Volvo's New Crossover Is Quicker Than A BMW M3

Volvo Underrated The EX60

The all-electric 2027 Volvo EX60 is a total sleeper car, and not just because of its Swedish minimalist styling. Volvo will sell three powertrains ranging from 369 to 670 horsepower, and based on our real-world experience in two of them, we believe the Swedish automaker has underrated this car. During the First Drive event for the EX60, Autoblog sampled the P6 RWD and P10 AWD versions of the EX60; both accelerated quicker than Volvo's zero-to-60 mph estimates using a Racebox data recorder.

In our testing outside Barcelona, Spain, the P6 accelerated to 60 mph in 5.22 seconds, beating Volvo's claimed time (5.7 seconds) by nearly half-a-second. The P6 doesn't have a sport mode of any kind, so this time was pretty impressive for the 369-hp rear-drive car.

The P6 was quick, but the P10 was outright blistering. With the performance powertrain setting activated, it gently rolled off the line (because there is no launch control) in just 3.96 seconds, beating Volvo's estimate (4.4 seconds) by around the same gap as the P6.

Quicker Than Two BMWs

Even taking Volvo's estimates as face value, the EX60 is quicker than its closest rival, the 2027 BMW iX3. That vehicle launches with only one available powertrain configuration: the 50 xDrive with 463 hp. BMW says the iX3 50 can hit 60 mph in 4.7 seconds, though we've recorded it doing the sprint in 4.53 seconds. Of course, BMW will have a quicker M variant coming in the future. The EX60 P10's 3.96-second time puts it into impressive territory along with some truly quick cars:

• Tesla Model Y Premium AWD (4.6 seconds)
• GMCHummer EV 2X SUV (4.4 seconds)
• Mercedes-AMG G63 (4.2 seconds)
• Porsche 911 Carrera T (4.3 seconds)
• Toyota GR Supra (3.9 seconds)

Not only is the EX60 P10 substantially quicker than its German competitor, it's actually quicker than the base BMW M3 with a manual transmission (4.1 seconds). In fact, even that new M3 CS Handschalter will struggle to keep up with Volvo's latest electric crossover off the line.

How Quick Is The P12?

Volvo did not have an EX60 P12 on-hand for us to drive, but we can't wait to find out how quick it is in the real world. Assuming it beats the manufacturer estimates by around the same margin as the P6 and P10 variants, we can expect it to hit 60 mph in under 3.4 seconds. If the P12 lives up to these expectations, it would be near the following vehicles:

• Cadillac Optiq-V (3.5 seconds)
• Aston Martin Vantage (3.4 seconds)
• BMW M5 (3.4 seconds)
• Dodge Charger Daytona Scat Pack (3.3 seconds)
• Tesla Model Y Performance AWD (3.3 seconds)

The Volvo EX60 P12 would even keep up with a BMW M3 Competition xDrive (3.4 seconds) on paper, though that car is also severely underrated by the manufacturer and has been known to hit 60 mph in under three seconds. When we record a 0-60 time for the EX60 P12, we will let you know how quick it is. The upcoming Polestar 7 will use the same SPA3 architecture as the EX60 and may have sportier tuning, so perhaps it will be even quicker than the Volvo.

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