How reliable are Volvos? Here’s what Consumer Reports says – Jalopnik

Perhaps best known for its safety innovations, Volvo has also built some of the most durable cars of all time, including the 1966 Volvo P1800 that Irv Gordon drove for a Guinness World Record of 5.2 million miles. The only reason Gordon stopped driving his ultra-reliable, high-mileage Volvo was because he passed away in 2018, with the car returning to Volvo at the time. This isn’t the only Volvo with a million miles that made news, either.

These models, of course, date from Volvo’s independent era, which ended when Ford bought the company in 1999 and then sold it to its current owner, China’s Geely Holding Group, in 2010. Obviously a lot has changed during that period, and today Consumer Reports says most new Volvos give an average or lower rating for predicted reliability. As a result, the Volvo itself was rated No. 15 in the 2025 CR list reliability of new carsone place behind Genesis – Hyundai’s luxury division – and one place ahead of Chevrolet.

It’s also worth pointing out that Volvo is quite low in the rankings Maintenance and repair costsalso in 24th place (out of 28 brands assessed). Volvo is number 7 in the CR ratings Reliability of used carsalthough. Now let’s take a look at the individual members of the 2025 lineup, keeping in mind that CR doesn’t have complete results for the ES90, V60, V90, EX90, or EX30. The EX30 in particular proved to us that Volvo is still good at building fun, affordable cars.

Consumer Reports recommended a pair of Volvo SUVs for 2025, both with the same score of 42 out of 100 for predicted reliability. In fact, six different Volvos tied for predicted reliability, including the recommended XC90 luxury three-row SUV, and the XC60 Plug-in Hybrid (one of CR’s luxury compact SUVs), as well as the non-hybrid version was missing. status for other reasons.

Drilling a little deeper, even the recommended Volvos were not particularly reliable for their class. The XC90 tied for ninth in predicted reliability with the Cadillac XT6, and four of its competitors scored 50% higher than the Volvo. The XC60 plug-in hybrid is in 12th place with the non-hybrid XC60. On the other hand, CR does have historical reliability data for the XC60 Plug-in, unlike the XC90. Here we can see that the XC60 Plug-In has achieved the highest predicted reliability scores for the brakes for three consecutive years, and has achieved the same results for the climate system and body hardware for the past two years. That’s good news for customers, as the XC60 crossover has become Volvo’s best-selling car ever.

The bad news? Many of these Volvos are subject to recalls. The recommended XC90, together with the C40, XC40, XC90 and V90, is subject to a recall due to a defective reversing camera. The V60, S60, XC60, S60 and S90 are being recalled due to the reversing camera and a defective braking function. The EX90 is subject to recalls due to improperly tightened seats, a structurally compromised tailgate and defective headlights.

The five non-recommended Volvos we mentioned (S60/V60, S90/V90 and XC60) managed to distinguish themselves from the brand’s bottom residents: the EX30, C40, XC40 and EX90. They also had some bright spots on CR reliability in their results. The tight one S60 sedan and its wagon sibling, the V60are within shouting distance of the BMW 3 Series, Mercedes-Benz C-Class and Cadillac CT5, although they are well behind the pace of the class-leading Audi A4 and A5. Additionally, these cars are missing historical reliability data as of 2021. So the “predicted” part of the cars’ predicted reliability score does a lot of the work here.

A similar story applied to the larger Volvo S90 And V90the latter of which we called a masterclass in power and luxury in its Cross Country configuration. For CR, they all predicted a reliability ranking at the bottom of their class, but without detailed information available. As CR admits, “We do not have a large enough sample size to provide results of statistical reliability” for vehicles like these.

Finally, it’s the Volvo XC60 that shows how factors beyond reliability influence whether a vehicle is recommended or not. The recommended XC60 Plug-in is essentially the same SUV as the gas-only XC60 which was not recommended, and as mentioned both had the same reliability results. The main difference is that the Plug-in has a much better driving experience, thanks in part to the extra power and efficiency of its hybrid setup.