Volvo Coupe Concept- A modern P1800

[RocZX]

 

[KinLM]

Wow.. Not exactly an everyday bland Volvo. It's pretty nice I think

 

[High-Test]

I quite like it.

 

[Roger the Horse]

My parents had a P1800 when I was a kid. I can't say this really captures the feel of it, from what I'm seeing, but it's a Volvo and Volvo's always get my thumbs up!

 

[Leonidae@MFT]

Linky

As for a powertrain, the Concept Coupe is said to tote a plug-in gas hybrid. However, it suggests hybrid technology will boost its new range of four-cylinder engines into V-8 power levels.

The combination in the concept--a 2.0-liter four-cylinder with both supercharging and turbocharging, and an electric motor on the rear axle--gives the Concept Coupe a theoretical output of about 400 horsepower and nearly 490 pound-feet of torque.

 

[BKGlover]

P1800 is nice to look at, and a car I have heard little to no bad about. This? Ehh...not really.

 

[Roger the Horse]

Despite being a Volvo, the P1800 has rather little room in the back, not that I noticed at the time. Sadly they were far too prone to rust...

 

[Anghammarad]

And here are images of the whole car. http://jalopnik.com/the-volvo-concept-coupe-this-is-it-1217800945

 

[homeforsummer]

Absolutely stunning.

If they don't make a car that looks very much like this, I think I might lose my faith in humanity.

*Picard*

Oh do give it a break. This Luddite thing of hating any mention of the word "hybrid", not being expressly rear-drive or having too few cylinders is even more tedious, misguided and unimaginative than people who berate American V8s for low specific outputs or high-revving Hondas for having low torque.

 

[AudiMan2011]

I don't like the look of it. It's too conservative and needs to be more swoopy. Plus being a Volvo, it's likely to be crammed with more safety gadgets than ever which will just make it boring.

A modern remake of the P1800 conceived the way the Singer 911 was, wouldn't go amiss.

 

[homeforsummer]

I don't like the look of it. It's too conservative and needs to be more swoopy. Plus being a Volvo, it's likely to be crammed with more safety gadgets than ever which will just make it boring.

A modern remake of the P1800 conceived the way the Singer 911 was, wouldn't go amiss.

Agree and disagree. A Singer-style P1800 would be amazing - perhaps with one of Volvo's recent 5-cylinder turbocharged engines.

However, I'm not sure how safety gadgets on their own make Volvos "boring".

The V40 is probably the least boring car in its class right now (and darn nice to drive) and the S/V60 one of the most attractive sedans/estates on the road. Their interiors are fantastic places to sit (with distinctly non-boring TFT dials, floating centre consoles and crystal-style gear shifters) and most of their cars have some mental turbocharged model somewhere in the lineup. And you can paint pretty much every one of them, aside from maybe the XC90, this colour:

That's before you get to the fact this coupe has 400 horsepower.

The style of it is a personal taste thing obviously, but I'm quite glad it's not more "swoopy". "Swoopy" too often means "overstyled", where Volvo has gone for something classically elegant here. A bit like that Cadillac concept the other week, in fact.

 

[AudiMan2011]

*Snip*

Each to their own I guess. We'll leave our differences there so as not to ignite a heated debate between us. Agreed?

 

[Cano]

safety gadgets than ever which will just make it boring.

Er. How exactly safety gadgets make a car boring? o_O

 

[AudiMan2011]

Er. How exactly safety gadgets make a car boring? o_O

Don't take this the wrong way against me but it's my personal opinion.

I know this is completely subjective but I reckon Volvo's obsessive focus on safety in recent years have made their cars less appealing against their rivals. In the olden days (P1800 etc) when safety wasn't as big of an issue then Volvo would've been a decent alternative.

 

[Roger the Horse]

I like most of it, but I'm not so sure about the front. Plus, it looks like a concept car, which actually gives me hope as 9 times out of 10 the road going final version is FAR more attractive than the concept. If it makes it to production, of course.

I'd rather drive a car knowing it'll keep me safe in a crash that never comes than die in a car crash.

This Luddite thing of hating any mention of the word "hybrid", not being expressly rear-drive or having too few cylinders is even more tedious, misguided and unimaginative than people who berate American V8s for low specific outputs or high-revving Hondas for having low torque.

👍 I agree, although hybrids are not the future. Any time spent living in the Netherlands will very quickly teach you that BICYCLES are the future. Bicycles and Hydrogen Fuel Cells, of course.

 

[Nessy]

I quite like it, though it reminds me a bit of the Audi Quattro concept (2011/2012 i think), although the rear roofline is completely different, other aspects of the design look fairly similar.

