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.

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).

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.

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?