I was 23. White upper-middle class suburban punk. A year back I had been majoring in toxicology and pharmacology at Emory. Hell, I figured I had only so much time to enjoy, and I was right. A year later, I found myself helping take public a company that would be inevitably intertwined with the 9/11 bombings. The COO used to say that if the applicant passed the mirror test they would hire them. The job? Aviation security. Which reminds me of how things are shaping up for Volvo at the moment.
This company was screwed well before Ford bought them. Starting with the S80, Volvo went straight for the mantle of of mediocrity. Yes, the chassis was a good one and the look was distinctive. But non-enthusiasts don’t buy a chassis or distinctiveness. They buy a brand and the vicarious fantasy of actually owning the ‘right car’. It’s the reason why Camrys are plentiful and Phaetons became Dodos. When cars can’t capture a fantasy for the customer, the novelty dies quick and the customers en masse don’t look back. For the sins of the S80, Volvo would spend the next eight years discounting and even rental car offering their flagship vehicle.
The S40 was so terrible that I refuse to even mention it beyond this sentence. The S60? A decent vehicle but completely wrong for this side of the Atlantic. Selling a smallish premium car in the US of A during this decade has been like selling a premium wagon for SUV Sam and Sally. How the hell can a car be worth $30,000+ when it can’t even fit an ass made for an SUV? It’s a question Ford never really got right with Volvo. Except for one model.
The XC90. Not exciting. Not interesting at all. Unfashionably late to the party. But it had space and luxury. Unfortunately like the government’s other subsidized transportation firm, Amtrak, it only had a couple good years. But Ford should get credit for the obvious fact that the Volvo brand and SUVs were a good match. So what should be done now?
The only niche I see for Volvo: one that makes them what Mercury never was. Think about it. The only commercially successful model for Volvo with any real staying power was the Volvo 850 of the 1990s. The 850 carved out a successful niche from all those conservative people who wanted a fancier Camry. Is that a bad thing? Absolutely not. Volvo offers a helluva premium with the non-enthusiasts of Camryland, and so long as they can keep the price level within $3000 to $5000 of a loaded Big C, Volvo’s in the ball game.
I believe that if Hyundai bought Volvo and started selling all their Genesis derived vehicles under that brand, it may just work. Yes, I know it’s a long shot, and I hate the very smell of Hyundais. But in the twisted real world we live in, it just may work.
From day 1, they were only interesting for one thing: frozen lake racing when it was pitch dark at noon…
Hybrids. Hybrids, hybrids, hybrids. Did I mention hybrids? Hybrids.
Volvo is, by it’s very nature, a green brand in the same way that, say, Cadillac is not. And yet Cadillac has a hybrid (that doesn’t sell) and Volvo does not.
Ford is still very stupid about marketing. GM is probably worse, if for no other reason than Ford just fails to exploit where GM throws millions of dollars at boneheaded ideas.**
** Note: Ford’s D3 isn’t good money after bad in the way that the GMT900 hybrids are. The D3 is good money for product and absolutely none for polish and marketing.
So, given the content of the article, I don’t get the reference to NPR in the title.
I’m not an NPR listener, so maybe I’m ign’ant on an inside joke. Can somebody fill me in?
1. I don’t see how the title of this piece matches up with the text that follows. If you’re implying with the title that the academic types are Volvo’s only hope, then maybe you ought to support that in the text. Looking around the Boston metro area, you could certainly make that claim – I see more XC70s than I see Camry’s around here. In fact, New England must account for 90% of Volvo’s US sales.
2. I think psarhjinian’s got the right idea. If Volvo made XC70 and XC60 hybrids, they’d sell like hotcakes – especially in New England. Hell, I might buy one.
Except for one model.
I’d hazard they did the XC60 right as well. But you’re right, they flubbed everything else, nominally through overly optimistic asking prices.
I looked at a number of Volvos, and to a fault they were always priced way above what was reasonable. The C30 is probably the worst, but the S40/V50 isn’t far behind, nor is the S60/V70 far behind that.
