xc70 baja article

[littlewaywelt]

http://www.globemegawheels.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20041209/WHBAJA09/cars/
Wagon Eats Baja's Dust

[Art]

Thanks for posting that link LLW! :D

Edmunds (http://applications.edmunds.com/new/2005/volvo/xc70/100458960/roadtestarticle.html?articleId=103845) also covered the Enduro event and included some great photos in their article. :cool:

http://a332.g.akamai.net/f/332/936/12h/www.edmunds.com/media/roadtests/firstdrive/2005/volvo.xc70/volvo.jaw.bone.500.jpg

[theo]

I saw the same trip in a dutch car magazine:

Volvo XC70 2.5T
Stofhappen in Baja
Dit is Baja California, een schiereiland dat aan Mexico vastzit. Het is beroemd en berucht vanwege de Baja 1000, een Dakar-achtige rally over zand en stenen. En niet alleen de beroerde kwaliteit van de wegen is slopend voor mens en machine. De gebrekkige bewegwijzering, de hitte en loslopende dieren zorgen op hun beurt voor de nodige verrassingen. Wij treden in het voetspoor van deze race met een Volvo XC70 2.5T.

http://www.autoweek.nl/images/480/8200.jpg

[MD-Daddy]

"We find luxury SUV buyers, people who buy the XC90, come from luxury sedans," Futers says. "They are a more relaxed, less adventuresome group. The XC70 buyer is a more active customer."

YeeeeHHAAAWWWWWWWW!

[coastal]

Interesting, looks like they experienced what we call "snow squeal" here. I still have this problem but only in slushy snow, and I've got the dirt deflectors installed too. hmmm.

From Edmunds:

"What's that noise?" John asks. We hit another puddle and then I hear it. A high-pitched ringing sound. As the brakes dry out in between puddles the noise goes away. Then we hit a puddle and it comes back. We experiment with the brakes but they are working fine. We slow to the side of the road but the cars behind us just keep shooting past. Everyone is in full get-to-the-airport mode. Finally the Volvo people pull over. "You might have a rock in your rotor," the mechanic yells to us. "Just keep going."

The rain gets harder and the puddles keep getting deeper. The ringing noise comes and goes. I feel what we are subjecting these cars to is worse than anything they would ever encounter in the U.S. "But what if you were coming back from Mammoth in the slush?" John asks. "You wouldn't want to put up with this noise." True, I say, but we're hitting foot-deep puddles filled with clay and mud at 70 mph. The slush in a Californian snowstorm would be a thin layer on pavement. And we probably wouldn't be driving like maniacs.

[Big]

From Edmunds: "But what if you were coming back from Mammoth in the slush?" John asks. "You wouldn't want to put up with this noise." True, I say, but we're hitting foot-deep puddles filled with clay and mud at 70 mph. The slush in a Californian snowstorm would be a thin layer on pavement. And we probably wouldn't be driving like maniacs.Clearly they have never driven to Mammoth in the winter! The weather and the aggressive drivers can be something to behold. It is the only place I have experienced snow that fell at the rate of a foot an hour, and 395 is the only highway where I have seen otherwise normal people running each other off the road!

And


"We find luxury SUV buyers, people who buy the XC90, come from luxury sedans," Futers says. "They are a more relaxed, less adventuresome group. The XC70 buyer is a more active customer."Nay! We owned Jeeps previously.

[chuckyg]

all good and quite adventurous. I think they have found their market, but what about the quote (below).....THIS IS A BIT SCARY! :eek:

"More worrisome are the numbers found in this year's J. D. Power study of long-term study of reliability, the Vehicle Dependability Index. In it, Volvo joined DaimlerChrysler's Mercedes brand and Ford's Land Rover and Jaguar brands by scoring well below the industry average -- and all of them did worse in the 2004 survey than in 2003" :(

Consumer reports rated this car very good??????? :confused:

[birddog]

"More worrisome are the numbers found in this year's J. D. Power study of long-term study of reliability, the Vehicle Dependability Index. In it, Volvo joined DaimlerChrysler's Mercedes brand and Ford's Land Rover and Jaguar brands by scoring well below the industry average -- and all of them did worse in the 2004 survey than in 2003.

IMO, JD Powers has about as much credability as Martha Stewart.

[Art]

More hi res photos of the XC70 in Baja here. (http://www.media.volvocars.com/) :)

...or for that matter, for anyone just in need of cool looking avatar. ;)

Clicking on any language will auto log you in.

[ifnt420]

Interesting that all XCs are sporting the more rugged Pirelli Scorpion S/T for the BAJA trip. :D

http://www.media.volvocars.com/asset_server/get_asset_image.asp?idasset=14601&src=lowres&filename=P2004_3053.jpg&dsnpart=vcc_photos

[littlewaywelt]

Interesting that all XCs are sporting the more rugged Pirelli Scorpion S/T for the BAJA trip. :D

http://www.media.volvocars.com/asset_server/get_asset_image.asp?idasset=14601&src=lowres&filename=P2004_3053.jpg&dsnpart=vcc_photos
I didn't want the STRs. I am on my 3rd set of STs.

[gary]

carconnection.com (http://www.thecarconnection.com) has done a review of the 2005 XC70 in the Baja (I guess all the car reviewers were there, huh? :) ) You can check out the review at:

http://www.thecarconnection.com/index.asp?article=7834&sid=181&n=157

[Art]

...and yet another favourable Baja review, this time from a group of CanadianDriver journalists. :)

First Drive: 2005 Volvo XC70 (http://www.canadiandriver.com/articles/pw/05xc70.htm)

[XCelerate]

This is the title of an article published today in Dutch news paper "De Telegraaf" on the Volvo XC70 in the Baja 1000.

