Volvo's split personality. (WIP).

"Safety is tattooed on our brains," says Kari-Johan Ekman, chief vehicle engineer at Volvo, "But a sporty driving experience is higher on Volvo's agenda now than it was a few years ago." Those two facts taken together explain the split personality of the new S80 flagship sedan with Four-C (Continuously Controlled Chassis Concept) that Volvo will debut this fall. Volvo wanted to maintain the luxurious ride on its top-of-the-line sedan, but also offer the option of sportier road handling to better compete with the likes of BMW and Audi. To achieve both, it applied Four-C, an electronically-controlled shock absorber system that can adjust shock stiffness on the S80 between "comfort" and "sport" modes with the press of a button on the dash. Ekman sees Four-C as the solution to a Fundamental problem: "With a normal chassis you must make a compromise between comfort and sportiness, but with Four-C you can have both. You can tighten up the car and add extra flavors to the handling by controlling oversteer and unders teer." And you can default to comfort mode for more of a limousine experience. But how does all of this jibe with that safety tattoo? Krister Broo, program manager for chassis, explains, "When you start with a carthat is comfortable to drive you are less likely to get into an accident in the first place."

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Volvo's flagship sedan, the S80, has undergone a major refreshening for 2004 model year. Originally introduced in 1998, the S80 was the first car to be built off of Volvo's P2 platform which has since spawned the S60, V70, XC70 and most recently the XC90 SUV. Changes include:

* New nose. The S80 sports a new front fascia with a soft-nose section designed to flow better into the body sides. The grille pattern was changed to a square mesh intended to create an elegant three-dimensional effect.

* Smaller tail lights and side view mirrors. Customers told Volvo that the S80's tail lights looked too big, so the company reduced their size and added a body-colored strip at the bottom. It also replaced conventional bulbs with LEDs for faster lamp activation. The bulky side view mirrors of the older model are replaced with smaller, sleeker units.

* Chrome accents. To enhance the perceived luxury of the S80 [especially for chrome-loving Americans) Volvo added chromed door handles, chrome strips above the rear license plate garnish and the front air intake, and a chrome surround on the front grille.

* Refrigerator. What would a premium luxury car be without a built-in refrigerator? The S80's fits into the center armrest of the back seat and is just big enough to accommodate a couple of bottles of Perrier [or several jars of Grey Poupon.]