s60 vs. BMW?

All front-wheel drive cars have a larger turning circle than rear wheel
drive cars. 850 is FWD 740/940s etc are RWD.

All the best, Peter.

700/900/90 Register Keeper,
Volvo Owners Club (UK).

 

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: http://www.volvoclub.org.uk/turn_circles.htm

The 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 www.kbb.com, 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.

 

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.

 

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....