I agree that New England is Volvo and Subaru country. XC70s all over the place up here.
I don’t understand the comment that the S60 was wrong for here. The comments made in the article could jut as easily be applied to the Audi A4. I have an S60, it’s a fine vehicle that’s given me no trouble so far. They are also all over the place up here in New England. And it’s offered with AWD, which is a big plus and gives it a tangible advantage over some competitors.
Volvo has always appealed to a conservative Camry-esque clientele.
The New England folks who are looking for ‘a little more than a Toyota’ have been a primary market for Volvo over the last two decades and change. The inclusion of AWD and a safety-uber-alles mentality helps that out a great deal.
I believe NPR has a very strong following in that part of the world along with the Northeast, and heck… anywhere that librarians, aspiring yuppies, and quirky folks tend to congregate.
Along with top-tier Japanese makes, I would think Volvo owners are disproportionately represented in the world that is NPR Nation. Maybe Subaru owners would have a higher NPR concentration… but that’s about it as far as brands go.
Yeah, I know it’s a generalization but so what? It just happens to be one that is mostly true.
The only commercially successful model for Volvo with any real staying power was the Volvo 850 of the 1990’s.
Not even a remotely true statement. The Volvo 240 series was extremely successful for Volvo.
“Volvo would spend the next eight years discounting and even rental car offering their flagship vehicle.”
A small nit: Volvo had a relationship with Hertz long before the S80 came out. In fact, I used to request 850s when I was a frequent renter in the mid and late 1990s.
I agree with you though the that 850 hit a market sweet spot. I owned two that I purchased brand new. In each case they were only a few thousand dollars more than a well equipped Camry, and offered a great deal more car for that extra money.
I trace the failure of Volvo not to the S80, but to the much earlier C70. Instead of using the 850 platform to build the Volvo of minivans, Volvo spent a bunch of money (and reputation) on a failed project with Tom Walkinshaw to build an overpriced sports coupe out of the five cylinder 850 platform. Volvo management was all hot to trot to get in on the fashionable vehicle market instead of the stodgy family vehicle market. Eventually Walkinshaw was shown the door, but Volvo continue pouring money into the C70, including building a convertible version. Early C70s were a reliability nightmare, and the product was always overpriced and non-competitive. Oh, and the luxury coupe market contracted massively.
The problem with the S60 was that it was priced to replace the 850, but was a smaller car. The back seat of an S60 is not adequate for adults while the 850s was. The roof profile severely compromised headroom both front and rear. The trunk was small and hard to access. Meanwhile, both the Accord and the Camry had gotten larger and plusher. The back seat of an Accord provides ample room for two adults. Now you have to buy an S80 to get Camry/Accord interior space.
The XC90 is a good vehicle. Holds 7, third row folds flat, good safety ratings. Volvo is just now starting to lower prices to more reasonable levels though. I think the higher pricing is what kept people from buying from Volvo.
The New England folks who are looking for ‘a little more than a Toyota’ have been a primary market for Volvo over the last two decades and change. The inclusion of AWD and a safety-uber-alles mentality helps that out a great deal.
I believe NPR has a very strong following in that part of the world along with the Northeast, and heck… anywhere that librarians, aspiring yuppies, and quirky folks tend to congregate.
I’m a librarian in New England who’s also an aspiring yuppie. I own a large selection of gaming t-shirts and also build model cars, so I guess I’m quirky too. And I drive a Volvo.
You’ve nailed me to a T, Mr. Lang! Except that NPR bores me to tears.
I wish Canada would buy Volvo and make it theirs. That way Canada could have their own flagship car company, and we could still have Volvos in the future. For some reason, in my SoCal mind, the two go together.
Volvo makes the only decent wagon out there. I have a V70 and it holds as much as a F150 pickup. I am amazed at how versatile and roomy my V70 is.
And I love the lines of the XC90. It is a beautiful car. But there is no way I am going to pay that much money for AWD that I don’t need.
