Two friends of mine forced Volvo to take back their XC90’s on the Lemon Law as they had nothing but problems. Neat concept and vehicles, but the bugs are a locust.

I suppose when they finally pull the plug on the Crown Victoria and Grand Marquis, Ford needs at least one aging platform in their stable to carry on the tradition.

Rather than do re-designs, Volvo should offer free driving lessons to purchasers. Lesson #1 should be how NOT to consistently drive 15 mph under the speed limit.

The S60 needs to be scrapped as there is not much difference in size between the S40 and the S80. The XC90 is a dinosaur that will be replaced by the XC60, at least until gas prices come down. The XC90 is only slightly bigger, and does offer a third row, but otherwise serves no purpose.

Lariat- Some of my family members have owned multiple XC90s and they claim they are the best vehicles they have ever owned; so, I guess it is a mixed bag on the XC90s, which is dissapointing.

Howsmydriving- Here’s some advice: Quit being late to wherever you’re going and then you will not have to worry as much about what us slow Volvo drivers are doing. We think it is just as comical a concept that just anyone can drive and that so many others do the driving act so very poorly (as evidenced by those videos where firefighters are scraping other drivers off the road). Oh man, generalizations are fun AND easy! Howsmydriving, you have really opened up a new world for me! Sorry to be so puerile, but would you want people to say your vehicle choice defines your driving personna?

Volvo is one of the few companies out there (Saab being another) who can take a car and make its life cycle stretch well beyond what most others’ can and still maintain sales levels and street cred.

The S60, however, is squeezed by the S80 having come down in size and looking very similar. The S80 should have been the new S60, while the real S80 replacement was a stretched version of the S60.

The XC90 might not do quite so well staying on the market a lot longer. The 7-seat CUV market is getting crowded, and with oil pries still high and pressure from below with the new XC60 and enlarged XC70, the facelifted XC90 will need some worthwhile new features to keep it in people’s minds.

All that said, the styling motif of the last 10 years wears well with age. So who knows.

johnnycanuck,

If/when Ford does kill off the Panther platform, they’ll still have two ancient platforms remaining: The E-Series vans (ca. 1975) and the Ranger (ca. 1983).

…excellent. In these uncertain times some traditions must remain sacred.

They should just get rid of that long in the tooth S60. KEEP THE S40 PLEASE OMGZ

They’re not very well-built vehicles, they’re insanely expensive, cost of ownership is off the chart, they lost the “safety” monopoly a long time ago, and they’re Paleolithic technology. Other than those things I can’t imagine what’s wrong.

TomF, have you ever owned a Volvo? I have had very few problems with the one I own. My parents have not had any problems with their Volvos. My aunts and uncles who have owned them have had few problems with their Volvos. So I am really confused when you say they are not built well. Moreover, the cost of ownership has been no more expensive for my family’s Volvos than for my parent’s GMC Suburban, Mercedes or, the most expensive upkeeps for vehicles we ever owned . . . “the Hondas” (two, one new, one used, which our family will never partake of again). As for the “safety monopoly,” I will stick with the anecdotal evidence from family, friends and my father’s colleagues in the medical profession who have all, recently, said that they’ve seen many accidents that were only survived because the occupants drove Volvos. I will admit it is anecdotal evidence, but it is still out there. I choose to believe in that “legendary safety.” Now, feel free to tell me what is Paleolithic about Volvos . . . is it that I regularly get more than 25 mpg in a Volvo wagon that is more than a decade old? I have had one persistent problem with my car: the. a.c. That’s it. And it has not been anywhere near as expensive to fix as my sister’s Honda a.c. was.

Have I ever owned a Volvo? Hey, I own one now… a ‘99 V70 AWD that we collected in Gothenburg under the European Delivery Program. I had a toddler son, bought into the whole safety proposition, and was never so excited about a new car.

Two years later I was ready to drive the bugger off a cliff. We averaged a service visit every 3500 miles. The exterior light sockets failed. The motor mounts snapped. The AC evaporator failed (and you have to pull the dashboard to get at it; the cabin was never silent again). The electronic throttle failed. I can’t remember half the problems — I had a one-inch-thick stack of dealer writeups and the loan wasn’t half paid back yet — but I remember concluding that for all the blather about “Volvo quality,” this car was full of components that wouldn’t have been allowed on a $15k Toyota Corolla. Not only that, the AWD system (spec’d by Volvo in too big a hurry, in -’98-’99, as an emergency Outback fighter) was so finicky, if any one tire was more than 1/16″ out of round with the others, you had to replace the whole set, or the differential would fail. So imagine how thrilled I was to throw away three fine tires when one blew out at 15k miles. And again at 29k miles.

It was around this time that a Volvo GM in Europe gave an interview in which he readily admitted that “we have not been focused on quality lately.” Yeah, no kidding, buddy. Or repeat ownership.

So I have a pretty clear-eyed view of “Volvo quality.” And judging from the sadder-but-wiser denizens of brickboard.com, the very useful Volvo BBS (great for looking up secret warranties and TSBs when the weasel dealer claimed no knowledge of same), I have plenty of company.

I am tired of Volvo sympathizers claiming that massive premature component failure, frequent $600 service checks, and a dashboard that regularly lights up like I decorated it for Christmas are fair prices to pay for “road character” or “Volvo soul.” I have found NO peace of mind associated with owning one. I believe PAG / Volvo is living off a brand aura from 30-40 years ago that current Volvos don’t BEGIN to honor… and owners who rationalize all this trouble and expense just don’t want to admit they’d be less inconvenienced and 98% as safe in a Toyota Highlander. Which is probably what we’ll get next time.

Just my $0.02. Now… got to go… the “Check Engine” light is on again. Really.

TomF- Sounds like you got a lemon and I am sorry to hear it. The Hondas we had horrid luck with were probably the same deal. I probably did go overboard in my defense of Volvos, but you will note that I stayed away from the price issue as I would have to agree that the price of current Volvos is a little high. As for all the problems you have had, unless those repairs all occurred when your car was way outside of its warranty (and it sounds like it was not), then you should have been able to take advantage of lemon laws. I am sorry that I am a Volvo sympathizer, but anyone who frequents sites that are repositories of complaints about a specific brand is surely wallowing in misery. There are quite a few of us out here who do not visit those sites because we have not had the problems you have had with your car. You are no doubt soured on the Volvo brand; however, I would be intrigued to know what your experience with the Toyota Highlander is after a few years. Hopefully, for your sake, you will find it to be an affordable vehicle that does not fail you in an accident. Granted, you would know a Volvo would not fail you, but we are all free to take our risks. Good luck buddy.