I became a Volvo driver for life the moment I sat down in my friend Casey’s 1982 Volvo in college. There is just something about them…and I am now on my third Volvo myself. Volvo has introduced some great things over the years that went onto affect the entire auto industry (the first car company to use the 3 point seatbelts - made standard in all Volvo cars in 1959). I was born almost 20 years later and still remember my parents having a few cars with out those seatbelts standard!).

Anyway - I just read about something really slick in their new 2009 S80 Executive:
The front seats surround you with perforated leather and are ventilated using built-in fans in the cushions and seat backs to provide extra comfort during hot days. And to really spoil you during long journeys, these seats also feature a new massage function in the lumbar section.

Hello - hot days in the car and long trips where I could really use a massage. Awesome!

Everyone that either knows me or has followed this blog for awhile knows that I have been very unhappy with what Ford has done with the Volvo line since they bought it. Perhaps times are changing because the new Volvo S80 looks awesome. Why?

Ford did not mess up the design, I actually like it. (Think BMW 700 meets Audi with a touch of Volvo…not Ford Tempo meets Mercury Sable). The backend is still not as sharp (in my opinion) as my S80 (2000…see picture in the header above), but it is still very Volvo.
You can now get a V8 (311 HP).
Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) - you select the desired speed as well as desired time gap to the vehicle in front of you. Amy and I will greatly benefit from this as I always think she drives too close to the car in front of us.
Collision Warning - if you get too close to the car in front of you, a warning alert appears on the windshield along with audio alert.
Blindspot Information System (BLIS) - a camera in the outer mirror detects vehicles in your blind spot and then uses a warning signal near … [more]

Some random things to point out…

Amanda Congdon is no longer the RocketBoom anchor…and just when I finally got Amy slightly hooked to this awesome vblog. Wherever she goes, I will be sure to follow. She is very talented!
Diet/lifestyle update…I weighed in yesterday and actually lost a few pounds last week! That is from all the moving (I moved my home office to a different part of my home to further separate home stuff and work stuff) and IKEA assembly coupled with yardwork over the weekend. Now I just need to keep that up!
I am putting the finishing touches on a re-write of my company web site that I have been working on for the last several weeks now. I still need to do some final QA as well as to validate everything…and fill the sitemap, but it is pretty complete so I thought I would put it. There will always be something to do. I have a few HOWTO blog postings coming up on how I did some of the things I did.
What is the deal with gas prices?? The low-grade by me is now at $3.24 and climbing. … [more]

If you know me, you know that the slogan “Volvo for Life” is perfect for me. When I was in college, my parents bought me my first car so I could have one for my five week archaeology field school in Virginia at Thomas Jefferson’s home at Polular Forest. I then traded that in for a 1998 S70 which I kept for a few years, but in the back of my mind knew I would not be happy until I have a S80 T6, so I bought one of those and drive it today. Sad news came a few years back when Ford bought Volvo, so I have been looking more closely at other non-Ford owned car companies (and have been happy to see Ford and GM sweat it out the last few months). I have been leaning towards LandRover as my next choice of car (Range Rover or an old Discovery), but via my TiVo, a new option came into play…the Audi Q7. Why an SUV you might ask? Try buying a door, or crown molding, or a snowblower, or moving, etc with a car. Amy and I … [more]

Well well…if it is not one thing it is the other. I went to pick up Ken this morning at O’Hare and as we were in the first toll booth, stopped, waiting for the person in front of me to pay…smash! I did not know what happened for a few minutes, but then we realized we were hit from the back. No high speeds, no air bags deployed, but I thought for sure I would walk around and see a huge dent or something on my beautiful S80 T6. When I looked around, I only saw a little scratch. Then I looked at the piece of garbage souped up Civic behind me. Their customized front was cracked in half. Sure, the guy did a hit and run (he promised he would follow us to trade info, but never pulled off the highway when we did), but Ken got his license plate. No one got hurt, and we will see what happens with my slight paint issue, but regardless…I will always smile when I think about how my car held up compared to the other “souped up” 4 cylindar piece of garbage. … [more]

Dear Volvo,
I have been a loyal Volvo owner since I bought my first car almost ten years ago. I know ten years might seem short, but believe me, after I had my first ride in a Volvo, I knew there was no other car I would want to drive and safely get me from point A to point B. This is my Volvo story.

I grew up on a small Native American reservation in western New York. All of my parents’ friends drove Ford and GM cars and trucks. I had family that worked in a GM plant. My parents always told me that I should support our country and buy US made cars, and that these cars were superior to foreign cars. When I left my small community and went to college I began seeing more and more foreign cars, and particularly Volvos. I instantly fell in love with the classic “boxy” 240s that could be seen driven by Professors and students alike. As it turned out, one of my good friends owned a 1982 Volvo 240 - the first Volvo I would ever drive. By the time … [more]