http://www.ralliartuk.com/

850R/T5R was built by daring

engineers who were headed in

the right direction. newer

models like the s80t6 are

more powerful but missed all

the wildness. it's refreshing

to look at some lancer evo 7s.

as soon as one of these shows

up here my 850R is going on e-bay!

Hang on. Don't desert the ship just yet. Would the soon (hopefully) to be released S60 T5R-or-whatever-they-end-up-calling-it satisfy your desires? 4 wheel drive, possibly 6 speed manual, agressive body styling, 300 bhp, funky interior, big brakes, blah blah blah. And its a Volvo, not a sardine tin.

Just get a motorcycle and forget the small cage. Even a cheap small motorcycle will blow the socks off almost any car on the road. And it won't cost you as much and you can keep the Vovlo for the rainy weather. Also, motorcycle is a LOT more fun than the car in any situation. Ever since I started riding over 10 years ago, performance cars just lost some of their appeal and I started to value comfort, safety, etc. in cars (I also got 10 years older). Hence my base 5-speed S70 choice (I still like to row the gears and use the manual to get more performance out of the N/A engine).

Good luck

I don't know how happy you will be by switching from a Volvo to the Mitsu Evo VII Lancer...sure, that car is...WILD but so wild to the point of being...uncivilized! :) Are you sure that is what you want on a...daily basis? If it is just for a toy, then I understand. But as a daily driver...you will regret it!

The EVO promises to be a WILDER car than the current WRX already on sale, here in the US, one of the reasons Subaru is going to bring soon the WRX STi...:)

Yannis

The small hi power cars are wonderful in more than one way.

To the rest of the drivers on the road, they are a less nuisance than the SUV's. (strangely Volvo newer entered that market - CX is small)

The people driving them are pretty often fast -

and my biggest scare in the States was to see the owners of big SUV's going fast - they are much more dangerous to the other traffic.

Looking at the drivers - they seem to be in the same class and driving style.

And it is much more fun to race these small hi power cars -

they move instantly.

Check the spanish Wolksvagen www.seat.com - the Cupra series and

Volvo collaborator http://www.renault.com/gb/produits/clio_V6.htm -

and a company closer to Volvo 850 than most know of:

http://www.peugeot.com/peugeot_sport/en/htm/206wrc.html

Watch the Dakar Rally to see what is to come...

This page shows a lot of models not well known on the american market:

http://users.dia.dk/1545/superrally_DM_links.htm

- I miss those cars on the road - great entertainment as they go by you.

But I still stick with my Volvo.

When you on the German Autobahns pass wrecks of these small cars

- and see the engine or the front wheel on the driver seat's place you know the driver paid for the speed. Not much room for impact.

(In america it is different - someone else pays for the killing SUV's speeding - I wonder when the insurance companies wake up)

Just my 2 bits ;)

This your own politically correct opinion, or did you get it from the Sierra Club?? My SUV gets better gas mileage than my 850 and has less weight than most full size cars. Just what makes it so dangerous in your eyes?

I am sorry - I should have been more precise:

The bigger the SUV - the more it appeals to a certain type of driver.

I am adressing the full size chassis frame trucks that are very popular with american car companies - (I know - a couple of Japanese too).

I am sorry that you felt targeted - many people not driving SUV's know what I am talking about.

And not everyone driving big SUV's has bad driving manners.

And in the end you might be right - it is not the SUV,

but the driver that is dangerous.

Anything else you don't like about my posting?

And what is the Sierra Club?

In the end - no one can say anything

without someone points out an exeption.

So according to you, SUV's have better mileage,

weighs less than other cars,

and anyone with other opinions must be politically schooled

or a Sierra Club Member?

I believe I was not adressing mileage and weight.

And old European saying:

When you throw a stone into a herd of dogs,

the one hit cries out.....

As I said at the end of the line -

just my 2 bits - and I have reason and right to have that opinion....

