Volvo's Infotainment System Looks Good, But Falls Short: Review

Volvo's new infotainment setup looks bright and new, but it feels slow and out of place.

Volvo Infotainment Review 2025

Photo by: Brian Silvestro / Motor1

Brian Silvestro

By: Brian Silvestro

May 2, 2025 at 12:00pm ET

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Volvo is seemingly always at the forefront when it comes to technology in vehicles. It makes some of the safest cars on the market, and uses a slick Google-sourced Android interface to run its infotainment system. That makes Volvos a great place to spend time, so long as you're willing to put up with a few quirks.

Volvo updated most of its vehicles built from 2020 onward with the company's new infotainment software, which includes a fresh interface that makes the overall user experience even more pleasant. While there are some big upsides, I still have complaints.

Quick Specs 2025 Volvo XC90 Touchscreen / Instrument Cluster 11.2 inches / 12.3 inches Apple CarPlay Wired Voice Control Yes

The heavily updated 2025 XC90 is among the first vehicles to receive Volvo’s new infotainment system from the factory. To go alongside those software changes, the company installed a new 11.2-inch portrait-oriented touchscreen in the center of the dash. Unlike the previous XC90, this screen looks like it was slapped on the dash, rather than installed neatly within it. It’s an inelegant solution, though, I suspect buyers won’t mind. Bigger is better, after all.

The screen itself looks new and high-quality, with bright colors and plenty of detail. Volvo says it increased the pixel density by 21 percent, resulting in a crisper display. And it shows; map details are easy to read, while the menus are simply navigated through large, well-marked buttons.

Under the screen is a sparsely populated set of physical buttons for the defroster, hazard lights, and, thankfully, volume. There aren’t any physical buttons for the climate control, which sucks. In their place is a row of digital controls permanently displayed at the base of the screen for adjusting things like temperature and fan speed. Above that sits a “contextual bar,” a row of options that changes depending on the situation.

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Photo by: Brian Silvestro / Motor1

Pros: Nice UI Design, Useful Google AI, CarPlay Navigation Projects Onto Instrument Cluster

The bar will display things like music controls if you’re using the Maps function, so you don’t have to leave the navigation system to pause your song, for example. In the case of this plug-in hybrid XC90, there’s also a drive mode button in the same bar that allows for easy access to changes in the steering, suspension, and the hybrid system.

Between the song controls and the drive mode button is a multi-colored Google icon marked “Google Assistant.” Activate it by pressing the icon or simply saying “Hey, Google.” The assistant can adjust the temperature, text loved ones, or ask for directions. And like any AI assistant, it will answer virtually any question you ask it. Wondering which city is the capital of New Zealand? Now, your Volvo can tell you (it’s Wellington, by the way).

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Photos by: Brian Silvestro / Motor1

It’s a gimmicky feature, sure, but sometimes it’s nice to simply command the car to take me home or turn on the seat heaters without having to navigate through the touchscreen—especially since the screen itself can be laggy and slow to respond when given a series of quick inputs. It’s not mid-2010s touchscreen slow, but it’s not far off, either.

There’s an even bigger problem here, though: No wireless Apple CarPlay. Even in the year of our lord, 2025, this Volvo XC90’s infotainment system requires a wired connection with your phone to project CarPlay onto the center screen. That is simply unacceptable, especially when this car’s all-electric sibling, the EX90, gets wireless CarPlay standard.

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Photo by: Brian Silvestro / Motor1

Cons: Slow Reponse Time, No Wireless CarPlay, Screen Shoehorned Onto Dash

Despite needing a wire, I had CarPlay running for the majority of my time with the XC90. It’s nicely integrated into the touchscreen and easy to use. When you have a navigation app like Waze running, the car will even project the map and directions onto the 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster, a feature all new cars should have.

What do you think?

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When there’s no actual map displayed on the cluster, it looks a bit plain. It’s not very customizable either, which is a shame, considering it’s just a screen that can be programmed to show virtually anything. Again, I’m not sure customers will really mind. This is a Volvo after all, not a Lamborghini. It doesn’t need to be flashy.

For being in a car that’s a decade old, Volvo’s infotainment system is impressive. It feels like a new thing, with big, bright screens and many modern capabilities. It’s just a few small flaws away from being truly great. Sharpen the screen’s response time and add wireless CarPlay, and you’ve got yourself a true winner.

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