s60 vs. BMW?

Reason #2352 why Andrew Szafran hates FWD cars :) Their turning radii are usually horrible due to CV joint angle limitations and the fact that a wide engine/tranny unit blocks wheel articulation.

-Andrew

I thought the s60 was designed before Ford took over.

p.

2004 Volvo S60 2.4 39.0

Ouch. A tangible pain in parking lots, and sometimes on the road.

p.

According to this site:

original 850 was specified at a turning circle of 33.5' compared to a 240s 32.5'. Keeping the increase down to one foot while going from rear to front wheel drive was a real engineering accomplishment. According to the data at the S60 pushed the number up to

38.7', and increase of over five feet from the 850 and six feet more than the benchmark 240. When turning around in tight corners or parallel parking on city streets the more limited wheel angles available are quite a nuisance.

John

The point is that Volvo went to great engineering lengths to minimize this on the 850 and kept the increase from the 240/740/940 to 850 at only one foot (32.5 -> 33.5). Then on the S60 they blew out over another another five feet to a final spec of 38.7 feet.

John

Indeed, I don't think Ford deserves much of the blame for Volvo's change of direction in the past 10 years.

John

Two reasons. First, the y/h/s consumers are willing to spend a much higher proportion of their income (and to go into debt) to buy *image products*. Second, baby-boomers-in-denial about their real age (I-d) still think they're "young" until they stand in front of the mirror. (Hence the dramatic increases in cosmetic surgery.) Some of the ads aimed at the y/h/s consumer are designed to resonate with b-b-i-d, too.

Rick

I think I might have a very nice idea-- Mazdaspeed 6

275HP 280 LB Feet 6 speed manual Direct fuel injection All wheel drive 19/25 EPA MPG ~$31K

Idea 2 I think a bit too boy racer-y but... Mitsu lancer evo...

The Mazda 6 might be the one, a factory hot rod in the idem of the BMW M3!

You remind me of why I've been kicking myself in the ass for about ten years. My mom had a 750iL...an 89...that I sold right after she expired in 2004...It only had 6,000 miles. The BMW, not my mother...She went around the world about twelve times in her lifetime, beginning in 1915, and the last time was with the help of British Air and Air France on the Concorde.

Steve wrote:

John... Back in the fifties, when I first heard a radio commercial about Volvo when my mother was driving me to school, (On the Dick Whittinghill show in Los Angeles), and to the sixties to early seventies, Volvo used to preach about the legroom and comfort because seven out of ten Swedes were over six-feet tall. My, how things have changed. In Thailand a few years ago, I met several Thai's who were over six feet due to nutrition, and maybe a burgeoning middle class able to afford "Food". But, Ford, who does not actually "Own" Volvo...they only have the largest outstanding number of shares... has taken a different approach. Ford wants to make more and more air-bags in smaller and smaller cars. I'm waiting for an air-bag that goes up my ass for a prostate massage.

What I really want is an Austrailian Falcon with a 351 Cleveland.

NO, Andrew...I don't think that you're the only one by far. Particularly my neighbors who just bought their sixteen year old son a 5 series Bimmer sedan. I think that they actually have a massive AEtna policy out on his life. So much life. So little time

Conformity Program????? Do you still live in a Soviet country that we don't know about? Or maybe Sweden? Fill us in.

Paul_B wrote:

You know what? I don't care about a loaner car. If they just fix it the FIRST time.

Ford doesn't "Own" Volvo...Just the largest outstanding number of shares. If the board of directors were smart rather than "bought off"...Well, what can I say? Could the Swedes be bought off with still more medical care?

Well, I'm probably going to be working until I'm in the grave. So much for the U.S. of A. rebuilding Europe through the Marshall Plan. Us taxpayers repaying it all, you know. My cousin in Amsterdam's father got about fifty-grand after the war. Guess where he put it?

Switzerland!

Meanwhile, my father, a gifted surgeon, had to beg for "gas stamps" to drive from Boston to California. Oh, and by the by... Anyone who wants to buy official WW2 gas stamp booklets can contact me. I have tons of them ...From AFTER he got to the West Coast.

i like the fact my volvo dealer puts me in a free loaner volvo when mine are being serviced...just a nice little touch...one of the reasons i moved from bmw to volvo....

oh yea, of course, it is nice to have problems fixed on the

1st trip in....

Try "conformity premium", as I wrote.

Merry Christmas

I've been thinking about this comment off and on for a few days. Seems to me that the best value on the road today is a used Volvo. That's how I got my s60, and from a friend in the business, and I got a steal. I just wish I got the R right off the bat.

Paul

*Merry Christmas*

Paul...your right...there have been some excellent used volvos on the mkt in the last 2 years or so. (i picked up a nice s80)...the r's are nice...built "to go" straight from the factory...heck, if you can pick up a nice, used volvo @ a 50% discount off of sticker, or so..... that (to me) is a value .... as long as is/was maintained .... don't forget, the bmw's cost much more than volvos to begin with....