $1K but apparently need to go to a specific dealer? Not too far but I like the one near me. Would they honor the certificate!
My mom has an EX60 or XC60, because she couldn’t wait for the EX30 to hit the US. It is a very nice luxury SUV. She is always amazed by just how nice everything is in it, because she’s always had cheap cars, like the Prius C, or low end Rav 4s (except that 2nd gen RX-7…)
Anyway, I think it is a comfortable car, and is very easy to drive. The Android based screen is a big letdown though, especially after coming from a Tesla which has a much better UI. The Volvo one is manageable, just clunky and occasionally confusing.
I’m still not sure if driver profiles are attached to a Google account, a Volvo account, neither, both… All I know is I can push the button to switch profiles, and some settings change, but not others.
I got a close look at the exterior of an EX30, and I liked it. I didn’t get a chance to sit in it, though.
I’d ask the dealer about the Costco incentive–it should be network wide. Our Caddy dealer had no problem applying it to our Lyriq. I just bought a new Ram 1500 (very fancy, Limited) and am wondering if I should have waited for the upcoming Ram EREV. 150 miles battery range with a generator to provide a total of about 550 miles. But realistically 2 years out once they get the kinks out. The R2 looks awesome if you want an SUV. The R3 hopefully will be even better–hot hatch for the win! I’m really rooting for Rivian and Lucid.
I just put down a (refundable) deposit for this, and will be test driving a R1T next weekend just to get a feel for their stack. I’m not really sure if I’ll like it, but I’ll give it a shot, at least.
I’m a bit worried about the lack of Android Auto, and also about their abysmal reliability (rock-bottom in Consumer Reports). But despite that, they have the highest owner satisfaction of any brand, so I’ll give 'em a try.
I’m rooting for us to have more domestic innovation outside of Tesla. I’d like it to be Rivian more than Lucid, since Lucid is majority-owned (60%) by Saudi Arabia.
I’m in the market for a second EV (BEV, PHEV or EREV), and the overall in-cabin user experience is a big differentiator for me (but apparently not for may auto makers?).
I wonder if anything out there exists, or will exist soon, that has:
- Many tactile, physical buttons, especially for A/C, radio controls, and driving signals (lights/turning signals/hazards).
- A minimal touchscreen that’s only used for secondary functions like navigation and changing playlists (so the opposite of the Tesla philosophy)
- Deep cupholders able to hold Big Dumb Cups
- Ample in-cabin storage, including sunglasses holders above, a center console, a glove box, and side pockets in the doors
- Both a frunk and a trunk
- A good app, especially one that can 1) remote start on demand and on a schedule, i.e., being able set the climate to different temps/settings depending day & time and 2) that can act as a digital key even while offline with no internet
Overall, it’s a safety concern. I want to be able to navigate the cabin, including manipulating car functions and grabbing/storing objects, by muscle memory and tactile feedback alone. I don’t want to have to divide my attention while driving by having to navigate a multi-layered feedback-less touchscreen UI — IMHO the worst trend in cars over the last two decades.
I feel like no EV manufacturers that I’ve seen so far really focus on things like that, instead differentiating themselves based on range, horsepower, # of motors, etc.
I don’t really care all that much about the drivetrain; any recent EV is mostly good enough for my needs. But the in-cabin experience is universally mediocre from the models I’ve experienced so far, and is rarely discussed in reviews, videos, or test drives. The app stuff is even harder to get a feel for ahead of time.
Does nobody else, car maker or car buyer, care about this kinda stuff…? Maybe it just bothers me more as a software developer… my job is fixing and improving UI issues like that, so maybe it just bugs me more than usual to see them in my daily driver. Shrug.
I found all of them mediocre, although my preferences are a little different from yours. (I want a single cup holder small enough to hold my 500ml plastic bottle of water somewhat securely. I do want places to put my husband’s glasses, the garage door opener, some coins, a small notebook, … And i care a lot about charging ports, not just for me but for my passengers.) I thought the reviews were okay about the cabin experience, but agree that they suck regarding apps.