Some quotes (translated from Dutch):

"The XC70 is equipped with "Four-C", a system operating in combination with Dynamic Stability and Traction Control (DSTC). It adjusts chock absorbers in milliseconds to specific terrain conditions. There is a choice of two modes: Comfort and Sport. In the latter mode Four-C is supposed to lead to more direct steering and a firmer responding "stiffer" chassis. We choose the Sport mode in the first part of the Mexican rally and we clearly sense these effects. In Sport mode the XC70 can be kept under control much easier on the bad trail surface. Once we select the Comfort mode, the car moves around much more. Not nice on a trail like this."

"The third day we mainly follow normal roads. This gives us the chance to try out the Four-C system lots of times. The driving characteristics of the XC70 absolutely profit from this system. Besides this, we are quite impressed by what the XC70's is capable of. However, we do realize that Cross Country buyers will never treat their car so extremely as we have in the Baja 1000."

[Ron3KL]

Here's another article on the Baja trial:

Baja Rugged: Volvo XC70 Cross Country Displays Its Credentials for Survival | American International Automobile Dealers | (http://www.aiada.org/article.asp?id=34284)

As well as reading this article and all the others listed in this forum thread, I still haven't seen any photos of the 'rough' stuff that the journos keep on going on about. Corrugated dirt roads, yes. Muddy gullies, yes. Water holes, yes. Smooth sandy tracks, yes.

But no photos of this -
The CrossCountry gingerly negotiated a so-called roadway paved with what can only be described as pumpkin-sized cobblestones. or this
hundreds of miles inching over boulders at walking pace, slogging through axle-sucking mud .

Without doubting the difficulty of the terrain and Volvo's achievement in this PR event, I do wonder whether there has been a small amount of journalistic exaggeration here, because to an Australian's eyes the terrain photos aren't all that remarkable. And the problem with that is that when "real 4WDers" (ie owners of Jeeps, Cruisers etc who take their vehicles deep into the Australian outback) see this type of article they just think its a hoot.

So anyone got any links to any other Baja articles that show some photos of the real rough stuff?

[ifnt420]

How about a review of the XC in the real Outback for you, it's hard yakka out there. :D

http://carpoint.ninemsn.com.au/portal/alias__carpointau/tabID__84013/ArticleID__3033/DesktopDefault.aspx

http://carpoint.ninemsn.com.au/carcontent/reviews/volvo/trip12.jpg
http://carpoint.ninemsn.com.au/carcontent/reviews/volvo/trip05.jpg
http://carpoint.ninemsn.com.au/carcontent/reviews/volvo/trip07.jpg

[Big]

Without doubting the difficulty of the terrain and Volvo's achievement in this PR event, I do wonder whether there has been a small amount of journalistic exaggeration here... Of course, that's what journalists do. But at least the linked article is realistic in saying, "It's not a rock crawler, but with a little finesse from the driver the Cross Country will go places most sport utility vehicles can go, but do it with more efficiency and control."

The interesting thing is that Volvo chooses to demonstrate the ruggedness of these vehicles on some of the western world's worst highways in Alaska, Baja California and the Outback. Contrast this with the new Ford Freestyle, a Volvo-based crossover wagon with Haldex AWD. Ford warns that the Freestyle's warranty will not cover damage caused by the excess stress of off-road driving!

For off-road fans, the April Car & Driver has an amusing, although not terribly informative, test of mid-priced SUVs (http://www.caranddriver.com/article.asp?section_id=15&article_id=9264&page_number=1). No Volvo as it was restricted to vehicles with low-range. Wouldn't you like to have a job like this?

[Ron3KL]

Thanks for the link ifnt420, very interesting read. A run from Melbourne to Cameron's Corner and back over a long weekend is a pretty big ask (4000km + a lot on dirt), especially as they didn't seem to have a lot of off road experience between them.

One thing the writers missed is that officially both the Volvo and the Nissan Patrol Ti have the same ground clearance - 210mm (incidentally also the same as a Series 100 LandCruiser), which goes partly to explain why the Volvo did far better than they expected.

I was amused they decided not use the Volvo to recover the Nissan when it got bogged. This indicated lack of experience in their donated recovery gear -especially the Snatchem straps, which are specifically designed to stretch, building up tension on the bogged vehicle even if using a smaller vehicle. Mind you, you don't want to be between the two vehicles when the tension on the strap finally causes the stuck vehicle to start moving...

[littlewaywelt]

One thing the writers missed is that officially both the Volvo and the Nissan Patrol Ti have the same ground clearance - 210mm (incidentally also the same as a Series 100 LandCruiser), which goes partly to explain why the Volvo did far better than they expected
I'm not intending to "diss" the Volvo, but I don't think it's fair to compare it to real off road vehicles.
I think that the often touted 8.4 inches of ground clearance is misleading, as when the Volvo is loaded up with gear and /or people the ground clearance substantially decreases. Additionally, the ground clearance is measured & mentioned as/is the lowest point, but not the average. The nissan may have the same lowest point, but I can guarantee two things, first, when loaded it maintains that clearance, and two it's average ground clearance is several inches higher than the volvo, both of which make a significant difference.

[vtie]

I'm not intending to "diss" the Volvo, but I don't think it's fair to compare it to real off road vehicles.

Exactly. I think the name Audi is using summarises it really well: "allroad". The XC70 gives me the confidence that I will be able to drive on every road I see on the map (at least where I'm driving...). That's what matters. Personally, I couldn't care less about offroad capabilities.