Volvo XC90 review - MPG, running costs & CO2

The Volvo XC90 is fairly fuel-efficient for a car its size and when you consider the performance on offer. Though expensive, the plug-in hybrid offers lower taxation, particularly for company-car drivers.

Volvo XC90 MPG & CO2

While a range of petrol, diesel and plug-in hybrid engines used to be offered for the Volvo XC90, there’s just the B5 mild-hybrid petrol left lower down in the range, with the T8 plug-in hybrid sitting above this in the lineup.

The B5 mild-hybrid is capable of up to 32.8mpg, while it produces around 193g/km of CO2. That means it will be quite expensive to tax (especially following the increases in VED that came into effect in April 2025) as those emissions are fairly high, though it’s more affordable to buy straight off the bat.

For more affordable running costs you’ll have to lay out around £9,000 more at the time of purchase and spring for the plug-in hybrid. This comes with the T8 powertrain, which consists of a 2.0-litre petrol engine, an electric motor and battery which is capable of up to 44 miles on a charge – that’s the same as the pre-facelift car, which is a bit of a shame as we’d have expected some progress in this area to keep up with rivals. Still, that means it has an official on-paper fuel-efficiency of 217.3mpg. Take this with a pinch of salt, though, because it’s only realistic if you keep it regularly charged up via a home wallbox charger – the added weight of the battery means that running it without a charge will affect your fuel consumption.

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In fact, we tried just this, and found we were able to manage between 32mpg and 35mpg once the battery was depleted. The T8 can charge at up to 6.4kW, so takes around five hours to charge from a wallbox. However, it doesn’t have the rapid-charging capability some rival PHEVs are starting to offer.

The good news is that CO2 emissions are around the 30g/km mark, so the XC90 Plug-in Hybrid will be very affordable to run as a company car as it will sit in a low Benefit-in-Kind (BiK) band. But, because every version of the XC90 costs over £40,000, it will incur the luxury car tax surcharge from years two to six of the car’s life.

Insurance group

The latest facelift of the XC90 is yet to get confirmed new insurance groupings, but for reference the outgoing version ranged from 37 to 44, so premiums are worth researching if you're coming from a car that has been inexpensive to insure.

Warranty

The standard Volvo warranty runs for three years or 60,000 miles – whichever comes first. That’s the same amount of cover you get on an Audi Q7, but there's no mileage limit on the three-year warranty offered with the BMW X5.

Servicing

Volvo offers service plans that are designed to spread the cost of your car’s ongoing maintenance with monthly payments. For cars up to four years old, plans can be taken out for two, three, four, five or six years. The price of these plans will vary depending on your anticipated annual mileage and the exact specification of your XC90.