Volvo's new concept car, ... designed by women for women.

The 'Your Concept Car' (YCC), on display for the first time at the Geneva Motor Show, was designed by a team of women keen to change the way most cars are designed with male drivers in mind.

And what does this have that makes it special? Besides gull-wing doors.

• Removable seat pads attached with magnets for easy cleaning or color coordinating with your outfit. Be still, my beating heart!
• Back seats which point up like theater seats until someone sits in them. This gives more storage space behind the front seat. Have I ever mentioned how much I hate theater seats? I hope these things still have the option of folding the back down so you can stuff really large objects into the car across the seats. This, my dear, is for women who have bought more groceries than the capacity of the trunk/ hatch/ other storage space. Remember the monthly megaload? #1 son eats like the Narnian centaurs: he has the capacity of a horse stomach and a man stomach, "which is why it is a serious business indeed to have a centaur come for the week-end." #1 daughter can knock off a gallon of milk a day by herself. #3 daughter would bring home fifty bags of junk food, which is why I don't bring her to the grocery store. #2 son would buy 50 lbs of sausage, which is why I don't bring him to the store either.

  I prefer to have grocery bags propped up on the floor of the back seat. In the old Nova, a jug of milk slid off the seat when I braked, and cracked. The Nova reeked of sour milk until the floor under the spill rusted out (the Nova had seen too many over-salted Chicago streets).

• Special umbrella, coin, and key compartments inside the bodywork. This is new? Well, maybe umbrellas--what size, by the way? Anything for Snapple bottles, pop cans, magazines, and other kid paraphernalia?
• The windshield washer fluid port is by the gas port. The hood is molded unremoveably into the front of the car. The car is programmed to figure out any problems, and send you and the garage a message about what's wrong. Only the garage mechanic can remove the hood. Yikes! I don't like to think how many times I have to get under the hood--oil, belts, cleaning the battery terminals, radiator work, etc. Volvo's concept sounds cute if you trust the car's diagnostic computer to always warn you and if you have oceans of bucks for the garage bills, and if the car never starts wearing out. (One of our cars has over 190000 miles, the other over 125000. {over 300000 km and 200000 km} Ask me if things wear out . . .) Amen. John the mechanic has made a career out of keeping our heaps on the road. Much as I appreciate John's efficiency, I don't fancy driving to the shop every time I need to add a quart of oil.
• A "body scanning system" "to automatically adjust seats, mirrors, steering wheels, and pedals." I shudder at the horrifying number of things that will go wrong with a system like this... Especially since James is 6' even; I'm 5'6, #1 daughter is 5'4, and #2 daughter is 5'2 and professes not to be able to see out the big white Behemoth her dad drives. James can't get into the car at all after #2 daughter has driven it before.

  Does this car come with an automatic radio retuner that keeps Nirvana, Eminem, baseball game beer commercials, and other losers off the family airwaves?

• A split in the headrest to accept a ponytail. I thought most recent headrests had a hole in the middle these days.

Ok, it is just a concept car, not a production model. Comes equipped with your selection of stereotypes . . .