Auto blog

Volvo 850 T5 R pickup conversion is ready for a cool yule

There are plenty of ways to get your holiday tree home from the farm, but few are so classy as this Volvo 850 ute. Built in Sweden and shipped to Belgium, the car wears all of the necessary kit to pass as a 850R, and with a turbocharged 2.3-liter five cylinder under the hood, this creation should have no trouble dashing through the snow. Looks like a mighty fine use of an otherwise derelict Volvo wagon to us, though we have to imagine all that torque steer and no weight over the aft would make for all sorts of silliness once the roads went slick.
Still, if it were our Sawzall, we'd be happier with the keys to a certain BMW M5 utility in our pocket. Or, you know, the 3 Series conversion BMW whipped up not too long ago. You can head over to Autofans.be for a closer look at the 850 ute.

Jeremy Lin's new Volvo has him working out with the XC60

Jeremy Lin rose to prominence as a point guard for the New York Knicks in February of 2012 when he came out of nowhere to lead the team to a string of victories. Volvo was quick to notice and signed him as the company's US spokesperson that March. Since then, he has starred in several Volvo advertisements, and his latest ad shows just how he uses his Volvo XC60 to train for the court. The highlight is Lin shooting free throws out of the sunroof.
Since leaving the Knicks, Lin has lost some of the visibility and hype that attracted Volvo to him in the first place. Still, commercials must be made, so check out Lin's latest below.

Volvo leads and Mini fails in JD Power's Tech Experience Index

New cars are basically rolling computers. Everything from the engine to the infotainment runs on a series of ones and zeros, and a lot of that technology requires input from the driver. So it's no surprise that JD Power has a study designed specifically to discern which bits of tech drivers love and which bits they loathe. "New technology continues to be a primary factor in the vehicle purchase decision," says JD Power's Kristin Kolodge, executive director of driver interaction & human machine interface research. "However, it’s critical for automakers to offer features that owners find intuitive and reliable. The user experience plays a major role in whether an owner will use the technology on a regular basis or abandon it and feel like they wasted their money." The J.D. Power 2020 U.S. Tech Experience Index (TXI) Study found that Volvo owners are happiest with the technology packed inside their vehicles, followed by BMW and Cadillac, all brands that JD Power classifies as premium. The highest-rated mainstream brand is Hyundai, followed by Subaru and Kia. As was the case with the organization's Initial Quality and APEAL studies, Tesla's numbers aren't officially included because they are the only automaker that has not granted JD Power approval to contact its owners in states that require it. Tesla's projected score of 593 would have put it in second place, right behind Volvo's score of 617. The lowest-ranked brand in the TXI Study is Mini, with Porsche right behind. Diving a little bit deeper, JD Power's findings suggest that the technologies new car buyers care most about are related to helping them see their surroundings better. Camera systems, including rear-view mirror cameras and ground-view cameras, scored highest in five of the six satisfaction attributes measured in the study. The technology that owners could really do without? Gesture controls. Owners who answered JD Power's survey say they don't use gesture controls much at all after initially trying them, and they don't really care if their next vehicle has them. We have to wonder if those responses might be what kept BMW out of the top spot. The TXI Study also found that owners are split on automated driving helpers, like lane-keeping assist and automatic emergency braking. JD Power suggests that owners may need more training on those systems before they learn to trust them. Related Video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences.