Stuffed within various garages and storage bins, Cleve Mason, a long-time Volvo employee, maintains his own personal fleet of vehicles. A BMW E46 M3, Subaru STi, Mitsubishi EVO VIII and a few others jostle for precious space. Cleve's garage doesn't suggest he works for Volvo, a company whose reputation has been founded on safety, reliability and a stoic nature. Therefore, you might think a Volvo wagon might feel out of place here, like a Sierra Club member at the Ultimate Fighting Championship. However, when the gloves came off, this Volvo was more than capable of defending itself. In fact, it kicked serious ass.
At first glance, it appears the wagon has been treated by a high-end tuner like ipd or Dinan (if Dinan did Volvos). The running gear is comprised of super-light Volk TE37 wheels (7.5x18) forged from magnesium blanks. Weighing a paltry 16 pounds per corner, they are shod with Pirelli P Zero Corsas measuring 225/40-19. The Pirelli rubber is truly awesome, managing to pull a 1 full g on the skidpad. I'm considering getting a set for my newly acquired M3.
The dual exhaust is a Borla system made especially for this car. The cat-back unit is wrought from 2.75-inch stainless steel and terminates in sizable angled tips. At idle, the wagon emits a sexy purr; under load, its tone changes to an aggressive snarl. While searching for a sportier suspension, the Volvo came into questionable hands and its underpinnings were fairly butchered. Koni and the crew at Eibach came to the rescue and cooked up a program based on Koni struts and shocks and Eibach coilover bodies. The system was improved with AWR Racing's adjustable upper front strut mounts for extra negative camber.
Aerodynamics are off-the-shelf Volvo components including the front airdam, side skirts, rear valence and rear roof spoiler. The fat sport steering wheel and shift knob are Volvo pieces as well.
In retrospect, this car is fairly modest in terms of modifications. It's basically a car upgraded with a few well-placed parts. That it was such a blast to drive is testament to the fundamental goodness that was already there.
Although it began as a Euro-spec car, the wagon is fundamentally the same thing we get Stateside. That's great news for us as it's got more than enough balls to make for an exciting ride. Its 2.5-liter, 20-valve inline five is force-fed via a Garret turbocharger and front-mount intercooler. Variable cam timing on both intake and exhaust conspire to produce 218 bhp @ 5000 rpm and 236 lb-ft of twist at a paltry 1500 rpm. Turbo lag? Not a chance. This thing leaps from the line with enough torque to bark all four wheels. Its awd Haldex-based driveline does a fabulous job transferring power to whichever corner can best utilize the torque. The manual six-speed and gearing allows zero to 60 mph in 6.5 seconds and a 14.9 e.t. at 97 mph in the quarter mile. Not bad for a 3,500-pound chassis.
The Eibach/Koni suspension leaves the wagon a bit closer to the ground but not so low as to cause problems. I accidentally pulled over a parking berm, an obstacle feared by many lowered cars, and had room to spare. I'm guessing the factory would approve.
This wagon was both light on its feet and comfortable, the type of vehicle capable of light track duty, canyon carving or family day trips. If this is the type of thing we can expect from Volvo, sign me up. There may be room for just one more car in the Bidrawn garage. -Les Bidrawn