 

[Cano]

Don't take this the wrong way against me but it's my personal opinion.

I know this is completely subjective but I reckon Volvo's obsessive focus on safety in recent years have made their cars less appealing against their rivals. In the olden days (P1800 etc) when safety wasn't as big of an issue then Volvo would've been a decent alternative.

Er, personal opinion, ok. Based on what? Again, how could safety devices make a car more boring? Just how? Please xplain, it numbles my mind. Really, expain how.

Also, I think you have it the wrong way. In fact, you have it absolutely the other way around. If there is ONE point Volvo has going for it is precisely their safety devices and strogn safety ratings, which have allowed them to remain competitive in segments in which their engineering prowess isn't as advanced as, say, the germans.

Really, wat.

 

[AudiMan2011]

Er, personal opinion, ok. Based on what? Again, how could safety devices make a car more boring? Just how? Please xplain, it numbles my mind. Really, expain how.

Also, I think you have it the wrong way. In fact, you have it absolutely the other way around. If there is ONE point Volvo has going for it is precisely their safety devices and strogn safety ratings, which have allowed them to remain competitive in segments in which their engineering prowess isn't as advanced as, say, the germans.

Really, wat.

Personal taste really. I just don't want to put put too much faith in technology to keep me safe.

 

[Cano]

Still doesn't explain in the least how safety measures make a car boring.

 

[Keef]

Layers of safety nannies don't make a car boring. They make the driver bored, reliant on those measures, and therefore paying less attention to what they should actually be doing. Safety nets do nothing but make people lazy.

Frankly, I believe the world of driving is not dangerous enough. It's way too easy to do stupid things and walk away from it unharmed. That's not the way it is for me in aviation. Everybody works hard to get everything right the first time, every time, because if they don't they'll either lose their license for life or kill themselves and others.

I think everybody driving a car should have a slight fear that if they crash they'll kill themselves - it's what keeps me and every other pilot doing all sorts of unnecessary safety routines in our airplanes.

 

[Aquarelle]

Volvo's obsessive focus on safety in recent years

Sorry, hang on.

Recent years?

This.. this is Volvo we're talking about? as far as I can recall there is one thing Volvo has always been about - that being safety.
Their cars are built like tanks in the interest of keeping you safe.

We're talking about the same company right???

 

[Beeblebrox237]

This thing is pretty awesome. I like it. And of course, being a Volvo, it will probably be quite a sleeper.

 

[homeforsummer]

I think everybody driving a car should have a slight fear that if they crash they'll kill themselves - it's what keeps me and every other pilot doing all sorts of unnecessary safety routines in our airplanes.

I do agree with this to some extent. I've driven classic cars with rubbish brakes and you sure as hell avoid getting too close to the car in front. Tailgating is a no-no. Unsafer cars make safer drivers.

However, I wouldn't see myself getting bored in this Volvo. I'd get a kick just from the cool interior and pseudo-70s-American-muscle styling. And probably the 400hp too.

 

[Wolfe]

It grows on you. The Aston Martin greenhouse is uninspired, and the front end seems like a mismatch, like a picture of Jeremy Clarkson making a funny face plastered over the head of a female model. But the more I look at it, the more it resembles a Swedish Mustang.

 

[Omnis]

Modern art sucks.

 

[Roger the Horse]

I agree with Wolfe. It really does grow on you. From some angles it looks a bit odd at first, but I'm starting to like it.

 

[RocZX]

It looks awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's one of the best looking concept cars this year. I really wish they make a production version of it.

 

[Crash]

I think this looks very good. Volvo should make it. 👍

Still doesn't explain in the least how safety measures make a car boring.

I guess it's always a bit more exciting not knowing whether you'll ever walk again the next time you're in an accident.

--

I can appreciate Keef's point about the need for attentive drivers, but I think we should be blaming the poor, inattentive drivers rather than the technologies themselves for bad driving.

I also think we should separate and recognize that there are differences between active and passive safety. Even active safety has different tiers in whether the system is reactive or proactive. I can understand certain proactive active safeties that can be too restrictive and put a damper on fun in certain situations (ie. stability control), but I can't think of a single instance of how passive safety features would make a car boring (oh look, the car having a crumple zone just bores me to tears, can't ever drive a car like that). It is wholly unfair to just simply state that safety technologies make cars boring.

 

[Panoz]

Unique and different for me. Stands out from the current crowd at the moment.

Also a photoshop in Rebel Bla or Polestar Blue.

 

[homeforsummer]

Also a photoshop in Rebel Bla or Polestar Blue.

Hah, that didn't take long. Not sure it really suits it though - bit of a brash colour for a classy shape.