The S80 is a brilliant car, beautiful inside and out, incredibly comfortable, tomb-quiet, and priced lower than a S or 7 series. The FWD nature won’t effect 99% of buyers if people could just get it through their heads that it is just as good, if not better, than RWD if you have no sporting pretensions about your car.
The late and much lamented S60R is drool-worthy, and I would love to have one grace my parking space if I had that kind of money. The C30 hatchback looks great and fulfills the premium small car niche that people keep saying the US needs.
I think a lot of Volvo’s lack of sales success comes from a lack of marketing. The unmistakably sexy broad shoulders on the cars, the mysterious Swedish heritage, and the fact that the logo is the sign for ‘Male’ should be enough for someone to come up with a killer ad campaign; why hasn’t it happened?
Mercedes are for the bankers, corporate types, and those with no imagination, BMWs for the weekend racers and pricks who think they are professional drivers, Audis for the fashionistas, while Volvo fills the roll of luxury, solidity, and comfort without pretense, similar to the VW Phaeton (another car which died far too soon). I’d love to have either a Phaeton or a VW in my driveway, but not if Volvo ever went too mainstream. The entire appeal of the brand is that not everyone else has one. Ford needs to find a way to make Volvo profitable selling in niche vehicle numbers in the US market.
Why the NPR reference? Can we say die-hard liberal market? In our area (Richmond, VA) a true traffic anomaly is a Volvo wagon with a Bush/Cheney 04 bumper sticker.
My wife is a Rush-listening dittohead and all around conservative. I’ve considered picking up a Volvo wagon as my car (they look great with a roof rack full of racing bicycles), and she’s stated flatly that she will walk before she’ll be seen in public riding in one.
After she put the E36 M3 in the bodyshop twice in the first twelve months we owned it, I threatened that, “one more wreck and you’re getting a Volvo – for your own safety”.
Amazing how the wrecks stopped – for awhile.
Dammit! I knew that listening to NPR (hey, I pay taxes for it) was not good for my convservative soul but inheriting a 760 from the wife was even worse. Cherry on top: NPR decal on the back window from before she was the owner. The constant turbo whine and poor fuel economy makes up for all that.
Good idea with the hybrids.
Ford’s marketing team is too stupid to sell Volvo. You’d need a combo of Apple+VW to do that better.
@ZoomZoom,@FrayedKnot: I agree. -What, no Terry Gross, tweed jacket, Garrison Keillor, or college history professor jokes?
I too am disappointed; as I replace my suede elbow patches while on sabbatical.
Volvo’s problem is not their cars, it’s the market around them.
There are only so many ways to differentiate a brand. You could say “we’re make reliable cars” (Toyota, Honda), or “we make luxurious cars” (Mercedes, Lexus) or even “we make American cars” (Chevy).
Volvo’s schtick was “we make safe cars”. When you go into a Volvo dealer, they have a picture book of car wrecks with totalled Volvos and their drivers standing next to them. I’ve never been to any other dealer that had pictures of its cars wrecked ;-) Lots of safety advances were Volvo firsts.
Alas, most of the major safety edges that Volvo had are now common. Driver-side airbags? Everyone’s got ’em. Those nifty child safety seat couplings? Every car has ’em. Lots of Volvo firsts are now seconded by everyone.
Volvo was forced to change its course to go more upstream as a “we’re a European semi-luxe brand” because it could no longer differentiate on safety. And the world is lousy with luxury brands.
We Americans are a fickle bunch… I have a Volvo enthusiast friend. Once I started riding and driving his cars I have decided I want one. I’ll take an S-series thanks… Nice size, nice features and I wouldn’t have bought one new b/c I don’t spend that kind of cash.
Don’t understand why we Americans can’t understand premium smallish cars…
I live an an area rife with Prius and XC Volvos of all kinds. I used to be a saab guy.
In Sweden, they make two cars…one for the right lane, and one for the left lane. (rimshot !)
Seriously, Volvo charges BMW money-without the build quality.
When a friend of mine was car-shopping a few years ago, she happened on an S70. Being her go-to guy when it comes to car research, but not knowing anything about Volvos at the time, I called the service department at the local Volvo dealership (not where the car was) and asked one of their guys what they thought of the model.
