Tested! Volvo Makes a $115K Minivan, and It’s Worth Every Penny

In an alternate reality where minivans weren’t pigeonholed as mom-mobiles 40 years ago, a six-figure minivan wouldn’t be a radical idea. Imagine a world where the minivan market had the variety of today’s SUVs. There would be small minivans and big ones, slow ones and fast ones, basic boxes and spectacularly luxurious ones like the $115,300 Volvo EM90 that turns every minivan stereotype on its head.

Sold only in China, the EM90 is designed for rear-seat passengers who have outgrown juice boxes but still rely on others to clean up their messes. Second-row captain’s chairs that look like they were sourced from Airbus’ business-class catalog transform the humble family wagon into a private jet for the road. Anyone headed to soccer practice in an EM90 likely owns the team and the stadium they play in.

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A First-Class Second Row

The executive limo of minivans technically seats six, but it’s best appreciated with the second row motored back against the third row. With the seat backs reclined, the footrests deployed, the tray tables unfolded, and the 15.6-inch ceiling-mounted screen lowered, the EM90 is as comfortable as any ultra-luxe flagship sedan. The heated, ventilated, and massaging thrones are layered with 4.7 inches of cushioning, which I assume is notable because I’ve never seen another automaker brag about the thickness of the seat padding in a press release.

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Both sliding doors house a small touchscreen for adjusting the rear climate system, plus controls for the left and right second-row windows and the sunroof shade. The cabin is decorated with characteristic Scandinavian restraint using light wood trim and upholstery that give the van a bright, airy feel. The ambient lighting features modes inspired by the northern lights and dawn above the Arctic Circle during midsummer, when the sun just kisses the horizon.

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There’s no refrigerator or crystal champagne flutes in the EM90, and the materials in this made-in-China van aren’t nearly as lavish as what you’ll find in a Bentley, Rolls-Royce, or even the top-shelf Mercedes-Benz S-Class. But then neither is the price. For a true first-class experience, the Zeekr 009 Grand—which is based on the same Geely SEA architecture as the EM90—discards the third row, upgrades the second-row seats, and installs a partition between the front and rear occupants that doubles as a mount for a 43-inch 4K screen.

The Electric Glide

On first impression, everything about the way the EM90 drives appears tailored to the rear-seat passengers’ comfort. Active noise cancelling keeps the cabin hushed, air springs sponge up road imperfections, and a single electric motor drives the rear wheels with fluid grace. With 268 horsepower, the EM90 surfs to 60 mph in 7.5 seconds in MotorTrend testing—plenty quick for a minivan, especially one weighing a prodigious 6,091 pounds. But no matter how quickly you stab the accelerator, the EM90 never jumps off the line. Standing on the accelerator wouldn’t spill a full glass of Perrier in a rear-seat cupholder. The Volvo van glides everywhere it goes.

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That’s true even when you steer the EM90 around MotorTrend’s figure-eight handling course. You’d never expect the steering to be as precise or the brake pedal to be as responsive given the tall, upright driver’s position. Then you find yourself sliding out of a corner with a tidy and quietly thrilling drift. The rear-drive dynamics make the EM90 nimbler than you’d expect—and nimbler (at least subjectively) than any minivan currently sold in America.

The typical EM90 driver might be hired help, but they’ll be rewarded for delivering important people to important places rather than, say, delivering packages in a Ram ProMaster for Amazon. You shift into drive with the Orrefors crystal shifter that Volvo is so fond of. The crisp, horizontal 15.4-inch touchscreen breaks from Volvo’s recent tradition of pixelated, vertical infotainment systems. The driver’s seat doesn’t do the La-Z-Boy thing, but it has all the comfort necessary for the driver to outlast the 116-kWh battery. China’s absurdly optimistic government range test says the pack is good for 459 miles, but in America, the EPA test would likely lop some 200 miles off that.

To Cool for Us

Not that we’ll ever see the Volvo EM90 on American soil. Back in 2018, Volvo’s home office dropped the XC90 Excellence on U.S. dealers and quickly discovered there’s not a market here for a $106,000 Volvo designed around a pair of cossetting rear seats, tray tables and all. Trying again—this time with a minivan-shaped version—would be a fool’s errand. That means, for the foreseeable future, the Volkswagen ID Buzz is America’s best and only hope for making minivans cool.