Volvo C40 Recharge Twin Ultimate 2022 UK review

Swedish coupe-SUV majors on style but a dual-motor powertrain may not suit its laid-back driving character There is no need for a crossover SUV to have 402bhp, but I’ll be damned if it isn’t fun. The Volvo C40, despite its pseudo-coupé sloping roofline, isn’t meant to be a sports car. Volvo's Geely Group owner has Polestar and the likely upcoming O2 roadster for that. No, this is fundamentally an XC40 coupé.The big difference from the XC40, apart from its stockily muscular ‘coupé-SUV’ styling, is that it won’t be offered with any combustion engines. It rides on the same CMA platform as the XC40 and Polestar 2 and is available with those models’ two pure-electric drivetrains.As such, it can be had as either a plain Recharge, with a single 228bhp front motor and a 67kWh battery pack for a total range of 269 miles, or as a Recharge Twin, like our test car, with a 201bhp motor on each axle and a 75kWh battery pack for a quoted range of 273 miles.Since it is essentially an XC40 coupé, there’s no technical reason why it couldn’t have the XC40’s range of petrols and hybrids, but Volvo has chosen to position the C40 as the spearhead of its EV transformation, proudly proclaiming it’s the first Volvo in history designed as pure-electric only. That's not untrue, but it does make the C40 sound rather more momentous than it is.