s60 vs. BMW?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Paul_B
  • Start date Start date
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).
 
James Sweet said:
Kind of ironic since the RWD Volvos were famous for their tight turning
radii. Never ceases to amaze me how easily I can manipulate my big 740
in a tight parking garage.
Click to expand...

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
 
The 850 wasn't much worse if at all. Ford has thrown function out the
window in favor of style after acquiring Volvo, unfortunately

-Andrew
Click to expand...


I thought the s60 was designed before Ford took over.

p.
 
James said:
Hmm does anyone have the actual specs? Now I'm curious.
Click to expand...

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
 
Peter said:
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.
Click to expand...

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
 
Paul_B said:
I thought the s60 was designed before Ford took over.

p.
Click to expand...

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

John
 
Why is it that every company is chasing the young/hip/stylish consumer
while at the same time the income and wealth of the developed world
keeps skewing ever upwards in age?
Click to expand...
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 said:
A great list of alternatives Paul. The S60 simply does not cut it
against the current crop of competing vehicles, which probably has a lot
to do with it's poor sales of late and crummy resale value.

Volvo made a big mistake when they replaced the 850/S70 with a smaller
interior vehicle. I was shopping a few years ago to replace my '96 850
and found the rear seat legroom of the S60 to be completely unacceptable
for full sized adults on a long drive. The S60 styling also gave up a
great deal of interior functionality in order to do the heavy curved
roof line and sculptured sides look. Appearance over capability is not
what the Volvo brand used to mean at all. Remember "form follows
function". Volvo has intentionally forgotten that mantra.

John
Click to expand...

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.
 
~^ beancounter ~^ said:
yep...it took my wife and i seconds to
sit in the back of the s60...then move to
the rear seat in the s80....loads of space
difference between the two...

i had a bmw 5 series before moving to volvos...
the s60 and 5 series don't really compaire (imho)
...i would put the bmw 5 series against the s80....
two very different sedans... it all depends on
your likes and driving style....both are nice sedans...

and, more important...your mechanic and/or dealer
service department...loaner cars, etc...
Click to expand...


You know what?
I don't care about a loaner car. If they just fix it the FIRST time.
 
Andrew said:
The 850 wasn't much worse if at all. Ford has thrown function out the
window in favor of style after acquiring Volvo, unfortunately

-Andrew
Click to expand...


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?
 
John said:
One of the things Volvo did with the 850 design was to produce one of
the tightest turning radius FWD vehicles of it's size ever made. This
was part of the reason I bought my first 850 back in '94. Volvo
literature of the time made a big deal of the special CV joints, etc.
which were used to accomplish this.

Somehow with the S60 the engineering direction changed in many ways.

Clearly the old Volvo design/engineering ethic which put a priority on
functionality is now sadly gone.

Why is it that every company is chasing the young/hip/stylish consumer
while at the same time the income and wealth of the developed world
keeps skewing ever upwards in age?

John
Click to expand...

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


Try "conformity premium", as I wrote.

Merry Christmas
 
The BMW will retain loads of value the Volvo will have it's value drop like
a brick.
Click to expand...


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....
 
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