Now i feel bad that i didn’t try harder to test drive the Volvo. It was the only one in the size category i was looking at that i ruled out based on reviews. Maybe i read the wrong reviews.
Yeah, it’s quite odd. For being newer/experimental (or sometimes even flagship) products, they are often a good decade or two behind user experience improvements in ICE cars. It almost seems to me like maybe some of the manufacturers (especially legacy ones) are afraid to go too premium in their EVs for fear of cannibalizing their traditional luxury lineups… maybe I’m just paranoid. But it boggles the mind that someone thought releasing a car without a glovebox or anywhere to put sunglasses would be OK (why?!)
But then again, we bought it anyway, so… joke’s on us 
Well, that was my partner’s decision. I might not have.
Is Volvo known for having a superior cabin experience? Otherwise, there are so many EVs (even just BEVs) out there it’s really hard to try them all. Especially all the ones that are just around the corner.
What are some good sources for reviews you’ve found so far?
I’ve mostly been relying on YouTube for this (because you can get a better feel for the cabin that way, vs written articles), like Edmunds (good overviews), the Electric Viking (good but more Australia-focused with only some mentions of US models), and Marques Brownlee (quite in-depth but talks a bit too slow for my tastes).
I’m half-thinking of starting a YouTube channel of my own where I just do test sits. I would try different EVs and discuss their app and in-cabin experience in extreme depth, without ever even leaving the parking lot. Maybe without even driving at all, lol.
Mine has a small glove box, and the space between the cup holders works adequately for glasses. I’m not wild about the storage, but it’s fine.
What sucks is the touch controls. I decided it was the lesser of evils. It’s consistently annoying, but at least it’s intuitive and it’s really easy to find all the functions.
I limited myself to BEVs that had a smaller footprint than my Subaru Forester, and only identified 6 available in my area, and each one was only available new in one model year:
Nissan Leaf 2026
Hyundai Kona 2025
Kia Niro 2025
Mini countryman 2025
Volvo EX30
I test drove all of them except the Volvo.
I couldn’t tell you what reviews i read, except i did read all the consumer reports reviews. I also looked up crash test results, which were sometimes hard to find. (I like both IIHS and EU more than the federal governments.)
Oh, the Subaru Solterra should have fit my requirements, but the 2025 was sold out and the 2026 wasn’t available for a few months.
I’m planning to purchase in this segment later this year, and have been obsessively watching video reviews etc. I’ve got a preference for AWD (Saskatchewan winters, though honestly I’ve been fine in a Honda Fit for the last 17 years) so the EX30 is up there on my list of possibilities.
I’ve also been checking in on the subreddits of a few cars including the EX30. The software in that car has received a lot of updates since most of the video reviews you might have seen, and most owners are pretty happy with the car at this point. There are still complaints about glitchy mobile keys and such. But honestly, vehicle subreddits are almost all full of complaints about this or that.
It’s probably not going to end up being the car I buy because the newly announced Canadian federal rebate caps out at $50k and the AWD versions are going for nearly $60k. That’s going to push me to the upcoming C-HR/Uncharted or possibly up a size into a Mach-E or Equinox with big manufacturer incentives.
Yeah, exactly. I was excited about this until the price “increase”. $30k-ish just isn’t very competitive anymore. A gently-used BEV will be around that price and get you a lot more car than a barebones Slate (no power windows or speakers? C’mon… there’s a difference between minimalist and poor value).
Have you test-driven one yet? As far as BEVs go, it was the one that impressed me the most. We didn’t end up buying it because it was my partner’s car and it was too space-shippy for her, but I can see why it’s so popular.
If Hyundai ever made a more “traditional” trim (really just cosmetic changes on top of their existing hardware and software platform), I suspect they’d completely destroy all the other legacy automakers’ BEVs (everything aside from Tesla/Rivian/Lucid).
We finally got enough snow here where I was able test out the Solterra on snow tires (Blizzaks). It still did swerve and slide around a tight corner, but the ABS did an admirable job of keeping the skidding reasonable, and I was able to regain control within a couple of seconds. Anecdotally, it did seem more stable than either our former Crosstrek or Forester, probably due to its weight… though this is hardly a scientific test.
