RE: Goodbye to hot Volvos
Wednesday 11th April 2007
Say goodbye soon to the S60RVolvo is ditching the ‘R’ moniker from its range, calling time on a line that started with the much-loved 850 T5R back in the mid nineties.
Goodbye to hot Volvos
'R' model line to be dropped
Say goodbye soon to the S60R
The Swedish firm aimed to sell 3,800 units of the current 296bhp S60R and V70 R models in the United States – the cars' biggest markets – but fell well short last year with 1,098 and 538 units respectively.
Volvo chief Fredrik Arp said Volvo is not walking away from performance but simply deleting the moniker. He chose the current C30 hatchback and the V8 version of the S80 luxury saloon as rather unconvincing evidence that Volvo is still interested in fun-to-drive cars.
"We are not giving up the title feature in our products," said Arp, and "we are working on the next phase, but it will not be immediate."
Discussion
They lost the plot after the unapologetically yellow, menacing, front tyre shredding original T5-R IMO. Personally, I gladly take a bit of torque steer into the bargain as long as the car feels 'alive'. A front-biased AWD system is a waste of driveline efficiency and weight - something Audi only recently woke up to...
That is a shame, although i do see loads of S60R's and even more of the V70R's in New York, maybe thats their biggest marketing point.
I used to have the S60R as a company car and it was bloody awesome, i had to change it for something more sedate as i took up to warp speed on a daily basis, mind you i then went to a T5, but then thought better of it and settled on the D5, but i still have my licence.
I used to have the S60R as a company car and it was bloody awesome, i had to change it for something more sedate as i took up to warp speed on a daily basis, mind you i then went to a T5, but then thought better of it and settled on the D5, but i still have my licence.
As a driver of an
'unapologetically yellow, menacing, front tyre shredding original T5-R'
I will be mourning the passing of the 'R' badge.
Why is it that manufacturers insist on dropping these very distinctive brands, thinking back to the end of the Ford RS name. The 'replacements' are never quite the same.
Carl
'unapologetically yellow, menacing, front tyre shredding original T5-R'
I will be mourning the passing of the 'R' badge.
Why is it that manufacturers insist on dropping these very distinctive brands, thinking back to the end of the Ford RS name. The 'replacements' are never quite the same.
Carl
I have one and its a great car, hopefully they will increase in value now they are no more.
For the money you cant beat it, turbo , AWD, 0-60 in 5.5 secs , (or thereabouts), all mod cons, a one year old 17000 miler, for less than £20K , marvellous
Beware though its fairly expensive to maintain.
For the money you cant beat it, turbo , AWD, 0-60 in 5.5 secs , (or thereabouts), all mod cons, a one year old 17000 miler, for less than £20K , marvellous
Beware though its fairly expensive to maintain.
dann said:
I have one and its a great car, hopefully they will increase in value now they are no more.
For the money you cant beat it, turbo , AWD, 0-60 in 5.5 secs , (or thereabouts), all mod cons, a one year old 17000 miler, for less than £20K , marvellous
Beware though its fairly expensive to maintain.
For the money you cant beat it, turbo , AWD, 0-60 in 5.5 secs , (or thereabouts), all mod cons, a one year old 17000 miler, for less than £20K , marvellous
Beware though its fairly expensive to maintain.
Yep those efficient brakes cost.
I am sad to hear this but I'm not surprised. I wonder how much this has to do with "golbal warming" and being seen to be "politically correct".
Why is it that every time Volvo have something good, it gets stopped? Ok, the Volvo brand is not usually thought of as being at the cutting edge of sports type cars but like all things good, they come in disguise.I remember the time before the introduction of the 850. I had been canvassed by Volvo asking what I as a customer would like to see Volvo doing. As far as I can remember it went something like...."faster".."better styling" etc.. and lo an behold, the 850 arrived...then the R range appeared.
Come on Ford....ooops...I mean Volvo,get a grip. Look at most of the other major manufacturers! They are all producing R type models.
Volvo isn't just for the "Cloth Cap and Hunter Wellies Brigade"... The R models have to be the ultimate Q cars ever!!
Why is it that every time Volvo have something good, it gets stopped? Ok, the Volvo brand is not usually thought of as being at the cutting edge of sports type cars but like all things good, they come in disguise.I remember the time before the introduction of the 850. I had been canvassed by Volvo asking what I as a customer would like to see Volvo doing. As far as I can remember it went something like...."faster".."better styling" etc.. and lo an behold, the 850 arrived...then the R range appeared.
Come on Ford....ooops...I mean Volvo,get a grip. Look at most of the other major manufacturers! They are all producing R type models.
Volvo isn't just for the "Cloth Cap and Hunter Wellies Brigade"... The R models have to be the ultimate Q cars ever!!
architect1 said:
haggle said:
looks like the BIB are going to have to find new company persuit wagons
The police use the t5 (225bhp) not t5R engines in our neck of the woods - as I'm sure they do elsewhere.
I work for Volvo and we are currently supplying BIB cars to some constabularys as D5 (185PS/400Nm) manual cars. This is in direct response to environmental concerns (CO2 174g/km only) and Volvo's corporate philosophy (Safety, quality & environmental care), following evaluation by several forces, the performance was found to be every bit as usable and perfectly up to the job of catching speeding motorists. (up to 150 mph - helicopters are in use above this speed). Contrary to urban myth - they are NOT tuned, just driven expertly.
The police to the best of my knowledge have never used the R owing to the complex nature and maintenance requirements of the AWD system. A front wheel driven T5 or now D5 in the hands a patrol cop is a truly fearsome thing - much more capable than the vast majority of drivers - even if you have you have 600bhp & 4WD!
The main reason they have used Volvos for highway patrol cars for so many years now is that in the event of a major accident (100mph+) you can still open the doors of a Volvo and GTF out afterwards.
PS T5 in an S60/V70 means 2.4 litre 260PS, S40/V50/C30 & C70 are now 2.5 litre 220PS (a la Focus RS). Forthcoming V70 T6 AWD (not related to old S80 T6 engine) due in September will be 3.0 turbo 285PS.
4941cc said:
Forthcoming V70 T6 AWD (not related to old S80 T6 engine) due in September will be 3.0 turbo 285PS.
Sounds interesting...
I was invited to one of those Volvo corporate driving days a couple of years ago, where I was encouraged to explore the capabilities of a number of Volvo's 'sportier' choices. I was disappointed by the S40 T5, as the dim-witted paddle-shift transmission tried it's very best to make 220hp feel like about 150.
However, I was mightily impressed with the manual S60 T5 with 260hp. Sure, it wasn't the last word in handling finesse, but as an undercover overtaking machine it was superb. Great leather seats and fancy Dolby Pro-Logic 'better-than-you've-got-at-home' hifi were the icing on the cake.
I just got a mailshot from Volvo extolling the virtues of the S80 D5 as a 'tailor made' chauffeur car.
Top marks for effort but IMO the product just doesn't have enough appeal to rival Mercedes, Jaguar or Lexus.
In a nutshell Volvos are just too bland, sensible and 'safe' - like a SAAB.
The last thing they need to do IMO is dilute any 'performance' edge they had.
Top marks for effort but IMO the product just doesn't have enough appeal to rival Mercedes, Jaguar or Lexus.
In a nutshell Volvos are just too bland, sensible and 'safe' - like a SAAB.
The last thing they need to do IMO is dilute any 'performance' edge they had.
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