2012 Volvo C70 T5 Premier Plus on 2040-cars

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Volvo prices revamped 2014 lineup

Volvo has made quite a few changes to its US lineup for the 2014 model year. The C30 hatchback and C70 convertible are gone; the S60, S80, XC60 and XC70 have all been reschnozzed; and in a few months, Volvo will bring its V60 wagon across the pond for Stateside consumption. Only the range-topping XC90 carries on unchanged, though a brand new version is expected to launch sometime next year.
The S60 starts as low as $32,400 for the entry level T5 model, and reaches as high as $45,700 for the T6 R-Design Platinum trim. The larger S80 sedan starts at $39,900, with its range-topping T6 Platinum version commanding $48,150. XC70 pricing ranges anywhere from $34,500 for the 3.2 FWD to $45,650 for the T6 Platinum, XC60 numbers span from $34,850 to $49,800, and XC90 prices start as low as $39,700 and as high as $45,400. None of these prices include $895 for destination, and pricing for the swoopy V60 wagon has not been released just yet.
While the majority of Volvo's 2014 model year enhancements are visual, some neat updates have been made mechanically, as well. There's a new Advanced Quick Shift mode for the six-speed automatic transmission that's paired with the turbocharged six-cylinder engine, and Volvo says that the S60 R-Design will now scoot to 60 miles per hour two-tenths of a second quicker (5.3 versus 5.5). In the XC60 R-Design, AQS improves 0-60 acceleration by four-tenths of a second, down to 6.2 from 6.6 seconds.

Watch these Super Bowl car commercials [UPDATE]

On Sunday, February 3, the New England Patriots take on the Los Angeles Rams in Super Bowl 53 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia. Some will watch because of the storyline of the old-school dynasty facing off against the new-school wunderkinds, but a large chunk of people will solely be watching for the commercials. Lucky for those who slot into the latter category, many of the manufacturers release their super bowl ads ahead of time, or have simply opted to release the commercials only online. Scroll down to see what car companies have already shown their cards. Audi Audi goes the comedic route in its clip for the Big Game. It starts with a grandpa showing his grandson a gorgeous Audi e-tron GT tucked away in a garage before he's shaken awake. Turns out he was just choking on a cashew in his cubicle at his boring job. Dodge Dodge does what it knows: create enough smoke to punch more holes in the ozone layer. Set to "The Devil Went Down to Georgia (the Super Bowl is in Atlanta, get it!?), a Challenger SRT Hellcat widebody, Charger SRT Hellcat, and Durango SRT are seen ripping through a city, leaving a trail of rubber crumbs in their wakes. Genesis Genesis has not yet released a commercial prior to the Super Bowl, but it is the official luxury vehicle of the NFL. Because of this, Genesis is hosting a fan experience for 10 days before the game. It will showcase the brand's cars, offer games, and have photos opportunities and autograph days. Hyundai Jason Bateman alert! Hyundai is one of the few companies to hook a major celebrity for its advertisement, and the casting is perfect. Bateman plays a doorman who takes people to various terrible events in life, including root canals, the middle seat, and shopping for a car. The ad centers around Hyundai's Shopper Assurance, which is Hyundai's new method for car shopping. Jeep An old 1963 Jeep Gladiator finds its strength in the crusher and transforms into a a new 2020 Gladiator, with a firm declaration that the nameplate is officially back. Kia Through Kia's commercial, a young boy wonders out loud what it'd be like if the millions spent on Super Bowl commercials were used to help others.

Junkyard Gem: 1984 Volvo 242 DL

Volvo had tremendous success with the iconic 200 Series cars, selling them in North America from the 1975 model year all the way through 1993 (and if you count the Volvo 140, which was the same car from the A pillars rearward, the 240's history goes back to the middle 1960s). Nearly everybody who bought 240s on our continent did so in order to be safe and/or practical, which meant that the two-door version never sold anywhere near as well as its four-door and wagon brethren. Here's one of those rare 240 coupes (technically speaking, a two-door sedan), found in a San Jose car graveyard last winter. If you're going to be a stickler about the designation of this car as a two-door sedan and not as a coupe, you'll also want to call it by the name Volvo used when it was in the showroom: the 1984 Volvo DL. However, everybody in the Volvo world now prefers the original naming system that Volvo used for the 200s back home in Sweden, where you had 2 followed by a numeral indicating the number of engine cylinders and a numeral indicating the number of doors, with the trim-level code after that. So, what we have for today's Junkyard Gem is a Volvo 242 DL, i.e., the cheapest new 240 Americans could buy in 1984. You could get a turbocharged engine from the factory in the 1984 242, but this car has the ordinary naturally-aspirated 2.3-liter straight-four, rated at 111 horsepower. It also has the four-speed manual transmission with overdrive controlled by the button in the middle of the shift knob. Nearly 230,000 miles on the clock, which is decent for any 1980s car but not spectacular by Volvo 240 standards. Many Volvo enthusiasts prefer the smooth lines of the coupe to the stodgier sedans and wagons, and this one shows signs of ownership by someone who wasn't just about listening to NPR while driving safely to the natural-foods store. Sure enough, it has aftermarket springs and a non-factory rear sway bar. I wish I'd found these parts back in 2007, when I was helping to build a V8-swapped Volvo 244 road racer. The presence of the keys in a junkyard car, however, usually indicates that it was voluntarily let go by its final owner. Perhaps it was a dealership trade-in that proved to be impossible to sell due to a combination of three pedals, high miles, and lack of truck-shaped body. The interior looks like it might have been tolerable before it reached this place.