In the past week or two, we have had enough snow to warrant snow tires. Thankfully, both the Jag and my wife’s Honda Odyssey have them already. The minivan does pretty well in the snow. But the Jag is rear wheel drive and even Pirelli snow tires can’t keep me from spinning the tires when accelerating more than usual at takeoff. I’m not actually complaining; these dynamics make driving the car a bit more interesting. That’s part of the fun. All that being said, I was watching the accumulation of white decided to take home a vehicle with all wheel drive for the weekend.
But which vehicle should I take home this time? All Volvos save the C30 and C70 come in AWD. (Wouldn’t an AWD C30 be a blast in the snow!) I eventually chose a 2008 Volvo XC70 AWD. The XC70 no longer offers a 5-cylinder engine. That was last seen in the 2007 model year when Volvo still offered 168, 208, and 300 hp 5-cylinder engines. However, when the new body change arrived in 2008, the wagon only came with one engine choice, a 235 hp 3.2L naturally aspirated inline six-cylinder. The 281 hp T6 turbo charged 3.0 I-6 would not arrive until the next year. But the new car did come with an all-new six-speed automatic transmission with Geartronic. The first thing I noticed about the 3.2 engine was how high revving it was. Volvo designed it to redline somewhere around 6500 RPM. That seems a bit high for a bigger six, but it does give more possibilities especially in manual mode. Zing! Zing!
This is the right size car for me. The notoriously comfortable seats are just that — very comfortable. And it seems that whomever was in charge of the seats that year designed them around my body. Maybe this should be the AndyRupert.com edition of the Volvo XC70. I wouldn’t mind. But seriously, the leather seats are very well done with plenty of support and softness to keep you happy on a trip across town or across the country. Edmunds agrees describes them as “superb seat comfort.” When a recent customer was asking about the Volvo S80, I asked him if he had sat in one yet. The point is that the seats sell the car.
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