Volvo's first pure EV is here: the C40

[matthew1]

https://www.matthewsvolvosite.com/c40-debut/

I think I make some interesting points there. You be the judge.

It'll be available in Fall 2021.

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[CIK7]

I am extremely critical of Ford Volvos made from 2005+. And even more critical of Volvos made and/or designed by the Chinese. What is the Volvo moniker 'C' doing on a four door SUV? Any of my dedicated Volvo friends on here know that there's only one body style that 'C' has ever been placed on. I think even Mercedes has had a history of 'C' on coupes/convertibles. I won't accept this. Can I rant?
1. The nice things (I cant name more than 1) that use to come with base models stopped being equipped in base models starting in 2005. The amplifier. That was a shock to find in my 01 V70 base model back in 2019.
2.Ford has loved using plastic on their engines since at least the early 2000s. They did this to the 3.2NA i6 on the 07 s80. I dont care how thick or hard the plastic is. I dont want a toy engine to power my car. Please dont try to explain the reasons behind it. I know!
3. Very similar to the 'C' usage, the T5 and T6 usage is STUPID. Volvo placed the T5 on the p80 and T6 on p2 to signify that that i5 was super turbo and i6 was turbo. I LOVE that! Now the Chinese are using T5, T6, and T8 (is there a T7?) on a turbo (occasionally SC) i4.
4. These i4 engines are not made to last. They are pressurized with DI and a Supercharger on top of the turbo all while being placed in vehicles that exceed 3500lb. I know the reasons behind all that. Its not logical though on a car with a name that signifies its durability, reliability, and awesomeness.
5. What happened to the upholstery options? The upholstery options for the new xc90 are like a cheap leather. I've never seen a 2003-2008 XC90 without straight up leather. Did the U.S 99-04 s80 ever come with cloth? I've never seen it before! But cloth and cheap leather are a couple options for new base Volvos. Volvos are luxury but are being offered with subpar materials.
On a somewhat more positive note, I think the Yamaha V8 in the XC90 was a great idea. Yes 2005 or 2006 was a bad YM because of the rod, but after fixing that, it seemed to be a great vehicle. I have been tempted to consider buying one. If I was to recommend or do a V8 swap in a RWD brick, I probably would go for the 4.4L because it was made for Volvo. Your Volvo is no longer Volvo when you take your Volvo engine out and replace it with an LS. Or a5.0L.

[BlackBart]

I think I make some interesting points there. You be the judge.

Good thoughts Matt. Remember, just a few years ago, when Google were the "good guys" and no one questioned handing them all their information? Everyone has gmail, everyone searches with the Googs.

"Do No Evil?" Did that last, what, 5, 10 years? They were the company that was different. How will that evolve as more money is made and new people have controlling influence.



In my first impression, the C40 is.....fine. It's fine. It absolutely fits the cute CUV trend of tall 4-door hatches everyone is making. Part of the tallness is because you're sitting above the batteries.

Why not do something different? That's a big risk. It's either a big hit or a disaster.

Why do the silly fastback shape? That's pure marketing to make it seem "sporty."

I'd be interested to see a sketch with a vertical back end a la the Land Rover LR3 - a Volvo message of function and room, practical, usable, and probably more aero (per Kamm). Play to your history and strength of reputation. Don't start to ape BMW or Audi.

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[matthew1]

CIK7 ,

While Volvo is owned by Geely (Chinese), Geely kept Volvo's HQ and design in Sweden. Geely is wise. I didn't know what to expect when Ford sold Volvo to Geely, but I'm pleasantly content with how it's turned out so far.

BB,

I hate to turn this into a privacy thing, but Volvo's the one who chose their data partner.

"Do No Evil" lasted a little more than 10 years. I think they dropped it circa 2011. If there's ever been a "tell" from a corporation, that was it.

I use Google, and I use Facebook. Just to be clear.

Also, while I'm in my disclaimer wheelhouse, this site shows Google Ads. You surely knew that. Unless you block them.

But I know what I'm into. I have a Deal with the Devil that I can opt out of any moment. Almost 100% of my Facebook use is to promote MVS. If it wasn't for that, I'd kill my account and not miss it.

