Low Miles 2000 Volvo S80 2.9 Luxury Sedan Automatic S60 S40 Buick Century S 80 on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Junkyard Gem: 2006 Volvo V50 T5 AWD

During my explorations of junkyard history, I've written about discarded Volvo station wagons going back to the middle 1960s. The final Goteborg wagons with brick shapes and rear-wheel-drive were sold in the United States as 1998 models, but the new century brought us plenty of curvy front- and all-wheel-drive longroof Volvos, many of which have been built with manual transmissions. Here's one of those cars: a 2006 V50 T5 AWD with six-on-the-floor manual gearbox, found in a Denver-area car graveyard. The V50 was the wagon version of the S40 sedan. Sales in the United States began with the 2005 model, and it was discontinued after 2011. The base 2006 V50 had a naturally-aspirated 2.4-liter straight-five engine, but this car is a T5 and has the turbocharged 2.5 version with 218 horses and 236 pound-feet. A six-speed manual was the base transmission, but of course most American V50 buyers opted for the five-speed automatic. That wasn't the case with this car, which must have been fun to drive in the snow. The final year for a three-pedal Volvo in the United States was 2013. There's some body damage, but the interior is in good shape. We can assume that some expensive mechanical problem sent this car here. Like so many Denver-area cars, this one has Colorado brewery stickers. It also has some pit bull stickers. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. It takes you to the city of Confidence.

Dealers mobilize to protect their margins from automaker subscription services

Six individual auto brands — Lincoln, Cadillac, Porsche, Mercedes, BMW and Volvo — have established or are trialing a vehicle subscription service in the U.S. Three third-party companies — Flexdrive, Clutch and Carma — run brand-agnostic subscription services. And three automakers — Mercedes-Benz, BMW, and General Motors — have also launched short-term rental services. Dealers, afraid of how these trends might affect their margins, are building political and lawmaking campaigns to protect their revenue streams. So far, three states are investigating automaker subscriptions, and Indiana has banned any such service until next year. It's certain that those three states are the first fronts in a long political and legal battle. Powerful dealer franchise laws mandate the existence of dealers and restrict how automakers are allowed to interact with customers to sell a vehicle. On top of that, Bob Reisner, CEO of Nassau Business Funding & Services, said, "Dealers and their associations are among the strongest political operators in many states. They as a group are difficult for state politicians to vote against." In California earlier this year, the state Assembly debated a bill with wide-ranging provisions to protect against what the California New Car Dealers Association called "inappropriate treatment of dealers by manufacturers." One of those provisions stipulated that subscription services need to go through dealers, but that item got stripped out when dealers and manufacturers agreed to discuss the matter further. In Indiana, Gov. Eric Holcomb signed a moratorium on all subscription programs by dealers or manufacturers until May 1, 2019, to give legislators more time to investigate. Dealers in New Jersey have taken their campaign to the state capitol, asking that the cars in subscription programs get a different classification for registration purposes. Automakers run the current subscription services and own the vehicles. Sign-ups and financial transactions happen online or through apps, leaving dealers to do little more than act as fulfillment centers to various degrees, with little legal recourse as to compensation amounts when they're called on to deliver or service a car. That's a bad base to build on for business owners who've sunk millions of dollars into their operations.

Volvo V40 Cross Country gets the all-wheel drive it deserves

Want a rugged Volvo wagon? Gothenburg has two kinds to offer: there's the XC crossovers on the one hand and ruggedized wagons on the other. As we reported last month from the unveiling of the new XC90 in Sweden, Volvo plans on offering more Cross Country wagons in the future. But in the meantime, it has upgraded the existing V40 Cross Country with some key enhancements - not the least of which is the long-awaited addition of all-wheel drive.
Powertrain upgrades for Volvo's smallest soft-roader include the new T5 engine (a 1.7-liter turbo four producing 245 horsepower), an eight-speed automatic transmission and all-wheel drive. The new powertrain is not only more capable, but also more environmentally friendly than the old T5 it replaces.
The enhanced V40 Cross Country launches in Europe mid-fall before being rolled out in other markets in the following months, but unfortunately the United States is not among them as the V40 is not offered Stateside in any configuration, which is a shame.