Autosavant reports:
People who drive appliance-type cars solely to get from point A to point B may not get this, but some of us have a lot of emotion and passion wrapped up in our choice of vehicles. Since I have been old enough to buy nice cars, I’ve been a Saab driver. A combination of my Swedish heritage, and the cars’ highly-engineered systems have always attracted me to them.
That being said, in 2004 I was looking for a car to replace my nine year old 900 hatch. Having gotten married and started planning for a family, a four-door car made sense. With my family planning to relocate to Eastern Washington, which would necessitate regular drives through snowy mountain passes, I wanted a vehicle with all-wheel drive, which Saab didn’t offer at the time. Appreciating sporty performance and handling, the ever-popular SUV wasn’t on my shopping list, but I still wanted utility. When I read in late 2003 of the 2004 Volvo V70R, I thought it sounded perfect. With 300 HP from a turbocharged 2.5-liter five-cylinder engine, a six-speed manual transmission delivering power to all four wheels, and a lower, electronically controlled suspension system, I felt the V70R offered the perfect blend of sport and utility, while staying true to my Swedish car-loving roots. Besides that, I thought it looked hot; very sporty and capable, but at the same time restrained in the same way as so many other Scandinavian products are...
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