The reply was unequivocally in favor of the S70 and was accompanied by a lament that the model was no longer in production. In that Volvo man’s opinion, at least, the S70 was the right size for a sedan, where the S60 was just too small and the S80 was overkill for most people.
She bought the car, and having spent a fair amount of time in it, I’d say the Volvo man I talked to was right. It has plenty of space for four adults and the best seats on the planet. And she works at a university. Perfect.
I went looking for a “toy” (“future collectible” since I only had a small wad of cash saved and did not wish to go into debt for a “toy”).
I had a 1993 BMW 740iL, a 1990’s Lexus LS400, a 1995 Volvo 960 sedan and a 1990’s Mercedes 300CE coupe – all but the latter at one dealership, being sold as “unique used cars”.
Knowing that the Volvo was only built in this guise for 3 years and this was the first year of the re-engineered “top of the line” (complete with BMW-esque all-independent suspension, tilted inline six, rear wheel drive instead of wrong wheel drive) – I really “wanted” to like the Volvo.
Wow. Just wow. What a total and complete piece of shit. “KLANG” went the door when I closed it.
?!? Klang?!? What the hell is “Klang” doing in a Volvo?! Tried the back doors. “KLang”. huh?!
Tried the other doors on the other side. “Klang. Klang”
Volvo wanted to compete with the BMW 5-series with this car, selling it for over $31,000 in 1995. The car was a 3-litre inline six, of 181 horsepower. (The 1995 BMW 525i started at just over $35,000, had 189 horsepower).
Here’s a newsflash for the guys at Volvo who probably STILL haven’t figured it out.
If you want to compete with the big-boys, you’d better make cars that don’t give first impressions of being Yugo-esque.
I walked away from the Volvo, went back to my new 2009 HYUNDAI Sonata and closed the door, left the dealer lot. (“THUNK” went the door).
BTW, my sister has a 2005 Volvo S60 bought new. She won’t go back to Volvo. Horn went out. $800 for some electronics which had gone wrong. She says “$800 to fix the horn?” I reminded her that in our Sonata, the warrantee would have taken care of that.
I think she may go out and buy a Sonata.
bluecon :
June 5th, 2009 at 12:01 pm
A small expensive environmentally correct car? The Obamamobile. They just need to pass a law outlawing bigger vehicles. Just give the new dictatorship time.
You know bluecon,
I came here to read an article about Volvos. What does you comment have to do with them? There are a good number comments here, all of them having to do with Volvos.
I’m starting to feel more and more alienated on this site as it increasingly becomes too political. I feel like the authors and some commentators forget them some of us reading this blog are liberals. We like cars too.
It’s articles like this that keep me coming back. It’s comments like yours that make me never want to come back.
I realize that this probably violates some of the site’s anti-flaming rules, but ugh, it needed to be said.
The more I think about it, the more it comes to light that Volvo’s biggest problem is that the semi-premium car market it dead.
For reference, Buick, Acura, Saab, Mercury and possibly Lincoln have the same, or at least similar, issues.
If people want a nice car, they’ll buy an Accord EX-L or a Camry XLE (which are, arguably, as nice as a Volvo). If they want a premium car, they’ll lease a 3-Series or suchlike. Volvo et al are neither here nor there; back before the Camries of the world became really nice cars (or Mercedes lowered itself to allow mortals to buy C-Classes) they had a niche. Now, not so much. Saab already died this way, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see Volvo, Acura or Lincoln go next.
They need a differentiator; safety used to be it (and still could be, if the pricing structure wasn’t whacked) and green ought to have been the new take, but they somehow missed it. Completely.
menno: The car was a 3-litre inline six, of 181 horsepower. (The 1995 BMW 525i started at just over $35,000, had 189 horsepower).
Are you lamenting the difference of eight horsepower? Perhaps the engine is tuned for torque rather than redline-horsepower? Personally I would have the torque.
