Original story

Car & Driver 18.7.2010

Test Drive: On-line Volvo 2010

**** (*)

It’s not often in this job that a tester comes up against a situation where he uses the word “dream car”. Still, the new Volvo 2010 comes awfully close. *

One of the best moments for me was when we were sitting in the stationary vehicle in a windowless carport - and could see the rural Provençal landscape flashing by on both sides or hear the twittering of birds in the hedgerows. This is just one example to show that the boys at Volvo have succeeded in combining the very latest in onboard audiovisual technology with a 7-seater space wagon offering excellent handling, performance and fuel economy.

The Volvo 2010 uses the same chassis and body as the highly-successful Wagonmaster 2008 model (see our 100,000km test in 4/2008). The control systems, however, have been developed in the past two years - and it really shows! The mapping console and satellite positioning system now work smoothly, without any of the clunky feel and occasional awkward cut-outs experienced in forested areas in earlier versions. The electronic suspension and road radar software are also in quite a different class from the original model, and this time we had no trouble with the coffee-cup test, even at motorway speeds. The emergency braking instigated by the road radar in a simulated elk-test was also smooth and effective.

The online Volvo’s real gems lie in the onboard computer and in the car’s smart windows. The windows throughout are of high-quality diapositive glass, onto which the computer can project visual information. In normal use, the infobars on the lower part of the windscreen show the traffic signs and speed regulations in effect, as well as the direction signs for the plotted route in their order of appearance. Possible changes in traffic conditions ahead are also reported instantly in clear audio messages.

In order to practice routes in advance and examine sites worth visiting along the way, the system now includes a full-scale simulator, which proved to be far better than we dared hope. We almost forgot that we were sitting in a small carport at the Volvo works as the villages and coastline of the Côte d’Azur flashed by us. The electronic suspension reproduced the winding up and down effects of the small French highway, and the speaker systems delivered a convincing imitation of the engine sounds as we changed gear to negotiate hairpin bends or drove through one of the many short tunnels along the way. In actual fact we enjoyed ourselves so much that we postponed some of our formal testing until the next day, choosing instead to take part in a special stage of the San Remo Rally that left both me and my navigator in a cold sweat. Thereafter we downloaded several virtual routes from SatWeb and put the simulator through its paces in a variety of settings from rural Ireland to rush-hour on the M25 London Orbital, and we finished with a quick 220km/hour spin down the Nuremberg-Munich autobahn.

When we finally took the Volvo out on the road, it performed flawlessly as expected. The icing on the cake was when Volvo sales executive Sven Johansson suggested we subject the onboard computer to what he called “a little blind-testing”. We drove in the small hours through the centre of Gothenburg, under what were basically the conditions of “instrument flying”. Our driving was guided by a virtual landscape that was projected on the windows via satellite navigation and digital cameras, just as though we were driving in broad daylight. The only small difficulty we encountered came from traffic signs, since the onboard radar stopped the car twice when we drove too close to warning signs. Johansson admitted that there had occasionally been problems with the claimed 20 cm accuracy of the virtual landscape, but he argued that the cause might as easily be that the signs in question had been placed on the road only very recently. The few cars we met on the streets were shown clearly in the windscreen and side-windows, and the radar system pulled the car smartly over to the kerb when an ambulance appeared behind us, lights flashing.

The Online Volvo comes within a cat’s whisker of scoring an unprecedented five stars on the test. Although this IS a vehicle to die for, about as near as you can get to a dream car, that last star just has to be bracketed for reasons of price. Given its current price-tag, the Volvo 2010 is going to be beyond the reach of all but a handful. Nevertheless, we can live in hope that some of the special features incorporated here will trickle down into family sedans before too long. Traffic safety authorities and highway police should relish that thought, too, as here is the ultimate vehicle for the “boy-racers” among the driving population. With a set of wheels like this, they can indulge their “pedal to the metal” fantasies without ever leaving the safety of their own front yard!

Toteuma-arvio 2026

Toteuma lyhyesti

  • Ilmiön toteuma: 5/5
  • Toteuma viiden vuoden tarkkuudella: kyllä; arviointi-ikkuna on 2005–2015
  • Toteuma väljemmällä aikahorisontilla: kyllä, erittäin vahvasti
  • Ilmiön ydin: verkottunut auto yhdistää paikannuksen, liikennetiedon, kuljettajaa avustavat sensorit ja ikkunoihin tai näkökenttään tuotavan informaation.

Navigointi, reaaliaikainen liikennetieto, automaattinen hätäjarrutus, tutka ja tuulilasin heijastusnäytöt ovat nykyautoissa tavallisia. Koko ikkunapinnan virtuaalimaisema jäi erikoisuudeksi, mutta älyauton toiminnallinen ydin toteutui.

Johtopäätös: ennuste toteutui erittäin vahvasti ja oikeassa aikaikkunassa.