Patrick C. Paternie
Driver's Notebook: Swedish Massage
Volvo chose to celebrate the launch of its first V-8 vehicle with a contest
awarding a ride on Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic spaceship. After 77 years
of building vehicles that stress driver security over performance, the
conservative Swedish automaker has apparently decided that installing a 300 hp
V-8 in its XC90 SUV is as safe as space travel. According to Volvo, the 2005
V-8-powered XC90 can rocket from zero to 60 mph in 6.9 seconds, which is quick
enough to attract the buyers that prefer driving mocs to Earth Shoes, but does
that leave loyal owners of the 5- and 6-cylinder-powered 2003 and 2004 models
wondering: Should I have had a V-8?
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Eibach springs drop the XC90’s ride height by 2 inches; combined with ipd’s
antiroll bars, the SUV can handle like a sports sedan. (Click image to enlarge)The answer to that question comes from ipd, a company of hard-core Volvo driving enthusiasts in Portland, Ore., who are way ahead of Volvo in determining that driving safety is as much about the ability to avoid accidents as to survive them. And the solution is a lot more fun, as ipd-prepared Volvos have been successfully competing in Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) road racing and autocrossing events for four decades. While it was love at first sight when the Volvo loyalists at ipd eyeballed the svelte curves wrapped around a versatile interior space and the all-wheel drive of the XC90, after a few miles they recognized that the only thing lacking in the XC90 was a fun-to-drive personality.
So Scott Hart, Volvo Division Leader, immediately set his team to work at raising the fun quotient on a brand-new (at the time) 2003 XC90 that was equipped with the turbocharged 2.5-liter 5-cylinder engine. Two years and almost 40,000 miles later, we can sample the fruits of their labor. That tells you something about the dependability and durability of both the base product and the work carried out by ipd. The goal was to improve both engine performance and handling response, but remember that even though Scott and his team are driving enthusiasts, they are also Volvo diehards, so dependability, practicality, and safety were not to be compromised by any modifications.
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