Volvo does Cebu

This STAR Drive project is growing by leaps and bounds. When we first thought of highlighting a manufacturer and its many products in a single all-encompassing article at least once a month, we knew we’d have our hands full. It’s a full-production thing, this STAR Drive. We’d have to bring together at least three writers at a time, find the time and venue to test drive several cars and then come up with intricately woven articles in time for the deadline. But we felt we owed it to our readers to come up with a monthly feature that deviated from the norm yet spoke volumes of the products they were interested in. What we didn’t expect was that the enthusiasm to conduct such complex projects would be shared – and even augmented to unimaginable degrees – by our friends from the manufacturer’s side.

Case in point: this particular installment of STAR Drive. Two months in the making, we had to wait for Viking Cars, importers of Volvo cars in the Philippines, to get their products and plans ready before we could proceed with the project. It’s a good thing we did. Turns out they were thrilled at the prospect of us featuring their three newest offerings and at the same time having us join them as they celebrate their Cebu dealership’s first year of doing business. The best part of it all was the serendipitous timing of the entire thing. We were flown to Cebu the day after two of the products to be featured – the exciting new C30 and the stately all new S80 2.5L – won their respective segments at the recently concluded Car of the Year awards night. The C30 even bagged the biggest prize of all, the title of Car of the Year 2007. Understandably, the mood en route to the Queen City of the South was intoxicatingly high.

I asked James Deakin to accompany me on the trip (since he feels like the Business Motoring section’s black sheep – and still he complains) and called in some local help – which came in the form of our Southern Bureau chief Bobit Avila. The ever-lively Mr. Avila was one of the first few contributors of The Philippine STAR. He accepted the invitation to write for this publication from no less than our late and very much missed publisher, Max Soliven. Deakin and I were thrilled to have him join us in this particular STAR Drive.

Driving around the Cebu area in brand new Volvos does sound like an enticing thing, no? With the graciousness of our hosts dealer principal Franklyn Ong, his partner Engineer Sydney Po, the warmth of their spouses Emily and Judge Jocelyn and the team that flew in from Manila composed of Rose Dimalanta, Lyn Buena, Loi Concepcion and Bryna Villedo it certainly was! Still, it was the time behind the wheels of the cars that blew us away. These new offerings from Volvo have proven their worth in many of the world’s test tracks and roads. This time around, Cebu played host to the extraordinary Volvo driving experience. Here’s how the cars fared in our eyes.

Volvo C30 – Sexy to staggering degrees

When I got my first glimpse of Volvo’s C30, this little car brought me back to memory lane in the 70s when I was in the United States and Volvo then had the P1800ES, a 3-door hatchback that took our eyes off from American muscle cars, Mustangs, Corvettes and Dodge Chargers, iconic cars of that era. Volvo’s P1800ES was the car for the young… that we call today as Yuppies.

Back in the 70s Volvos had a reputation of having square, plaid, unexciting looking cars that your grandma or your family doctor would drive, then out of nowhere they came up with the P1800ES and suddenly the kids wanted a Volvo! The P1800ES was nothing more than a 3-door station wagon. But only Volvo had this design but this small car with a 1800 cc engine would often out drag a muscle car in an impromptu street stop light drag.

But that was then; today Volvo has pushed the right buttons by reviving the P1800ES with its C30 and what a great revival it is having! What made that test day extra special was that, the night before, Volvo’s C30 bagged the most-coveted “Car of the Year” Award, the Luxury sub-compact of the Year Award and the Sexiest Car of the Year Award. Volvo’s S80 also bagged the Luxury Car of the Year Award, while the S60 T5 bagged the Executive Car of the Year Award. Volvo executives were in 7th heaven!

For this Philippine STAR exclusive test drive we were able to drive the C30 to the luxury S80 and the All-Wheel-Drive XC90 Diesel. So after the test drive, Dong Magsajo asked me which car I wanted to write about… unashamedly I shouted… C30! While I never even drove or much less rode on a P1800ES, my daughter did have a 1996 3-door Honda Civic Si hatchback which I occasionally took for a spin just for fun.

The C30 car we tested was a 2.4 liter, 5 Cylinder 170 bhp @ 6000 rpm 3-door hatchback with a 5-speed automatic driver-adaptive Geartronic transmission. This 3-door hatchback gets its heritage from the S40. What I noticed about this car is, it’s fast but you won’t notice that you’re already going a 100 kph because of the near absence of road noise.