Maybe the Volvo you looked at was rode hard and put up wet? Been around all my freind’s Volvos and several of them have been in wrecks (former auction cars), and repaired and ALL of them – even the ’89 760 (?) two door – all go THUNK. The mid-90s and the 80s car remind me of my late 90’s VW though needing a little extra TLC from time to time than the half-dozen Hondas I have owned. Little things break or go wrong, ya know. If you are a mechanic like us, it’s cheap and usually not too hard.
I’ll be looking at Volvo next purchase time as well as a few others b/c of my exposure to my friend’s Volvos. He’s finishing an S60 wreck repair. Hit in the backend. Not a difficult repair. Stripped the bumper and lighting remains off, had it pulled a little, painted a little and he’s putting it back together. Car drives well, sounds good, and has a long list of comfort features. Solid car at 70K miles. Nice size. Only way it could be better would be if it was a wagon. I prefer a wagon b/c of it’s versatility.
In my youth (the ’60s), Volvo was the sensible shoes of the automotive world. The styling was also great. That continued probably through the ’70s (the sensible shoes, not the great styling). They were also cars for NPR types (I fit that demog). I drove a Stanford prof’s Volvo wagon x the country in ’74. A family friend, a woman a bit younger than me, a professor of classics at U Wisc. and her husband (a cosmology professor) still have the Volvo wagon her parents (a Berkeley classics professor and his wife) bought new in 1968. It had a big overhaul some time in the last 15 years.) The last car my late parents (both professors) bought (in ’99) was a ’95 940 Wagon. It was an impulse buy, and something my mother wanted, that they did not need.
Somehow the FWD era Volvos don’t do anything for me. I loved the pre-boxy era volvos, and I like the boxy-era volvos.
I would buy a 240 diesel if it were made, today. Same body style and interior…maybe an updated suspension, though. Nothing fancy, although leather would be nice. BTW, NPR is to news as Velveeta is to cheese.
Just a short note. Lots of Volvos around Northeast Ohio, good winter cars overall. As a 2-Volvo owner, I was excited about the prospect of the possible BMW purchase. Spending a lot of time reading this site, its easy to say where Volvo’s problems lie, not boxy, FWD, etc.
I think the primary problem is price. Volvo could be to Ford what Mercury should be, a slightly-upmarket, yet sensible car. Why rebadge Fords to Mercyries when you have a brand with cachet now? This editorial hits it on the head, the market is there, but Volvo should be competing against Honda, Toyota, Nissan, Subaru and VW, not BMW, Audi or Mercedes. Make slightly more expensive cars than Accords, Altimas, Outbacks, Passats and Camarys and charge more than an Accord but less than the comparable Audi or Acuri, to sell them on style, availability of hybrid (can’t they stick the Fusion hybrid motor in an S60 somehow)?
mpresley: BTW, NPR is to news as Velveeta is to cheese.
You’re just jerking somebody’s chain – right? B/c aside from their slight liberal slant (every has a slant, right? And I didn’t says lies.) I think they do pretty good. Much better than talk radio. Listened to an explaination of the new credit card laws and their effects last night on NPR as I did some chores in the yard. Pretty detailed. All I hear from the typical conservative radio (i.e. talk radio) is alot of non-constructive criticism and hand-wringing.
Who do you recommend? Rush Limbaugh or G.Gordon Liddy?
If talk radio is really the Republican party mouthpiece then they will have to do some hard work (minus the blowhards) to get a vote from me again.
Oh yeah, we were talking about Volvos weren’t we?
oeaverage : mpresley: BTW, NPR is to news as Velveeta is to cheese.
Who do you recommend? Rush Limbaugh or G.Gordon Liddy?
_______________________________
On the radio there’s not much choice. I don’t think the two you mentioned are, strictly speaking, news sources, but, rather, commentary. That’s why I go for print or Internet. For print I’d check out WSJ and Financial Times. For Internet there’s a ton of sites–a traditional newspaper like site is Asia Times (if you are interested in that area of the world).
Steven, you went to Emory? I go to Emory now! Too bad there’s no car freaks here anymore.
