Informative feedback, and certainly Volvo has to take a few risks to get out of their malaise. Pushing the supply chain for faster, cheaper components is a) the American way, watch out, and b) the sign of a company strapped for cash. A solid engineering and development cycle allows time for proper evolution, prototyping, testing, and refinement before production. All these consume cash, a lot of which has been siphoned off by a very aggressive platform design and expansion program. The result is the idiosyncratic quality issues that arrived with the FWD's.

On my wish list for design:

+I'd like to see the next C60? 70? 100? come back as a true RWD performance car they can run on the same courses as the M3's and Vipers.

+I'd like to see the current V70 program erased and redesigned into something less beastly-looking. Though from some angles the car looks good, from others it is hideously mis-proportioned. The XC90 restores proportionality by adding bulk (thus filling in the voids in the current design). Let the next V70, if there is one, recover it's aesthetic balance.

+I'd hate to see the 40's die off. It's a great entry point, and Volvo now has a platform they can re-skin, re-eqip, and tweak the engineering beneath - the strategy that gave the RWD's such incredible longevity.

+I'd love to see them get the haldex thing right, then make ALL their cars AWD.

+The current trend is for concept cars to make it into production. Some of the ugliest cars imagineable have begun to prowl our highways, and more are on the way (the Porsche Cayenne? Ugh!). Volvo has so far bucked that trend with the S80/60, though they are a *little* conservative. I'd like to see Volvo continue to make attractive, aesthetic cars. (Side note, have you been following Robert Lutz' makeover at GM? The Aztec was just too much for GM's board; this monstrosity has been described as looking like an angry kitchen appliance.)
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(98 S70 T5SE misc mods, mostly lighting) (92 940GLE)