Volvo's historic rival Saab still sells the majority of its customers a front-wheel drive car, only because it doesn't

Despite long rivalries with Swedish competitor Saab, Volvo now sees Audi as its number one competitor. (Photo: Trevor Hofmann, Canadian Auto Press)

offer all-wheel drive on all of its models - it's Subaru-sourced 9-2X and upcoming Chevy TrailBlazer derived 9-7X are the only all-wheel drive Saabs. The GM owned sport/luxury division is the minority as you can plainly see, with even long-time front-wheel drive proponent Chrysler Group now shifting to rear- and all-wheel drive on the majority of all-new models. Despite long rivalries with Swedish competitor Saab, due to Volvo's rather recent adoption of all-wheel drive, at least compared to Audi which has offered its famed quattro system in production cars since the early '80s, it considers the Volkswagen-owned German marque to be competitor number one. I would add Acura to that mix, at least with regards to Volvo's front-wheel drive cars plus its top-line

The XC70 is built to exacting standards and can stand tall and proud beside any premium competitor. (Photo: Volvo Cars of Canada)

S80 pitting against the new RL, and XC90 flagship SUV fighting it out with the MDX. But, as previously said, the unique XC70 has few competitors. No doubt, owners of the crossover wagon hardly care which models may or may not compete with it, but rather only concern themselves with the merits of their cars. The XC70, an extremely competent machine on any road surface, is built to exacting standards and can stand tall and proud beside any premium competitor.

During a recent press event to Quebec City, and the surrounding area, I had the opportunity to stretch the car's legs, so to speak, and making the matter much more interesting did so on snowy roads and sheer ice surfaces - more on that in a minute.