Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Deutsch The hood sits a little too high, IMO. Such an unfortunate thing to have such unreasonable limitations placed on design. Who's to say that someone isn't heavy enough to cave in on one of these hoods and get killed even if it is designed to resist hard impact? That's a matter for a whole nother discussion though. |
Oh lord yes. At times I think designing a car to better absorb hitting a person out on the road is just plain dumb when the effort should be spent on making places where cars/people meet safer in the first place. I mean if a car is going fast enough you're dead no matter how soft the hood is!!!
I think Mercedes did the best job of intergrating these new regulations on the new S-Class. If you look at the new Lexus LS460 and this Volvo S80 you see this gigantic, thick hoods that nearly (but not quite) ruin the design.
All for the "just in case" I hit a pedestrian? Nonsense IMO. I can see certain things like not having pointy front ends made of chrome or certain restrictions on hood ornaments, but at the rate these regulations are going certain types of cars (front engined sports cars) are going to start looking really ridiculous. Heck at certain speeds you're going to go flying up and over the car anyway. Whats next, soft suspension pieces and breakaway wheels in case the cars
runs over a person! Sorry for the rant.
That said, I like this car as I do the new C70. I've always liked Volvos and Saabs (until GM took over) for that matter. The controls in these newer Volvos are so logical and straight forward compared to their German rivals. Volvos have what I've experienced to be the best seats around for comfort without being too mushy.
M