I can see where wing is coming from. The "you're following too closely" light is really quite over-cautious. It should be speed and acceleration-dependent, and maybe activate only when the driver is consistently following too close or the car calculates a collision to be fairly probable. Like wing said: coming to a traffic light and stopping behind another vehicle will cause it to light up. And I don't think anyone argues that one should stop 5 car lengths behind the car in front for the sake of safety. The first thing my dad asked was "how do you turn it off"? CitySafety was neat (the dealer demonstrated it with an inflatable object) but ultimately wouldn't be something I'd spring that much money for.
When we were shopping for my dad, we loved the XC60 but for two things--fuel economy and price. While the T6 engine Volvo's used was fantastic on the test drive, we couldn't see using or needing its capabilities enough to justify the rather high fuel consumption numbers. I'll be interested to see what wing's numbers are. I think Volvo should've brought a more fuel efficient powerplant first rather than sway people away with the fuel economy numbers (I'd love for them to have brought the diesel--would've made a good media splash too).
Second was the price. Sure, it starts at a tuck under $45K, but bring it up to a respectable specification and you're looking at at $55K. I'd take an X3 (which gets better fuel economy!) before that.
But yeah--loved the design, the seats, the functionality, and the interior (though, wing, do your front passengers sometimes find the metallic strip at the top of the center stack is ill positioned when it comes to glare from the sun?).
Went with an A4 Avant in the end. Dad finally decided it was time to give up the high seating position.
