Jeremy Clarkson has named the Volvo ES90 the stupidest car he has ever driven. In a review for The Times, the former Top Gear presenter gave the all-electric saloon three out of five stars. He praised the interior but heavily criticised the infotainment system and keyless card.
Clarkson's Criticism
Clarkson found the infotainment touchscreen overly complicated, requiring multiple steps for simple tasks like adjusting the steering wheel. He said: 'It meant that if I wanted those up and down buttons to do something else, like adjust the volume of the stereo, I had to go back into the car's vast brain and reprogramme it. And if I tried this, I got a message on the dash "You seem to be distracted". Yes, and the reason I'm effing distracted is because you haven't fitted a bloody volume knob.'
He also disliked the credit-card-style key, which he said caused him to be locked out. Clarkson explained: 'I now had to actually swipe the card on the door handle to gain entry. That night I gave the new system a try and it took 14 attempts to get in. And when I finally got the door to open and settled into that lovely seat, a message on the dash said "No key detected". I gave up.'
Reporter's Experience
The Daily Express reporter who attended the UK launch of the ES90 earlier this year also found the touchscreen annoying, particularly for opening the glovebox. The reporter wrote: 'Apart from a smattering on the steering wheel, there are barely any buttons at all on the inside. Given the automotive industry's recent penchant for reintroducing them, Volvo told us almost everything was done through the portrait touch screen in the centre of the car. It's not the worst or laggiest system I've used, but it's not the most intuitive. You would get used to it eventually, but some of it is a little overkill such as needing to go into a sub menu to open the glovebox. More than once you wonder where there isn't a button based shortcut you can press to, say, get from CarPlay to the radio or manual controls for the aircon. A small row of buttons would certainly be on the request list for any future facelift.'
The reporter gave the car an 8 out of 10 overall, noting that while the ES90 is fundamentally a good car, unless the price comes down and some buttons reappear, it may not convince people out of their BMWs, Porsches, Audis, or Teslas.