A long time ago, Volvo built a good looking sports wagon called the 1800ES. It’s long gone, but the concept survives.
Lots of Volvo’s market share went to either Subaru or Toyota in this part of the world.
Seriously, Volvo charges BMW money-without the build quality.
Not sure if I agree about price, because class for class, BMW is still more expensive most any way you slice it.
And I can only agree about the build quality inference for the last several years. I drive a ’96 850 Turbo wagon and it’s the beefiest, thickest-feeling, most overbuilt vehicle that I’ve ever driven or ridden in, all German stuff included. That said, quality has definitely been on the decline since the mid-90s for Volvo, with the exception of a few makes and years of V70 and XC70.
It’s become glaringly apparent that over the last several years a controlling force, be it Ford or just management within the Volvo sub-company itself, has been aiming to cheapen the build, perhaps in response to an increase in scarcity and/or price of materials, or maybe just to increase that stupid f*cking term: profit margin.
Whatever it is, it’s a real shame, because there’s not much being built these days with a priority on longevity and burliness. And it’s ironic that BMW was the brand mentioned above as being so overpriced, for in my mind they probably overbuild and quality-ensure the best of anyone left out there today. Alas, perhaps buying something today that truly might be as beefy as yesterday just isn’t as attainable, perhaps even unrealistic altogether.
MPresley – thanks for the pointers!
MPresley – thanks for the pointers!
The radio is a good medium for me b/c I can listen while I work. Podcasts work well too of course.
My family’s collection of Volvos extends over 43 years: ’66 122-S (as pictured in this article), which we had for 8 years and 93,000 miles, an economically-driven gap filled with Toyotas and Subarus, then ’83 and ’84 244s (the latter w/ intercooled turbo, collectively lasting 27 years and 250,000 miles), a used ’83 760 for a college son (lousy French V6 saved by extended warranty), a very used ’77 242 for a high-school son, a ’97 850 T5 wagon (rear-end wrecked at 7 years and 77,000 miles), and currently, an ’04 S60-R. Each in its own way surpassed predecessors in performance, reliability, and comfort. They dealt admirably with Chicago heat and snow, Houston heat and humidity, Colorado mountains, and cross-country travel. Their radios were indeed tuned to NPR most of the time. Of late, the crew in Dearborn seems bent on the total destruction of everything Volvo used to stand for.
I’m in a good position–I don’t need to decide what to do about a car for another year. I think the market is too volatile right now, and I’d really hate to be buying in today’s climate. Who knows what it will look like, and who will be a player next year?
The more you read about reliability and build quality, the more you become confused. A had X and it lasted forever; X for B was a complete money funnel. I’m thinking that any car, these days, is a crap shoot. Maybe better to lease and try the car out before buying. If it’s a good one, buy it and lease end. Otherwise, just walk away.
I think Volvo lost their chi when they went FWD. I can’t answer to the 850, but since our S70 was based on it (with 5 years further development), I could only imagine the reliability issues. Perhaps Karesh has some feedback on this.
Our S70 was a money pit that we ditched at 70k for a Toyota. Sad, because the thing was a tank, and hugely comfortable.
Volvo faithfully slots below BMW and Mercedes. To compare it to Lincoln is almost an insult. Saab has lost their way I hate to say, but even in Saabs hayday they were truly a notch below Volvo anyway. I think the problem with the Volvo brand is marketing marketing marketing. There IS a place for Volvo, but until money is spent on the brand it won’t happen. Ford sucked money out of the Swede when it was making cash instead of reinvesting. I think that if Ford had not canned Volvo’s hybrid platform in ’99, it would be a very different story. If Volvo had been well marketed it would be a different story. If Ford would spend some money bringing their direct injection engines and a hyrbid S40/V50/C30 to market, it would be different. If Ford allowed their SYNC system to go across the atlantic it would be different. It’s really just US sales that have sunk, Volvo is doing OK in expanding markets, but here it’s a long list of “it could have been different” I think if the old rumors of Nissan / Renault buying Volvo it would have been a great thing. The modern Volvo form is very, very attractive. Pushing that brand with the marketing and tech of the the competition would have done wonders. Audi anyone???
