2001 Volvo V70 X/c Wagon 2.4l Turbo Auto Awd 5 Passenger Hi Miles $ave Now Mint on 2040-cars

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The next-generation wearable will be your car

This year's CES has had a heavy emphasis on the class of device known as the "wearable" – think about the Apple Watch, or Fitbit, if that's helpful. These devices usually piggyback off of a smartphone's hardware or some other data connection and utilize various onboard sensors and feedback devices to interact with the wearer. In the case of the Fitbit, it's health tracking through sensors that monitor your pulse and movement; for the Apple Watch and similar devices, it's all that and some more. Manufacturers seem to be developing a consensus that vehicles should be taking on some of a wearable's functionality. As evidenced by Volvo's newly announced tie-up with the Microsoft Band 2 fitness tracking wearable, car manufacturers are starting to explore how wearable devices will help drivers. The On Call app brings voice commands, spoken into the Band 2, into the mix. It'll allow you to pass an address from your smartphone's agenda right to your Volvo's nav system, or to preheat your car. Eventually, Volvo would like your car to learn things about your routines, and communicate back to you – or even, improvise to help you wake up earlier to avoid that traffic that might make you late. Do you need to buy a device, like the $249 Band 2, and always wear it to have these sorts of interactions with your car? Despite the emphasis on wearables, CES 2016 has also given us a glimmer of a vehicle future that cuts out the wearable middleman entirely. Take Audi's new Fit Driver project. The goal is to reduce driver stress levels, prevent driver fatigue, and provide a relaxing interior environment by adjusting cabin elements like seat massage, climate control, and even the interior lighting. While it focuses on a wearable device to monitor heart rate and skin temperature, the Audi itself will use on-board sensors to examine driving style and breathing rate as well as external conditions – the weather, traffic, that sort of thing. Could the seats measure skin temperature? Could the seatbelt measure heart rate? Seems like Audi might not need the wearable at all – the car's already doing most of the work. Whether there's a device on a driver's wrist or not, manufacturers seem to be developing a consensus that vehicles should be taking on some of a wearable's functionality.

Jaguar turns down offers to join V8 Supercars, questions AMG, Volvo participation

Rumors have swirled in recent weeks that Jaguar may be the next manufacturer to join the V8 Supercars racing series, made popular in Australia but now well-known in other parts of the world as well. Sadly, Jag's participation is not to be. In fact, it would be "insane," according to Jaguar Land Rover Asia Pacific Managing Director David Blackhall, for it to accept either of the two offers it has received to bring Jaguar into V8 Supercars.
Not only is Jaguar not interested in entering V8 Supercars, says Blackhall, it also fails to understand the recent entries from AMG and Volvo. "I don't know what it does for AMG to get flogged by a V8 Commodore week after week, but it's their brand, their issue. And the same thing will happen to Volvo to be honest."
Judging by Blackhall's statements to motoring.com.au, after not-so-serious consideration, the automaker decided the monetary commitment it would take to compete for wins would be more than any potential exposure would be worth, despite the fact that Jaguar has a 5.0-liter V8 to go along with what would seem to be a tailor-made rear-wheel-drive chassis. For what it's worth, one offer would have had Jaguar putting its name across an engine made by someone else, an option that was flatly turned down.

Irv Gordon's Volvo P1800 has reached 3 million miles

While we were seated at our desks like good worker bees yesterday, Irv Gordon was continuing his assault on the record books. Gordon, if you recall, is the original owner of a red 1966 Volvo P1800 (owner and car shown above), and yesterday, Volvo says the coupe's odometer clocked its three-millionth mile. The miracle mile occurred on the Seward Highway in Alaska, one of only two states that Gordon had never visited.
It took the New York native more than 20 years to hit his first million miles in 1987 and another 15 years to achieve two million miles in 2002, but a road trip to Alaska will further cement his place in the record books as the car surpasses three million miles. Gordon has almost doubled the 1.69-million mile distance that helped him win a Guinness Book of World Records title for the most miles logged on an originally owned car, and this new momentous distance proves the durability of both man and machine. For more information on Gordon's feat, scroll down for a Volvo press release or check out a website set up to celebrate his latest milestone.