I'm uneasy with the "Connected Car" and Google. Undoubtedly they'll have your movements when you use the car, where you go, your use patterns, use exceptions, speed, maybe even cornering Gs.

Maybe you're thinking "But Matt, you're already giving up most of that data because you have your phone with you when you drive." Well sure, but you can turn your phone off.

I'm less uneasy about the Connected Car and Tesla. Why? Because they make their money selling cars.

Last I read, Google's revenue was 89% advertising, as much as they dislike it. Sure, they make phones and OSes, cloud computing products (which we are all using when we use MVS because it's on a Google Cloud VM), home products like Nest, etc. But they're still 89% advertising... which these days means collecting data on you and me and turning that into what ads we should see. That's the end product of their gigantic advertising sausage factory... ads tailored to us.

The least uneasy (I know, this phrase is getting unwieldy) I'd feel is in an Apple car. Why? They don't do advertising at all. They make their money selling phones, to be blunt. And, and this is an important "and"... they made themselves into data privacy champions years ago and followed up on it by not selling a (data) thing to anyone. Sure, they could change and make loads of money off that, but they'd lose customers in droves.

Also, why change? They're the biggest public company in the world.

TLDR: I'm just not comfortable with Google deep inside my car. So deep inside you can never get it out.

[CIK7]

Thank you Matt. Perhaps my comment should have been more about the article. Anyways I am very big on privacy. I quit using Google Search/Chrome. I now use DuckDuckGo. I use Sygic instead of Google Maps. Tubemate that connects to Youtube, YouTube uninstalled, and Rumble installed. And because Play Music is gone and replaced with Youtube Music, I dont have either of those but instead use a highly rated Music app WITH built-in equalizer. I do not have the FB or FB messenger app installed. I noticed that with it being force stopped and me thinking it was in 'hibernation', the Messenger app collected about 200MB of data AND drained my battery in a matter of 8 hours or so a couple weeks in a row. That made me mad. I have lately been using Facebook through DuckDuckGo to browse MP for Volvo V70 and S80 models. I also have been using local groups to attempt to recruit certain people so I can start a militia. I'm considering dropping the Drive Safe and Save discount from State Farm so I have even more privacy. That tracker has to be on for that discount to apply. I also think driving with Airplane Mode on could protect me from Google tracking me. I wonder...I need to look that up. Oh yes almost forgot, I'm looking at getting a feature phone as a daily driver and an extra to get rid of my V40 and V20.

[abscate]

The obvious choice for performance oriented drivers who want to do Peel-outs…..is the Apple car.

No core charges, either.

[gnalan]

If charging a car from "empty" to "full" ever becomes as easy as filling up a gas tank with gas, as in minutes not hours, then maybe I might consider owning an electric vehicle.

A hybrid, like a Toyota Prius, would be a better choice, and probably have a better build quality, than a plug in EV. At least I wouldn't have to worry about getting stuck somewhere if there's a power outage.

Just my two cents...

[matthew1]

An interesting aspect of the ICE vs EV Wars: with an EV and home charging, you might never leave your home again with anything but max range... unlike ICE where you're always in the fill/consume hamster wheel cycle.

[matthew1]

Of the 33 cars on this page, https://www.caranddriver.com/shopping-a ... ing-range/, only two have less than 200 miles range(!). One Tesla is in the 400s, and the Lucid Air is over 500 miles.

As I've said before here on the hallowed pages of MVS Forums, this era will be remembered as an awkward phase where ICE and EV cars coexisted, and people actually piloted them.

If my son has kids, they'll ask me to tell them the story again about how people actually drove cars, and how there were 42k road deaths every year in the US, and how some of those were caused by people drinking and choosing to drive.

Tell us again about the mayhem, gramps!

Did you ever crash a car?

What was it like to drive? Did you go fast?

[gnalan]

Self driving cars are just creating a generation of people that won't know how to drive a real car. What would they do in an all manual, non abs, non cruise control, vehicle? How would they parallel park? How would they know how to panic stop, or avoid an accident? They wouldn't, they'd be lost. All the new "safety" features are making drivers less safe.