One reason I like the 1995 945T I recently acquired is that it still comes with a somewhat utilitarian bumper. This is an issue where I personally think Volvo has really dropped the ball. The simple idea of an ‘honest’ bumper... a forgotten concept it seems in today’s ‘insane’ bumper world. (I think it’s insane to build in turnsignal lights, fancy grills and the like into bumpers)

My old 1980 245 had an honest-to-gosh solid hunk of metal bumper with a rubber liner. It was designed to actually protect the car from significant low speed ‘mistakes’... (which indeed happened at least five times in the 14 years I drove it... all with no resulting damages).

When I was out at the dealer’s used car lot looking for another Volvo... I was dismayed to see virtually all the 1996 and newer cars sporting the matching body panel type vinyl-plastic bumpers.

When I remarked this to the salesman he confided to me with a smile... “What? Go back to real bumpers?... and deprive us of our little cottage industry of refinishing bumpers?” He pointed to a nearby employee spray painting up a bumper that had incurred ‘scratch marks’! (That's what bumpers are for!)

I also noticed that looking at the cars in profile, many of the newer model Volvos seem to lack any forward extension of the bumper at all! In the event of a low level ‘accident’... the front grill will be the first area of contact with all the resulting costs!