When you think of Volvo, what comes to mind is safety and there’s a special feature in the C30 that I have seen before, it’s called the Blind Spot Information System (BLIS) which warns the driver looking at his rear view mirror that a vehicle is about to pass you on its blind spot where it can no longer been seen from the mirror. BLIS worked very well as the LED light lights up, you can really see a car or a motorcycle trying to pass you by. The C30 corners like a sports car and zips through in traffic as it is a small, but a great little car! – BOBIT AVILA

Volvo S80 2.5L – Stately elegance

First off, I will have to come clean. I am a huge Volvo fan. My entire family is, actually. Occasionally, my dad drives around in the award winning S60 T5 and my wife gets driven around in the more modest but still beastly sport tuned S40 T4. Both are powered by twin turbos, yes. Both are astoundingly safe and smooth, too. So when I get to drive around in an even more high-end variant, I have lofty expectations. Still, they’re met.

What’s amazing is that my expectations were actually even raised further prior to our exclusive test drive in Cebu. The all new Volvo S80 2.5 was fresh from taking home the Luxury Car of the Year award from the Car Awards Group Inc. (CAGI) when I drove it for the first time. Naturally I was both curious and anticipative.

This stately new elegant vehicle from Volvo has what takes in spades. It has more sweeping lines than ever before. The characteristic Volvo shoulder lines that’s added much more character to this family of Swede mobiles is both higher and broader than in the S80’s previous iteration. The tail lamps now have a slimmer profile. The corner contours have been rounded out even further. The car is just as long as the previous version but is taller, wider and is blessed with a longer wheelbase – thus it has better balance. Understandably, it’s more stable and less wind resistant.

Inside, the harmonious lines continue to flow. The slim center console first seen in the S40, then in the V50 and now also in the C30, is also present in the S80 2.5L, making for a distinctly Scandinavian touch. There’s that ever-present sense of cleanliness inside the cabin. No doubt, this tidy atmosphere adds to the sophistication that contributed to its success in the Car of the Year awards.

As for the engine and its performance, while it doesn’t thrust you out onto the road the way a T5 does, the 210-hp 5-cylinder turbo is far from being a slouch. It’ll hold its own – especially in streets as traffic infested as ours. Unless you’re addicted to speed, you’ll likely agree that the 2.5L turbo is more than enough to satisfy your needs. If you are, however, fret not. There is a 3.2L 238-hp 6 cylinder variant as well as a top of the line all-wheel-drive V8 that pumps out a whopping 315-hp. Don’t ever let it be said that Volvo doesn’t come out punching with the best of them.

Going back to my original premise, then. The all new Volvo S80 2.5L has successfully kept the Swede carmaker’s record clean in my book. It certainly does not disappoint. I am still a fan. And I am still a believer. – DONG MAGSAJO

Volvo XC90 D5 – Guiltless Indulgence

What better way is there to celebrate being the 2007 Petron Car of the Year than to take a wild romp through the gorgeous southern streets of Cebu with the reigning champs themselves. The smiles had barely worn from the faces of Lyn Buena and her Volvo team as we caught an early morning flight to Cebu and headed out to find a series of twisty cambered roads to play on just hours after being crowned with the industry’s highest award.

Magsajo pulled rank again and grabbed their flagship sedan, the all-new Volvo S80 2.5L, which was fine by me as I really had my eye on that diesel-powered XC90 the whole time. I just pretended I wanted the S80 so that Magsajo would claim it. It’s sort of like the Jedi mind trick, but I digress.

Bobit Avilla dived for the Car of the Year itself, the C30, and none of us complained. After all, he has been writing columns in this paper long before Dong and I could grow facial hair, so it was more like, “Would you like fries with that, Sir?” I almost asked if I could check his oil and clean his windscreen.

I have always loved the XC90 ever since getting the first drive of it back in 2003. It is everything a luxury SUV should be, and with those trademarked Volvo seats that swallow you up whole and then cradle you perfectly, it is possibly the most comfortable SUV in the market today. Plus it seats seven.

But as wonderful as having all that space and safety to yourself is, it started to come at a price. It was fine when gas was 27 pesos a liter, but as the years went on and gasoline prices started spiraling out of control, the guilt started to creep in. It’s sort of like how when you were young and could eat anything you like and not get fat, but as soon as you hit your mid-thirties, you put on weight just looking at a menu.

So along comes the diesel. And not a second too soon. It’s like finding a sugar free version of your favorite dessert that tastes even better than the original. Fat free motoring, so to speak. With over 400nm of luscious torque, mountains are flattened with a simple stab of the throttle, while potholes are smoothed out by an incredibly absorbent platform and a well insulated, luxurious cabin. Even with upsized 17-inch rims, the XC90 paves its way across the neglected highways and helps you arrive just as refreshed as when you left.

It’s not hard to understand how such a sensible company like Volvo, with all its core competence rooted so deeply into safety, can come up with such a comfortable and luxurious SUV. That’s pretty much a given. It is how they can come up with so much from so little that will leave you thrilled; so squeezing the throttle of the D5 and feeling the turbo spool up beneath your right foot as it unleashes a tidal wave of torque feels just like taking spoonfuls of creamy milk chocolate and knowing you’re not going to get fat.