The Swedish Solution: The 2020 Volvo XC40 T5 AWD Inscription

The 2020 Volvo XC40 T5 AWD Inscription.

With small luxury SUVs officially a hot spot in the automotive marketplace, the next question is how to get as many different types of buyers to choose you as possible.  Volvo seems to have hit on the answer with their three trim levels of the XC40---Momentum (the base model), R-Design (which Volvo describes as "sporty and stylish") and Inscription, which, according to Volvo is all about "sophisticated luxury".

Swede Emotion: The 2020 Volvo XC90 T6 R-Design

The 2020 Volvo XC90 T6 R-Design.

There are those who say that, puns based on Aerosmith song titles aside, the words "Swede" and "Emotion", at least in matters mechanical, should never be next to each other.  That the reputation for safety, precision and perfection force emotion out of the equation.

I can only assume those people have never driven a contemporary Volvo---and certainly not an R-Design Volvo.

Sexy, Swift and Safe: The 2020 Volvo S60 T8 E-AWD R-Design

The 2020 Volvo S60 T8 E-AWD R-Design.

Those of us of a certain age remember when Volvos were boxy sedans and station wagons sold largely on their safety. In the 80s, Volvo's TV commercials were largely videos of their cars in crash tests---including plummeting off cliffs into a concrete pit 45 feet below.

In the past few years, Volvo has figured out how to maintain the safety and blend styling and power into the mix. The big S90 sedan ranks high on my want list since reviewing it three years ago. And now, a lot of what makes the S90 so desirable is available in a mid-size package, the S60.

XCitement: The 2019 Volvo XC40 T5 AWD R-Design

The 2019 Volvo XC40 R-Design.

The strong success of Volvo's big XC90 SUV has Volvo doing the smart thing and spinning off XC variants in smaller sizes.  There's an XC60 in the middle and now, the XC40---a vehicle aimed squarely at urban Millennials.

Return of an Icon: The 2017 Volvo V90 Cross Country T6 AWD

The 2017 Volvo V90 Cross Country T6 AWD.

The Volvo wagon.  In the 1980s and early-mid 90s, nothing said you were smart about however much money you had quite the way a Volvo wagon did.  Somewhere along the way, Volvo wagons lost that cachet...along with much of the Volvo lineup.  But now, the V90 is back, based on the S90 sedan  that yours truly pretty much lost his mind over last fall.  And it could take a Volvo wagon right back to being that type of understated status symbol for the next couple of decades.

A Reminder Of How Good It's Been: The 2017 Volvo XC60 T6 AWD Inscription

The 2017 Volvo XC60 T6 AWD Inscription.

After several years of status quo, Volvo is getting a lot of attention thanks to its newest vehicles---especially the car that sits atop the TireKicker's Best Cars list on the right of this page, the new S90.

It and the XC90 SUV are leading the way to the next generation of Volvo products, but a week in the XC60 is a great reminder that, while they've been around a while, the current-generation Volvos are pretty wonderful vehicles.

I Did Not Want What I Haven't Got...Until Now: The 2017 Volvo S90 T6 AWD Inscription

The 2017 Volvo S90 T6 AWD Inscription.

By anyone's standards, I am a blessed man.  A beautiful, loving wife,  a gifted son and daughter, two beautiful, bright and charming stepdaughters. My re-marriage this summer has given me some wonderful new relatives, who, after only three years of acquaintance, feel like they've been with me forever.

My day job is at a leader in the field I've wanted to be in since age eight and they seem to find my contributions valuable.  I'm healthy (apart from needing to drop a few pounds).  Every "great lost song" that I spent decades trying to identify and find back in the days of out-of-print vinyl is now in my pocket, along with some brilliant new music (thanks, Spotify!).

I wake up every day in Northern California.  That, alone, would qualify.

And I'm past the point of wanting stuff.  There's a 23-year-old CRT television in our family room.  If it keeps working the rest of my life, I'm fine with it.  My cell provider offered me an iPad for some low figure this spring.  Don't want one.  I have my smart phone and the laptop upon which these words are being written (which I bought this spring on a dirt-cheap employee discount only because my previous laptop...a factory-refurbished nine-year-old model that I'd had for seven years....finally gave up the ghost.

In the words of Sinead O'Connor (whom I have never quoted), I do not want what I haven't got.

Or didn't until I drove the 2017 Volvo S90 T6 AWD Inscription.

Un-American, In A Good Way: The 2015.5 Volvo V60 T6 R-Design

The 2015.5 Volvo T6 R-Design.

