2007: The Year That Was

Volvo V70 XC AWD

How’d you recall 2007 – the year that was?

Let’s have a flashback and a quick flashforward. Like that?

Let me open the floor for The Auto Channel's European Bureau Chief Andrew Frankl. He writes:

The car I would pick if I had to have just one:
Volvo V70 XC AWD. Sorry about all these silly letters but essentially what we are talking about is Volvo’s cross country, all-wheel drive station wagon/estate car. It may not be cheap but at around 35 thousand dollars-without some of the unnecessary extras- it is quick, economical, pleasant to drive, safe with tons of room for people and luggage, equally at home in the mountains and by the sea, just one sensible automobile.

Dream car of the year:
Mercedes SL. At a –don’t laugh-relatively cheap-for a dream car- 90 thousand dollars this is just about perfect for the over 50s. Comfortable, quick, beautiful to look at with that amazing folding hard-top, it is just fabulous. No wonder the waiting list stretches from one end of Rodeo Drive to the other.

Surprise of the year:
Mercedes E class. I had to get to Los Angeles from San Francisco in a hurry and with the 3.2 liter engine the new “E” got me there in 5 hours flat on one tank of fuel. Bearing in mind that I averaged 80 miles per hour I found this quite outstanding. Only problem-the rock hard seat, otherwise a great car at a sensible price . Drive of the year: a quick dash round middle England in Mr. Bond’s Vanquish. Not for the faint-hearted.

Driver of the year:
Michael Schumacher. Yes, he had a great car and a great engine but to keep it on the island lap after lap, race after race is just incredible. Well over 1000 racing miles without a single mistake, no wonder he walked away with the Formula One Championship.

Racing car of the year:
Ferrari’s F1. All credit to Paolo Martinelli for the design of the engine and to Rory Byrne for the chassis.

Man of the year:
A tough one this. Let me name several and you take your pick. Bob Lutz for breathing life into GM, Carlos Ghosn for reviving Nissan, Luca di Montezemolo for Ferrari’s astonishing success and Jurgen Schrempp’s team for stopping the hemorrhage at Chrysler. I would love to name my old mate Nick Scheele from Ford but I think he would be the first to admit that they have a long way to go.

And for this year…

Most exciting prospect:
To drive the Ferrari Enzo. When I’ve asked Schumacher about this he suggested extreme caution. If there is one person who knows what he is talking about it has to be the champ.

More info here.

Coil springs keep improving. Cars are getting better. Now, what more could you ask for?