New V60 breaking new ground

[tjts1]

Its a matter of preference I guess. I've driven my friend's 06 Prius on several occasions and I was impressed. 90% of the time you can't tell if the gasoline engine is ON/OFF, the acceleration in normal driving is the same as my non turbo 850 and I was averaging 48mpg over a week of short trips around Berkeley and the east bay. Its basically double the mileage of the 850 doing the same type of driving. I can also fold down the back seat and throw in 2 bicycles back there. If the 850 ever dies, a used 04+ Prius is at the top of my list. I've seen a lot of people modify the second gen Prius by adding more modern LIPO batteries and turn it into a plug in hybrid.

I think diesel trucks are going to be around with us for a long time to come but I don't see diesel succeeding in the US car market. Maybe if algae base bio diesel or something becomes incredibly cheap and forces down the price of fuel in a big way or we turn the Middle East into the 51st state... who knows.

[precopster]

A client of mine just bought a new Prius, and this guy does his sums. He worked out that with the fuel saving over a new 4 litre 6 cylinder Ford Falcon he will be ahead in four years because the Prius costs just over $40K here and a Ford Falcon is $30K

He DOES travel a lot and probably travels 15-20K miles per year.

The class of vehicle I was referring to is pictured below. They have been here in various forms for over 10 years now. They are small, inexpensive to buy, cheap to run, easy to park and very light on gas. I drove a diesel Renault Kangoo afew months ago and expected a slug. It drove beautifully and I found myself going through roundabouts in 3rd gear at low speeds because of the diesel's flexibility and high torque. Power is not spectacular but torque is almost 40% higher than a petrol equivalent and is produced at 1900rpm. These minivans have been HUGE in Britain with Fiat, Peugeot and Vauxhall all producing their own versions. The pick of the bunch, though is the VW Caddy with its awesome 2.0 litre TDI engine with 140hp and 240 lb-ft torque

[shiloh51933]

She sounds great but I'm just not feeling the rear of the v60.

[SimLyons]

The Europeans are way aahead of tehe US in diesel. They have continued to improve emissions, performance, noise, torque and mpg! They are generally superior to any gas engine, Euro or US (not max HP but definitely max MPG and life). We just like our power.

There are also some tax reasons in Europe. Cars over 1.9 Liters cost more. So they make them really efficient and turbocharge them, diesels, too.

Now this was the case when I worked for Volvo in Sweden so I don't know what it is today. But the engineering is advanced for smaller cars. And they LOVE wagons and hatchbacks over there. I recently ready they are making a comeback in the US (VW Passat, Volvo, Ford, Audi, And the giant, Suburu.

[SimLyons]

Oh! The V-60 has a very .......ummmmm...."unattractive" rear end. Nuff said!

[jblackburn]

Oh! The V-60 has a very .......ummmmm...."unattractive" rear end. Nuff said!

Haha, I thought the same thing growing up when the 850/V70 wagons came around. My neighbors had a 940 Turbo and the people up the street had a 240 - I think those were good-looking station wagons...but the lights that go all the way up? Still not a fan.

The rear-facing seats were awesome as a little kid, but it always made me kinda dizzy looking out the back of the forward-moving car.

Funny story actually - the neighbors that had the 940 bought it after a recommendation from my dad on asking what kind of cars they should buy for new ones. He said, "either a Volvo or a Saab" (dad had owned his 900 for 8 years at the time). They went out and bought one of both, and kept them both for 10+ years.

[precopster]

When I was a kid, mum owned a '76 Subaru 1400DL. For me it was the bees knees. It had four wheel independent suspension, an engine bay with the spare and jack inside it, totally unique mechanical layout (except for the Alfasud), an electric engine mounted fuel pump which used to click whenever providing fuel and it had a tall rear end that took advantage of the spareless bottom to create a massive trunk depth. Also in Japan there were AWD versions in sedan and coupe form that I dreamed would reach our shores (this didn't happen for another 13 years with the '85 RX Turbo)

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To many it wasn't a thing of beauty but to my eyes it was the most beautiful thing I'd seen. I learned to drive in that car and ended up understeering into a curb on the opposite side of the road (good thing no-one was coming the other way) The handing was awful, the performance was average but i loved it.

The point I'm trying to make is that sometimes it takes some quirkiness to have a love affair with a car and I think Volvo has achieved this with the new V60. Kids who grow up with this shape as the family car will still be ostracised as I was about our Subaru and resilient kids will dig in their heels and be proud.....Vive le difference....