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Archive for May, 2010

Volvos New Offerings: V70 Xc70

In the past Volvo is known as a conservative car manufacturer. They are known for boxy cars with conservative styling cues. Although the safety of their cars is wellknown the conservative styling of past Volvos failed to attract the attention of younger car buyers. The past decade though has seen Volvo making a big change in the design of their vehicles making them look more radical but these Volvo products still has safety as the main concern. That is very much true with the new Volvo V70 and XC70 vehicles.

The two new offerings from the Swedish car manufacturer have been redesigned by Volvo for the 2008 model year. Both vehicles received new platforms new engines new transmission and new technologies. With the upgrading of the XC70 and the V70 Volvo is looking to attract more family car buyers.

Although crossover SUVs are the most popular vehicles in the market these days Volvo decided not to go with the flow and instead focus on the development of the new wagons. According to the car manufacturer the 2008 version of the V70 will be released in the fall while the XC70 is expected to hit showrooms by February next year.

The V70 and the XC70 were designed using the Volvo S80 as an inspiration. Both wagons are incorporated with styling cues and features found on the luxury sedan. The V70 and the XC70 will be directly competing with the Audi A6 Avant the Volkswagen Passat Wagon and the Subaru Legacy Wagon. With its segment not as crowded as the crossover segment it is possible that the V70 and the XC70 will carve their niche in the market.

While the V70 and XC70 are offered with new designs and new features it still has that Volvo feel to it. Although not boxy the V70 and the XC70 are built to give passengers the sense of safety that one normally finds in a Volvo. Reliability of Volvo vehicles is also a strong selling point for the V70 and the XC70. The two wagons after all are made by the same people who engineered the reliable Volvo 780 parts that we find in the market.

Ride comfort and handling are also improved compared to previous wagons made by the Swedish car manufacturer. With European engineering the V70 and the XC70 both have a responsive handling and a real good stability that can be experienced and noted even on tight turns. With these characteristics both wagons have what it takes to lead their respective segments.

The wagons are now offered with sixcylinder engines. In the past Volvo has stirred clear away from V6 engines. Today though sixcylinder engines are becoming standard for their vehicles. This is an effort to compete with other car manufacturers such as BMW and MercedesBenz in terms of the power that their vehicles engine produces.

The standard engine for both wagons is a 3.2liter inline sixcylinder engines. The same engine is used on Volvos flagship the Volvo S80. The said engine can produce as much as 235 horsepower and 236 lbft of torque. The engine is mated to a sixspeed sequential transmission the engine can propel the wagons to 60 miles per hour from a standstill in just 8.5 seconds.

A drawback though is that the level of noise during acceleration is far from excellent. With not so good engine acoustics technology engine noise still manages to enter the cockpit of the vehicles. All in all though both vehicles are a good choice for car buyers.

About the writer:  Glady Reign is a 32 year old is a consultant for an automotive firm based in Detroit Mi. she is a native of the motor city and grew up around cars hence her expertise in the automotive field.

Volvos Car Child Care

The Swedish car manufacturer Volvo has always been known for prioritizing the safety of their consumers. As stated by the founders of the company Assar Gabrielsson and Gustaf Larson Cars are driven by people. The guiding principle behind everything we make at Volvo therefore is and must remain safety.

The company has been researching and developing safety features for their vehicles for forty years now. During that span of time Volvo has come up with breakthrough systems which increase the protection that their vehicles offer to their consumers.

According to the company taking care of children inside cars is of utmost concern for them. Small children need special restraints which are specifically designed for their asize. According to the company the needs of babies in terms of car safety are very different from that of grownups.

A grownups head accounts for about six percent of the total eight of the person. In comparison babies head comprises about one half of their total weight. This hefty head is the weakest point of a baby. That is why it is of utmost importance that a baby should be harnessed to a child seat which adequately protects its head and other developing body parts.

Another concern is the developing pelvis of a child. This portion of the body cannot adequately anchor a seat belt in its proper position as easily as a grownups hips can. To ensure that the child will be safe in the unfortunate case of crash booster seats should be provided for them. Booster seats are designed to fit a childs body snugly. It also has specialized belt geometry which does not rely on the childs hips to support it.

Not only babies should be protected carefully unborn ones should be taken cared of too while a pregnant woman is in a vehicle. To develop safety features for pregnant women Volvo uses pregnant crash dummies to study the effects of a crash in a pregnant woman. To date only Volvo has engineered a pregnant crash test dummy in the industry.

The pregnant crash dummy is named Linda by Volvo. Linda is used to determine how a pregnant mother and the child inside the womb would react to various collisions. Aside from the physical attributes of a pregnant woman Linda is also loaded with information about the uterus placenta amniotic fluid and the fetus. This helps safety engineers to study how a child inside a womb reacts to violent motions as a result of car crashes. The virtual pregnant Linda can be positioned in any way inside a car and the speed at which a car crashes can also be set by researchers.

With Linda Volvo found out that pregnant women and their unborn child can e protected well by a front airbag. Volvo also found out that using a seat belt does no harm to an unborn baby. The company encourages pregnant women to always wear seatbelts to adequately protect their unborn babies.

With the advancements made by Volvo they have become a leader in car safety. Their Volvo thermostatequipped vehicles are known to be some of the safest in the world. With their accomplishments Volvo is keen to develop more safety features to reduce fatalities caused by traffic accidents.

About the writer:  Glady Reign is a 32 year old is a consultant for an automotive firm based in Detroit Mi. she is a native of the motor city and grew up around cars hence her expertise in the automotive field.

Volvo Expansion Tank Hose Keeps The Engine Coolant Flowing

Friction from a vehicle engines operation results to extremely high temperatures. To avoid the overheating of engines automakers install cooling systems in automobiles. As larger and more powerful engines are getting manufactured however the cooling system technology needed to adapt to the demands of these new engines. In turn carmanufacturing companies like Volvo created new cooling components. A clear example of such is the expansion tank.

An expansion tank is a container that provides extra storage space for the expansion of a coolanta fluid used to dissipate heat. A Volvo Expansion Tank Hose ensures the optimum flow of coolant as it connects the vehicles radiator with an expansion tank. An expansion tank is sometimes called coolant reservoir or overflow canister.

When engines heat up the coolant consequently expands. Without the expansion tank however the coolant will just flow out of the cooling system and get displaced to the ground. Volvo Expansion Tank Hoses are crucial in engine cooling systems. Without these components coolant is not delivered to overflow canisters and cooling systems become very ineffective.

Aside from containing the coolant that has expanded with heat the expansion tank also makes the cooling system more efficient by eliminating the air bubbles from the coolant. Coolant without air bubbles absorbs heat much faster. When the engine is sufficiently cooled a vacuum in the cooling system sucks back the coolant through the Volvo Expansion Tank Hose. A properly functioning cooling system does not lose any coolant as the tank hose completes it as a virtually closed system. Even if the level of coolant in the expansion tank rises and falls the radiator remains full all the time.

About the writer:  Evander Klum is a Business Administration graduate who hails from Alabama. He enjoys extreme sports and he is also a car racing fanatic. At present he works as a marketing manager at an advertising agency in Cleveland.