My apologies for lumping your comments with all the other anti-SUV propaganda! The standard argument made in certain quarters against SUV's is low gas mileage, high emissions, and the added danger to cars due to weight and bumper height. My gas mileage is well abive average, emissions are virtually nonexistant, and the bumper height is only slightly higher than most cars. (The bumpers are perfectly matched with most SUVs and light trucks, which make up well over half the new vehicles sold in the U.S.) Personally, I worry about inebriated and/or reckless drivers far more than I worry about SUV's.

Because the Big Three automakers hold so much sway on capitol hill in the U.S., SUV's are considered trucks (what was supposed to be a commercial classification), and are therefore not required to come *anywhere near* pollution standards set for cars 30 years ago.

There is no SUV sold in the US that has emissions higher than automobiles with comparable horsepower. Maybe the law doesn't require it, but that's the way it is. My Toyota is tested annually and has always had less emissions than my 1994 Volvo 850T.

"Both fuel economy and tailpipe pollution standards have a history of being more lax for trucks than for cars. As a result, the average truck on the road today emits 47 percent more smog-forming exhaust and 43 percent more global warming pollution than the average car (Figure ES-1). "

-

Greener SUVs: A Blueprint for Cleaner, More Efficient Light Trucks

http://www.ucsusa.org/publications/

Union of Concerned Scientists

John, this is common knowledge man. Don't defend SUVs because you own one. Defend them with facts (good luck). They pollute more than cars, are less nimble, and are more dangerous to others in the case of an accident.

SUV's below 6000# GVW have emission tolerances slightly above auto standards until the 2004 year model, when they become the same. My statement did not address the tolerances, I said the actual emissions of SUV's were within the tolerance for automobiles. My SUV is zero across the board on the emissions printout. If you're including trucks above 6000# GVW in your computation, no argument.

I don't have a source handy about the number of cars vs. trucks sold, but it was big news on TV and in the newspapers earlier this year. I'll post it if I can find it.

http://www.ott.doe.gov/facts/archives/fotw164.html

shows that SUV sales have reached a bit above 20% of all passenger vehicles in the U.S as of 2000. Fifty percent if you add vans, pickups, minivans and SUVs together.

http://www.ce.utexas.edu/prof/kockelman/public_html/LDTpaper_to_Transp.pdf

speaks about how SUVs are subsidized by our government when compared to passenger cars. Good for you, I suppose, but bad for the environment and other drivers.

I dug up a graphic illustrating the "Environmental Impact of an Average Car vs. Light Truck on the Road Today".

Click here to see it. If that link doesn't work, copy and paste this into your URL window: http://www.evenfive.com/impact.gif

Find the above graphic here http://www.ucsusa.org/publications/suv.esnbody.pdf

Also, another thing that occured to me about SUVs and safety: they're taller and make seeing thru them to the traffic ahead impossible. Less vision of what's ahead on the road = more dangerous driving conditions. Oh, and did I mention rollovers?

.

Doesn't handle like a sports car, but not too bad. Certainly better than the '77 Chevy Caprice I used to own. Brakes are superb. (And no brake dust!)

Bumper height.

My bumper height is the same as a pickup truck. Over half the vehicles sold in the US are trucks. Maybe car design could be improved to better coexist with trucks.

Half the vehicles sold in the U.S. are trucks? Cite your source.

What SUV are you driving?!

My 855T does an average of 12L/100km. This 12L/100km is half highway, half city driving.

I don't know any real SUV that can do that (by real I mean excluding mini FWD based SUV's like RAV4, CRV, etc).

Toyota 4-Runner 5-speed. 26 mpg (highway driving), and it likes regular unleaded.

To an extent the really small cars are basically just

additional rolling crush zone between me and all the SUVs.

Volvo has been making cars that make me smile since the first 245Ti and subsequent 745T. I don't know how the engineers rationalize it to the accountants.

Nice cars, but I think I'll wait for the Viper V-10 version of the Town and Country.

-Soothsayer Phil

Yep, it seems just when Volvo throws us a bone they pull the string on us. They just can't break that inborne conservatism they have had for years I guess. I'm with you, although I really want to remain loyal because of the great Turbo cars they made in '94-96.