I love the new Volvos, especially the S80. They are actually attractive vehicles, and have the best seats in the industry. Plus, how can you hate a car that sounds like this?
A new Volvo S80 V8 has something like a $7000 incentive on it right now, and used examples are going for $26K with only 15000 miles. At those prices, screw the Ecoboost SHO and MKS.
When Ford bought Jaguar, I figured that the marque would improve. When Ford bought Volvo, I figured it would be curtains for the Swede. I was right on both accounts. If my job goes south, can I apply for Car Czar?
An XC70 is the ride of choice for the hottest damn MILF in all of southern Ontario for what that’s worth. It depresses the hell out of me when she pulls the stroller out.
I was raised in the back seat of a volvo. I still drive one. It’s a rip-snorter turbo with tight shocks, a balanced chassis, the turning radius of a chihuahua and wagon back end that fits a full size mattress. It looks, in the right light, like a tiger ready to pounce. And at 19 years and 220k it still gives me a lower cost per mile than anything else I can run the numbers on.
That’s a freakishly weird machine, but there are enough of us out there to keep it profitable…if the recent generations (yes, s80 and up) didn’t crap out on the reliability ticket. The new models…Women look sophisticated, attractive and smart in them, and more approachable than when blocked out by oversized sunglasses and a Lexus or a Bimmer. Men get to hoon around. Yes, a V70R is not an M or an AMG, but it IS, or was, still great. I agree with NulloModo, there’s a marketing angle here somewhere, but it’ll take a genius, money, and a killer hybrid drivetrain to make it happen. Too bad.
All I hear from the typical conservative radio (i.e. talk radio) is alot of non-constructive criticism and hand-wringing.
And from the MSM and NPR all I hear is a lot of cheerleading for Obama. Tell us, what constructive criticism, or any criticism at all, of the administration have you heard from NBC, MSNBC, ABC, CBS, CNN and NPR? Is the new President so perfect that none of his policies should be debated in the press?
TTAC has long decried the “rewritten press release” school of automotive journalism. Right now most of the mainstream media (ABC’s Jake Tapper is a notable exception) is an echo chamber for the administration, essentially parroting Obama’s press releases.
As for Volvo, they lost their way in the switch to FWD. The last real Volvo was the 960. The only Volvos that I’d consider today are the XC-90 and XC-70. The rest are just FWD euromobiles.
As for doors, every 700 and 900 series Volvo I’ve been in has a reassuring door thunk.
Volvo’s problem is the same as Saab’s problem. They were never high-end cars. Volvo was a good, durable, safe, reasonably priced car. Saab was a little less of all of these, but a way for a swede to stick it to the man. Once Ford and GM got hold of them, they tried to turn these sweedish meatballs into filet mignon, but it was a flop.
When you say “Volvo” I picture a 240 or a 740. All of the recent offerings have lost all that a Volvo used to be. A friend has a C70 convertible that is maybe a 2001. It is one of the most attractive convertibles of its size, but there is one thing it is not – a real Volvo.
I have seen it said here before – those who used to buy Volvos now buy Subarus. And what is a Subaru? A good, durable, safe, reasonably priced car.
My ’84 245 Diesel turned 247,000 miles yesterday.
I’ve been test driving new cars… Nissan Cube. Kia Soul, Pontiac Vibe.
After every test drive, I eagerly look forward to driving the 245 home.
They don’t make ’em like they used to.
I’m sad.
@ NulloModo:
On the S60R, some 4 years back when I was in the market for a car, I tested one of these — and even then, the new dickered price was less than, say, a 2-year old BMW 3-series. I thought it looked splendid, I loved the interior with the plush Alcantara leather seats, and it performed/handled well.
The deal-killers? The power steering was ridiculously light, and when I asked the salesman if it could be driven continuously in “Sport” suspension mode, he replied that to do so would damage the car.
So: No sale! A real pity, because with the proper adjustments, I think an S60R could have been a real gem at the asking price.