2020 Dodge Durango vs 2021 Volvo XC40

Dodge says it has three muscle cars in its lineup, but if you check out the website, you’ll see the Challenger and Charger. Where is the third? According to Dodge, it’s the Durango three-row SUV. Even though it is a seven-passenger family hauler, it has eye-catching muscle car styling cues. It is also available in a number of high-horsepower trims that deliver on the styling.

For that performance and style, you give up a bit of usability compared to leaders in the segment like the Toyota Highlander, Honda Pilot, and Kia Telluride. The Durango also feels a bit dated compared to those vehicles. So, is this tradeoff worth it?

Introduced for the 2019 model year, the Volvo XC40 enters 2021 with one major change—the addition of an all-electric powertrain option. The 2021 Volvo XC40 Recharge is the Scandinavian automaker’s first mass-market pure electric vehicle, in fact.

The Recharge will be sold alongside gasoline versions of the XC40, which carry over largely unchanged, and compete against small luxury crossovers like the Audi Q3, BMW X1, Mercedes-Benz GLA-Class, and Lexus UX. With its electric powertrain, the Recharge is a de facto Tesla Model Y competitor. It’s also priced similar to high-end versions of the Ford Mustang Mach-E, although the two electric crossovers have somewhat different philosophies.

In addition to that zero-emission powertrain, the Recharge gets an Android-based operating system, over-the-air (OTA) software update capability for all vehicle systems, and some updates to driver-assist tech. These changes don’t apply to gasoline 2021 XC40 models, but Volvo does plan to add the Android operating system to more vehicles in the future.

Since the Recharge is the main new thing for the 2021 XC40, that’s what we focused on for this review. While the gasoline XC40 is available in three trim levels—Momentum, R-Design, and Inscription—with standard all-wheel drive (AWD) in Canada, the Recharge is only offered in a single trim level.