Volvos getting cheaper? - or less well made?

Read on a BBC website

http://www.bbc.co.uk/motoring/tcts_h...me/674_1.shtml

that in 1974 a Cortina Estate cost £961 new whilst a Volvo 245 Estate cost £2,155 new.

Today a base Mondeo Estate costs £16,800 on the road whilst a base Volvo V70 Estate costs £24,448.

If the differential was the same as in 1974 the Volvo would have cost roughly £37,632 - phew!

( or the other way round the Mondeo Estate should cost £11,000 )

Are Fords getting more expensive? Are Volvos getting cheaper? ( or are they now just Fords with a different bonnet?).

Comparing my 73 145 to the 73 Vauxhall Victor Estate my dad used to drive ( new cost £910 ) I can only say that the Victor was a tinny pile of carp - now long gone to the scrapyard.

Undoubtably Fords and Vauxhalls have impoved vastly over the years, but have Volvos reduced in quality and solidness to meet them?

[morsing]

Quote:
But its versatility was sadly not matched by its performance. The Volvo Estate's turning circle was akin to that of an oil tanker's, its top speed was only 86mph and milk floats would leave it standing at the lights. So how did a car with such rectangular looks and lack of performance ever manage to win the hearts of the British?


WHAT?!?!?!? Oil tanker turning circle? Don't know which 245 they got but both my 240s had smaller turning circles than any other car I've driven. And neither were left behind by milk floats either. Quite the opposite. 86mph? Is that true for any 240? My 244 did 110mph and I've had my 240 at 120mph.

Maybe they should have driven one before writing that article.

[Alpha206]

They'd obviously had a premonition of the S60!!!


"Remember when it used to take three-and-a-half hours to cross the Atlantic?"

Tis true.

I can confirm that the turning circle of my 145 is smaller than that of my wife's BMW MINI. ( front wheel drive y'see ).

I guess the BBC reporter wrote about the Volvo estate judging by he THOUGHT it would be like rather than how it actually drove.

Tsk Tsk BBC

[dodgyken]

I love the turning circle of my 740 - not quite as good as my dead 240 but still fantastic. Very handy when I am in the south (of Switzerland) where our holiday house is up some very intersting roads and requires a 7 point turn in a normal car or 3 point on in the Volvo to get out of!!

My 240GLT (B230E) I managed to get upto 110mph before bottling it, but the 740GL (B200E) has seen a speedo reported 185kmh on the German autobahn - which by my calculation is 115mph.

Just wish I could get more then 27mpg on average out of her. My best 33mpg with 2 people doing 70-80mph for 4 hours.

[Citizen.Agfa]

Interesting that, I mean the speed and consumption figures; my '87 740 GLE Auto (B230E) returns (1 up) 32mpg on a run and, gulp, 16mpg locally, and I have seen an indicated 120 on the clock. Current mileage slightly in excess of 181k.

Regards, Nick H.

[Mike_Brace]

Our 240 GLTs have regularly seen the needle past the 120 mark and even my Italian 240 GLE 2.0 has passed the 200 kph mark.

Mike

>or are they now just Fords with a different bonnet?<

Yes, and why not? Provided Volvo does not destroy their core values, i.e. reliability and safety, then I have no issues.

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1995 Volvo 945 LPT Auto
1995 Volvo 850 GLT 2.5 Auto
1991 Volvo 945 GL Auto
1988 Volvo 745 GL

>But its versatility was sadly not matched by its performance. The Volvo Estate's turning circle was akin to that of an oil tanker's, its top speed was only 86mph and milk floats would leave it standing at the lights. So how did a car with such rectangular looks and lack of performance ever manage to win the hearts of the British?<

That was the stupidest thing I have ever read on cars. Not regarding the factual errors, one does wonder if the author thinks the Cortina was some kind of supercar? But more importantly, the Brits are at heart a countryside loving people and the Volvo estate fits right in with that. To my mind, Volvo estates are very akin to Series and Defender Land Rovers, for example. Britain is clearly Volvo estate land, in fact the UK is Volvo's third biggest market and that is because the principles of Volvo and the principles of the British people go hand in hand. That is why I, a Swede, am madly and deeply in love with them both.

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1995 Volvo 945 LPT Auto
1995 Volvo 850 GLT 2.5 Auto
1991 Volvo 945 GL Auto
1988 Volvo 745 GL

[oilburner]

Exactly. Also, if anyone looks beyond the hyperbole and actually compares a S40/V50 to the new Focus then they will see two very different cars, the Volvo is much more like a shrunken V70 than a rebadged Focus.

Plus, you get WHIPS, the 2.4 5 pot and Volvo look/feel in the S40/V50.

To be honest, as Volvo engineers have so much input into Ford's platform development now, you could equally argue that the Focus is a re-badged Volvo without the good Volvo bits. The fact that the new Focus ST will use the T5 engine rather than any Ford technology says it all really.

Isn't it true that Ford had a candiate new platform for the next Mondeo and Volvo refused to use it for the next gen S60/S80/V70? So, Ford had to accept a new platform design based on Volvo technology instead... With Volvo being about the only profitable part of the entire Ford Motor Company, I have no worries about the future of Volvo the brand or its unique design philosophy.