Describe what you like most about Your car

I find it very accessible. My friends can get back there no problem. Also lots of room for cargo. I've taken it on several road trips, and I pack A LOT. If you have any more questions, feel free to send me a PM!

 

You may disagree, but you are incorrect about the assumptions you have made. Volvo's were unreliable before being owned by Ford. They were safe cars, but not reliable.

Ford sold volvo after it had gleaned all the AWD and other tech they needed, and also they sold so they would not need a bail out from the government.

Ford probably didn't even need to sell Volvo, but business wise it was a smart decision.

 

By friends, I take it you mean fish and dogs. ;D

 

Now you are funny! Volvos have historically been one of the most reliable marks on earth. Most Volvo drive-trains are good for 300,000 miles before a major overhaul, much unlike and ford product. I own fords, a 00 f350 and a 05 f350 as well as growing up on their cars as my Dad is a ford man. Guess what, none of us drive them any more. Tell me this, why had Volvo's reliability gone down after the ford acquisition? How about poor quality rods from the ford parts bin? I can cite industry data if you would like. Ford bought Volvo for all the wrong reason and degraded the mark. Much like they have done with countless other manufactures. GLeemed AWD on Volvo? You have to be kidding. That system is such crap it's not even funny. I have driven real AWD in my A4, not fords weak helical system. You need to look beyond the blue oval my friend.

 

I have put over 400k on a 86 bronco 2 with the 2.9 auto as well. That car was only taken out by a drunk driver that failed to stop for a red light. That wasn't even a reliable car. Ford has made huge strides to become the top of the reliability charts. Their sales numbers only back that up.

You can think what you want to think, and I will say what I say.

I agree to disagree.

Fwiw, I don't even drive a ford now, have not for a couple years. I drive a Toyota and a jeep. I sold my last ford to buy my house, not because it was a bad car, just that to own my own house was more important than owning a convertible mustang I drove 5000 miles a year.

 

At this point I hate my truck. 160,xxx miles and shes starting to go down hill on me. Not too long ago i replaced the front wheel bearings, inner/outer tie rods, 4 ball joints. Then just recently the a/c condensor core broke. The dash had to come out for that fix, I was not too pleased. Put a heater core in while it was ripped apart. Passenger windshield wiper was replaced (it was stripped at the base), digital odometer needed to be soldered to light up again, fuel pump replaced and just finished yesterday replacing the steering pump. 35's are hard to turn at slow speeds without that fix. and i'm sure there's more to break. Although i'm mad at her, she's still my girl
99 chev silverado...

 

2.5 Million Mile Volvo 40th Anniversary


Vehicles discarded against refund, 2000 - Mercedes and Volvo last longer


Manufacturer Ratings - Car Reliability Index | Reliability Index | How reliable is your car?


you guys are crazy. Volvo's are some of the longest lived cars out there. At least the ones built before Ford bought them. You don't get an average life span of ~18 years by being a piece of crap. Even the newer Volvo's (aka Ford) have long life spans.

I'm not saying Volvo's are the most reliable thing out there, but it's not correct to say they're historically unreliable. They historically last longer than most of the crap on the road. They sure are ugly though

But I think Ford's reasons for getting Volvo are 2 fold. Safety devices and European thinking to help Ford in the European market - which it did, tremendously.

Ford's use of other brands is a mixed bag. IMO, they brought Jaguar from terrible to pretty awesome before dropping them (that was a very slow progress though IMO), but they took Land Rover from bad to still really bad, but in both cases (jag/land rover) they made them look and perform better...

 

Fair enough.

Peredhil, nice post btw. I'm on my 3rd Volvo and 6th Swedish car.

 

As far as Volvos being reliable, yes,a few of them are very reliable, like my brothers mid 90's turbo brick wagon. Others, like the s80, (which was designed well before ford bought volvo, and not changed much since) is one of the least reliable cars.

Here are some more links....

» Most and Least Reliable Cars – 2009 Edition

Detroit Carmakers Improve Quality, Study Finds - Wheels Blog - NYTimes.com

Also, none of the motors are shared from ford to volvo. As a Senior Buyer, I know that the rods will more than likely not be the same from one line of cars to the next, especially when the engine families are so dissimilar. It sounded like you were saying that ford had the final say in what rods were used on volvos. If you are saying that, you would need to prove that.

 

Ford did reduce the quality with the rods. Ask anyone knowledgeable about volvos and in 99 things changed as ford meddled.

The first generation S80 is based on the Ford D3 platform. Stop trying to repute the obvious truth, ford was not about quality until maybe 2008 when a few cars took a turn for the better.