• Lots of passenger space
• Boot isn’t the largest in the class
• Shedloads of safety equipment

How much space is there?

The Volvo XC40 has a surprising amount of interior room for its size. There’s loads of head and legroom up front and the seats offer lots of adjustment. The driver’s seat on the entry-level Core model has manual height and tilt adjustment, while Plus models and up get electric adjustment and an extendable thigh support. The cabin also feels quite light and airy, especially when you opt for the Ultra (previously called Ultimate) model which comes with a panoramic sunroof.

Rear room impresses, too. Even with the front seats pushed right back, there’s plenty of knee and leg room. The middle seat’s a decent size as well, although the chunky centre console does get in the way of middle passenger’s legs. It’s definitely more spacious than rivals like the Mercedes GLA and the Audi Q3, though. Even more surprising is the amount of headroom.

It’s good everywhere, even with the optional panoramic sunroof equipped. Normally, glass rooves steal an inch or so of space from those in the rear – but there’s no such issue in the XC40. Space in the rear is impressive, as our tester 6ft 3in Adam Binnie clearly demonstrates (below). Centre passengers have a large hump in the floor, though.

Volvo XC40 boot space and storage

Volvo quotes two boot space figures. There are 443 litres of space if you fill the XC40’s boot up to the glass line and 569 litres if you pack it up to the roof. Fold the rear bench flat and the amount of maximum available space increases to 1,432 litres. That’s large, but fairly average for the class – although it’s commodious enough to swallow our tester’s kid’s mountain bike and child’s small bicycle (below).

Volvo has thought carefully about packaging, though. The XC40’s boot has a low load lip and it’s a good square shape with minimal intrusion from the wheel arches and light clusters. That makes it easy to pack. There’s also a handy storage area under the boot floor, which is useful for hiding your knick knacks.

Interior storage is up there with the best in the class. There are loads of intelligent solutions dotted around the cabin, such as slots next to the steering wheel for storing credit cards, a foldaway hook under the glovebox for hanging shopping and door bins that are big enough to hold a laptop and large water bottle. All this makes the cabin look tidy, even when you’ve got a family to carry.

Is it easy to park?

Reasonably so, with all models coming with rear parking sensors and a rear-view camera as standard. Mid-spec Plus models get front parking sensors, and Plus Pro versions gain a 360-degree surround camera system. Rear visibility isn’t great, as the XC40’s thick rear screen pillars block a lot of your vision.

Plus and up also get a set of proximity sensors which register how far your car’s sides are from nearby obstacles. They work in crawling traffic, too, which is particularly handy when threading through narrow lanes in motorway roadworks.

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Safety

Here’s where Volvo gets into its stride. The XC40 scored a full five stars in its 2018 Euro NCAP crash test, with an impressive 97% score in the adult occupant protection category. It also scored 87% in the child occupant category, with the testers finding no significant injuries on any dummies in both the frontal and lateral impact tests.

It should be noted, however, that because of the XC40’s age on sale, this rating has now expired and therefore shouldn’t be used to compare with other cars. That said, we firmly believe it to still be a safe car.

Volvo made the XC40’s body and chassis very good at absorbing crashes. The company also fitted the car with a veritable arsenal of driver assistance technology, including autonomous emergency braking, lane-keeping assist, intelligent speed limit assist, traffic sign recognition and a full complement of airbags, including a driver’s knee airbag and side pelvis airbag.

Most of this equipment is available on rivals, though – and that’s simply not good enough for safety-obsessed Volvo. So, the company went one step further. The XC40 also features a system called run-off-road mitigation, which can detect when the vehicle is about spear into the verge and adjust the brakes and steering to prevent it.

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Volvo has also massively upgraded its safety equipment levels in recent years, with adaptive cruise control (ACC) now standard across the line-up. All but the entry-level Core trim also come with blind spot monitoring, rear cross traffic alert and pilot assist, which is a more advanced ACC system that is able to hold the car central in a lane.

Watch the Volvo XC40 Euro NCAP crash test video