What Not

In his recent ABC News article, The Five Safest Automobiles, Richard Blake notes that Volvo is still one of the safest vehicles available today. The author mentions several other vehicles, but keys in on the 2010 Volvo S80. It’s one of only four large sedans to make the list for this year’s IIHS Top Safety Pick award. And that’s more than just a reputation based on past performance. The new S80 continues to earn good marks for safety today. The IIHS took the S80 through a variety of tests that proved the car worthy of that award. Blake concludes that “the Volvo S80 has to be considered a standard bearer in the drive toward [the] safest car ever built.”

But is safety really that important in today’s world? Most car companies have improved their safety scores. It’s just that some are a little better than others, right? There may be some truth in that, but when it comes to your family’s safety, is “getting better” something you want to rely on? The experts don’t seem to think so. “Kelley Blue Book’s executive editorial director Jack Nerad, [who] has been writing about auto safety for more than a decade, conceded that as his younger children now approach driving age he has been giving this issue a lot of extra thought lately. He is leaning toward Volvo.”

Perhaps you should as well.

We just received another shipment of new 2010 Volvos.  As I was checking the cars in, my eyes were drawn to what seemed to be a typo.  The specific car was a 2010 Volvo S80 3.2.  (Just so you know, the 3.2 models are powered by a 235 hp I-6 engine which moves along pretty well without a turbo charger.  But the combination of “low” horsepower and a heavy body has led many customers to wonder if Volvo would ever increase their fuel economy ratings.)

What caught my eye today was the fact that the 2010 Volvo S80 3.2 is now rated at 18 city/27 hwy miles per gallon.  Last year, the cars were rated at 16/25.  What made the difference?  At the moment, I have no idea why the mileage has increased, but it’s a good thing!  That’s for sure.