Okay, notwithstanding all the praise I've heaped on my 1988 240 DL wagon, the facts are: my job entails lots of driving and talking on the cell phone for business purposes. The inside of my wagon is as loud as a 1970s Ford pickup. Sometimes I have to pull over to the side to get the details.

And then there is the matter of the as yet unsolved door lock problem on the wgon.

What I love about the 240 wagon is it drives and handles like a lighter, sportier car. Very light on its feet.

In a moment of haste I traded a perfectly good 2002 Ford Focus hatch, red in color, for a 1998 Volvo S70 sedan, red in color. The Volvo is a dream in silence, much the way I wish my 240 wagon would be. But the Volvo S70 turbo is front wheel drive and has a heavy feel. Not light on its feet like the Focus was. Well, there are other important tradeoffs too but I'm not going down that trail.

So whenever I see those Volvo XC wagons, from 1998 on, I drool. And I bet they are quiet to drive. But are they heavy on handling, like the S70? Because if so, I would just as soon keep my 88 wagon until I drive the wheels off it.

On the internet I saw this paint that costs about $50 a gallon that is supposed to damp down sound better than that Dynamat that Chip Foos uses on Overhaulin. I thought, next summer or whenever it stops raining, I could tear out the interior of the 88 wagon, paint this stuff on, and call it good. Assuming I'm going to solve the door lock prblem, and I'm confident.

The only way to really solve this question is to drive an XC and judge for myself. But that would entail a whole movie that I don't have time for, and I don't know anyone who owns one.

Any comments? But don't bother dissing the Focus, I've read enough on this board to know the concensus. I mention the Focus merely because I was so surprised when the 240 wagon drove as light as the Focus, the 240 being a heavier car by far. But the S70 teaches me that not all redesigns are an upgrade.

Fire at will. Maybe you can disillusion me about the XC and I can have some other pipe dream this winter. Did I mention it's raining?