There's been a lot of buzz in the media this week about the most American car being the Toyota Camry. The source is Cars.com's annual American-Made Index, which lists the cars with at least 75% of their parts content coming from the U.S. or Canada. The longtime champ, the Ford F-150, fell below that 75% threshold with this year's alumnium-heavy redesign.

How The 2015 Volvo S60 T6 Drive-E Has Changed Everything

The 2015 Volvo S60 T6 Drive-E.

If you find yourself wondering "Whatever happened to Volvo?", you can't be blamed.  A status symbol of sorts as the thinking man and woman's car in the 70s, 80s and 90s, ownership changes--from the original Swedes to Ford and then to Geely of China--some less than stellar vehicles (the S40, essentially a re-badged Mitsubishi Carisma) and a loss of focus in what Volvo stands for have driven Volvo's sales to the point of near-invisibility.

This may be the turning point.

New Car Review: 2013 Volvo C30 T5 M R-Design

Once upon a time, Volvo built a neat little sporty car called the P1800 and, after a few years, the P1800 ES, which had a big glass hatchback.  They were cool-looking cars and went a long way toward furthering Volvo's image as being about more than just rugged, safe boxes on wheels.

A few years back, Volvo gave us the modern-day successor to the P1800 ES, the C30.  In fact, a straightforward stock C30 was one of the first cars reviewed here on TireKicker nearly five years ago.

New Car Review: 2013 Volvo S60 T6 R-Design

The phrase “Mid-size Volvo sedan” no doubt causes some eyes to glaze over, especially for those who think they know what Volvo’s all about. But the key is to ask “Which mid-size Volvo sedan?”

Yes, they’re all called the S60, but that car comes in three different turbocharged flavors these days: The T5, a 2.5-liter 5-cylinder with 250 horsepower; the T6 AWD, which adds half a liter, one cylinder, two more driving wheels and 50 additional ponies; and the T6 AWD R-Design, which pulls 325 horsepower out of the same 3-liter six. And that’s the one we’re talking about here.

New Car Review: 2012 Volvo S60 T6 AWD R SR

The 2012 Volvo S60 T6 AWD R SR.

In the Swinging 60s, "Sweden" and "Sexy" were synonymous. But by 1968, Volvo was adding "Safe" and "Sensible" to the Swedish image.

It's been that way for so long that you have to be of a certain age to remember the "Sexy Swede" thing. Volvo wants to fix that with the S60.

2011 Volvo S60 T6 Review

Volvo's been going out of its way to brand the new S60 as "The Naughty Volvo" (see video above). Guess it depends on your definition of  "naughty". The S60 is not for kids, it's fast and fun, it's shapely.....

                                   

    

The days of the boring Volvo are dead, let's give the marketing people that much.  And that's on looks alone. In a week at the wheel in an example provided by Sanderson Volvo in Phoenix, the S60 T6 AWD just got more and more desirable. The beauty here is more than skin-deep.

With 300 horsepower, the S60 is responsive and downright quick. Steering is direct and immediate. There is no tradeoff of ride versus handling...the balance is perfect.

And the interior is an exceptionally pleasant place to engage in all that pleasurable driving. A long way from the plain-jane interior of the old Volvo 240, the designers have managed to give the eye a constant level of stimulation without losing the functionality...everything is exactly where your brain and your hand expect it to be.

What about safety? Volvo's hallmark? Don't worry...it's there...from the basic stout structure of the car to the highest levels of technology that (unlike a lot of cars we've tested) manage to do their jobs without being intrusive.

And, unlike virtually every other car we've tried it in, the adaptive cruise control, which adjusts speed to maintain distance between you and the car in front of you, is flawless. It...and the other tech in the car...simply never put a foot wrong.

Price? The front wheel drive model (with 50 fewer horsepower) starts at $30.975...all-wheel drive at $37,700. Optioned like the one we drove...mid-40s and well worth it.

EPA mileage estimates: 20 city/30 highway for the FWD, 18/26 for the AWD.

So...go with "naughty" if you must. But we think the Volvo S60 T6 AWD is really @#$%! nice.

Did we just say that?

China's Geely To "Liberate" Volvo

It's a done deal. Volvo is now the property of Chinese automaker Geely, whose founder says Volvo is a "tiger" that needs to be "liberated".

Part of that "liberation" is wider distribution, and the production of 300,000 units a year in a Chinese factory.

Full story from Automotive News.

Volvo C70 Review

They say the third time's a charm. Well, Volvo got it right in just two tries.