As far as AWD goes, we take it offroading all the time (but not like dune crawling or rock hopping, just what we in the US call forest service roads… mostly dirt, gravel, and sometimes mud). It handles really quite well in those environments, like any other Subaru I’ve been in, just with much improved acceleration (low-end torque). The BEV-ness of it actually makes navigating ditches and potholes and such a lot easier; it’s so much easier to get back to speed immediately after slowing down for a bigger dip, and the regen limits brake wear from all the starts-and-stops of such driving.
I haven’t and probably won’t take it into deep snow, mostly because recovery would be a huge PITA. Besides, any generic car with good tires and studs or chains (and of course driver skill) would do better than AWD in the snow & ice anyway.
The Subaru BEVs are still some of the cheapest non-Tesla AWD BEVs out there, both current and upcoming models (even compared to their Toyota sister cars, for some reason, at least in the US). My '25 Solterra was about $36k USD for the second-highest trim (Limited).
But that said, you saw my complaints about the app and cabin features in the other thread, I hope. They’re minor-ish, but good to know.
That’s the one i couldn’t get. They were sold out.
Ah, bummer… the timing just wasn’t quite right for you. They’re just about to come out with a smaller variant too (Subaru Uncharted/Toyota C-HR+). Might’ve been a possibility if you needed a car this year instead of last.
I honestly sorta have a love-hate relationship with that thing (the middle-sized Solterra, not the newer/smaller variant). It is by far the best-driving & handling Subaru I’ve ever been in (been in a lot of them!), while also having an even-worse-than-usual in-cabin and digital experience. Subaru has never been great at that stuff, but somehow the adopted Toyota-ness made it even worse…
Yeah, i got a postcard from the dealer when the new ones showed up, but I’d already bought a car.
Yeah, I saw those. I’m not happy about the rear wiper situation, but I also routinely drive a cargo van which is entirely reliant on side mirrors, so I’m not afraid of having no visibility in the rearview. Also sadly this is a “feature” of some other options like the Leaf.
I really don’t know how to feel about software issues simply because I’ve been driving analog cars my entire life. Will I even bother to connect my phone on my commute? Don’t know.
One question I’d have for you is whether the big centre console cramps the driving position. I’ve seen some reviewers complain about it intruding on their right knee space. I was at a Toyota dealer a few weeks ago and sat in a BV for a bit and it wasn’t immediately uncomfortable, but sitting in a car for a few minutes is different from driving for an hour or two.
Yeah. Based on the reviews I was looking at it just to be complete before crossing it off. I was shocked by how much I like it. Of course this going to be my wife’s car so we will see what she thinks.
I think they are chasing where the ball was? They are following Tesla’s approach and think consumers want screens.
Huh. Well, my first thought on reading that was, “Big center console? What big center console?” 
So I guess that’s a good sign — in half a year of ownership, neither of us noticed anything unusual about the driving position or the width of the center console.
Here’s what it’s like in 25 Solterra, in my usual driving position:
And a closeup showing a credit card width’s worth of room between my leg and the console:
We’re average-sized people. If you have wider hips or like to drive with your knees out more, maybe it would matter, but we never noticed it.
Keep in mind that the 26 versions redesigned the center console, though:
26 Solterra:
26 Uncharted:
Doesn’t seem much wider, but hard to say without sitting in one.
I will say that regardless of the center console, if you’re coming from an older car anyway, adaptive cruise control is a gamechanger (it’s cruise control + cameras & radar to keep a safe distance from the car ahead of you, slowing down and braking as necessary and speeding back up when it’s safe). Even my partner, who also previously drove a car with no power anything and no working radio or A/C, much less cruise control, fell in love with it after a few hours and now uses it every single chance she can. That gives you a lot more flexibility to find a comfortable long-duration driving position, though obviously you should make sure the brake is still easily accessible in an emergency (no sticking your legs on the dashboard, sorry).
Oh, and notice that rectangular-ish steering wheel… that did take a bit of getting used to (and I think the Toyotas have the regular round ones). It does help with being able to see the instrument cluster better, though. It grew on me after a few weeks.