Mixed Signals On V70

Newcastle Herald

Wednesday February 14, 2007

Brent Davison

SWEDISH car maker Volvo is readying a new V70 station wagon model for its international markets, a car which exhibits the usual Volvo safety advances as well as a new range of engines. But will it come to Australia?

With Volvo's Australian arm showing greater interest in its established SUV models and its soon-to-be-released C30 small car, the V70 is yet to find a place on the shortlist.

"We are still deciding if we will take the car or not," a company spokesman said. "In this market our consumer focus is on the XC70 and XC90 SUV models and V70 would only be a small volume seller.

"At this stage there is only about a 70 per cent chance the car will come here."

If it does, he says, it will not be any time soon and could in fact be at least a year away from Australian showrooms.

If it does come it promises to be something special and is already being described in Britain as "the jewel in Volvo's crown".

Effectively, Volvo has done a complete rework of its Plain Jane station wagon. The windscreen angle is sharper, the rear-end has a strong styling link to the C30, the nose is softer and more rounded and the sides have less slabbiness to them.

The new chassis makes greater use of high-strength steels to boost torsional rigidity by 15 per cent (compared to the current model). Electronically controlled dampers are standard on the car and work with Volvo's own dynamic stability and traction control (DSTC). As well, the high-end T6 model is fitted with the Instant Traction all-wheel-drive system that uses a hydraulic clutch to distribute torque to the wheels with the highest grip.

This new model ushers in a new engine line for V70, starting with the familiar 2.5 litre, 150 kilowatt, turbocharged, five-cylinder petrol engine. Above that is a naturally-aspirated, 3.2 litre, inline, all-alloy, six-cylinder engine developing 178 kilowatts.

At the top of the range the T6 has a 3.0 litre, six-cylinder, turbocharged engine with 212 kilowatts and 400 Newton metres of torque.

There are also two 2.4 litre, five-cylinder, turbo-diesel engines available in the range, Euro 4-compliant powerplants developing 108 kilowatts and 400 Newton metres and 122 kilowatts and 340 Newton metres respectively.

Volvo would not be Volvo without breaking new ground in safety and this car is no exception, featuring for the first time a dual stage child booster seat built into the rear bench seat and able to hold children between 95 and 140 centimetres tall and weighing between 15 and 36 kilograms.

LIMITED EDITION RETRO-LOOK VESPA PAGE 55

Brent Davison trials the Hyundai Santa Fe turbo diesel in Saturday Drive

© 2007 Newcastle Herald

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