One of the first press events I attended as a professional TireKicker was 10 years ago and it was the launch of the first-generation Volvo C70 convertible. I was prepared to be impressed. A premium convertible with Volvo's legendary safety and structural integrity.

During the half-day drive through Central Arizona, I thought I must have gotten a bad one that slipped through. When we met for lunch at The Royal Palms Resort in Phoenix, 25 journalists compared notes on 25 identical test cars. Six words summed it up:

"It shakes like a wet dog."

Cowl shake is the common enemy of convertibles. Cut off the top of a car, and you give up a bunch of structural rigidity. It shows up in the cowl...the area where the windshield and the hood meet...and it telegraphs into the steering column. And the '99 C70, otherwise a very desirable car, had it bad.

Flash forward a decade and slide behind the wheel of the '09 C70. A lot of changes here. First of all, it's now a retractable hardtop, not a ragtop. Strong and shake-free. But the remarkable thing is how solid it is with the top down. Volvo knew what needed to be done and did it.

There's also ten years worth of tech improvements in this car, which goes faster, gets better mileage (18 city, 26 highway), possesses better-than-average handling and benefits from Volvo's huge leaps in interior design. Fine leather and real wood...Nordic Oak, no less.

The $39,240 base price gets you an exceptionally well-equipped vehicle, with a turbocharged 2.5 liter 5-cylinder engine good for 227 horsepower mated to a six-speed manual transmission. The test vehicle I drove stepped up the content with metallic paint ($475), the Dynaudio Package ($1,550 for 130 watts per channel of surround sound Dolby ProLogic II with subwoofer), an automatic transmission ($1,250, and given how good the manual was in the C30, I'd be temped to pass and shift it myself), and $750 worth of 18-inch alloy wheels.

Bottom line: $44,010. Not cheap, but in line for a premium convertible with style, substance and...solidity.

Volvo XC70 Review

Timing is everything. Eight or nine years ago, Volvo took their V70 station wagon, added all-wheel drive and called it the "Cross Country". Sales were modest.

So about five years ago, Volvo whipped up a bigger crossover SUV on the S80 sedan platform and called it the XC90. Sales were much stronger, thank you.

Now, though, fluctuating gas prices have a lot of drivers thinking bigger is not necessarily better. Just in time, Volvo brings us...the Cross Country...but now it's called the XC70.

Frankly, it's a great move...bolstering a strong product with an association to the popular XC90. The XC70 is everything a Volvo wagon should be...strong, safe, rugged...and stylish inside. They haven't caught Audi yet, but Volvo interiors are among the best in the business.

Lower to the ground and lighter in weight, the XC70 handles better than the XC90 and gets better gas mileage, too (the EPA says 15 city, 22 highway). $36,775 is the base price. Our tester added metallic paint, a premium 12-speaker, Dolby ProLogic II surround sound system with AM, FM, CD and Sirius satellite radio, a Premium Package with a moonroof, leather, real wood inlays, a cold climate pakcage and alloy wheels, driving the bottom line up to $44,065.

Cheap? Only in comparison to a similarly loaded XC90 or other vehicle in its class. But if you don't need the extra weight and bulk of the XC90...the XC70 seems just right.

Volvo C30 Review

Now that the great wave of retro auto design (Chrysler PT Cruiser, Volkswagen New Beetle, Ford Mustang and the already gone Ford Thunderbird) has subsided (Dodge Challenger and the still-to-come Chevrolet Camaro excepted), we're starting to see modern cars with subtle reminders of the past...the automotive equalivalent of the kids or grandkids of people we knew and loved.

The Volvo C30 is a completely contemporary car, but the designers incorporated the large glass backlight from Volvo's previous sporty coupe, the late 60s-early 70s P-series. I always loved that car and its unique look (enough that I bought a '78 Toyota Corolla liftback, which was a not-quite-copy), so every time I approached the C30 from behind, I found myself smiling.

There's no attempt to recall the past inside, a good thing since the Ps were basic and black back then. Volvo's been on a roll with its interiors for a few years now, blending light colored leathers with blondish woods and constructing center stacks for audio and HVAC controls that are impossibly slim, allowing open air in front and behind them. It creates an ambience that makes you believe you're in a very special car that's worth every penny of the premium you paid. In fact, you're pretty sure you got a bargain.

That's more than reinforced in driving the C30. It's quick, tossable, quiet and comfortable...there doesn't seem to be a trade-off anywhere.

And there really isn't any competition for the C30...other compact hatchbacks are...well, compact hatchbacks...meant to be basic transportation....this is a premium compact, and one of the best fashion statements on four wheels.