Forgive me, before I start, on what some may call a cynical rant, I must say I love driving my Volvo. My '93 850 looks great and drives like a dream with new bushings and suspension kit, but the reliability has been spotty.
It just seems to me that Volvo lost their touch upon entry to the FWD marketplace. Look at the 240/740/760 owners who can testify 200k+ miles and good reliability. Come 1993 and the 850, great looking car, but a bad record. Move on to the new S60/80 series and just hear the complaints of failures. Surf these forums and read their gripes. I say either give each side fair recognition (tesitfy here if you've experienced good reliability), or rethink a Volvo purchase.
In my eyes it seems Volvo, don't blame Ford, because that's the easy thing to do, has put profits above quality. They seem to build good looking, extremely safe cars, built for rich people who can spend thousands a year on maintenance, that dosen't even prevent all problems. I'm sure some people agree with me and I'm sure there are some that don't, but you can't call the new FWD Volvo's more reliable than their current competitors, like entry level Audis and BMWs or even, gasp.., Japanese luxury brands Lexus and Acura.

When Volvo gives you lemons, make lemonade.