While I agree the Polestars are neat from a performance perspective, Volvos are some of the most unreliable vehicles that you can buy. But Luxury && Performance != Quality.
Look, they're nice driving cars with really nice design and safety features. But:
- https://www.businessinsider.com/car-brands-least-reliable-20...
> Volvo ranked last with an average reliability score of 22 out of 100, and Cadillac ranked second-to-last with a reliability score of 32.
- https://www.forbes.com/sites/jimgorzelany/2018/10/25/the-mos...
> Volvo is the lowest-ranked brand for reliability, due largely to problems with its electronics.
- https://cars.usnews.com/cars-trucks/most-reliable-car-brands
> Bear in mind that luxury doesn’t necessarily equate to reliability, with Volvo and Land Rover falling near the bottom.
The only thing I think of when I hear "Volvo" is safety. Not luxury, not performance, not quality, not reliability, not anything but safety.
I would be very surprised if they were less reliable than most sports cars.
A fairly detailed statistics is from TÜV annual inspection reports, found here: http://www.anusedcar.com/
There, Volvo is rather average. Where I live (Finland), Volvos tend to get a bit more kilometers than most other brands, so being not at the bottom of listing means they're doing reasonable quality.
This is just one data point, sourced from Consumer Reports. They put Volvo last behind Cadillac and Tesla.
Then I look here... https://www.jdpower.com/Cars/Ratings
And Cadillac is on top. But I'd personally trust Consumer Reports over JD Power.
Really? The infotainment system makes it rank low?
edit: and looking at the _actual_ report https://www.consumerreports.org/car-reliability-owner-satisf... - no volvo's on the list?
Yes, because modern cars are so good nowadays that people expect perfection.
We are a two car family. In the past decade I've owned Volkswagen, Honda, Toyota, Ford, Mazda, Subaru and Nissan. All have been perfectly good cars, reliability wise. My last two leases I didn't do a thing beyond oil changes for four years, not even tires or brakes. Besides the odd car having some random thing replaced at the dealership under warranty, nothing ever went wrong with any of them.
I realize that's not everyone's experience, but I'm not a lottery winner either. Modern cars are a feat of engineering.
It makes sense to me. A new car shouldn't have problems, full stop. My 25 yo car got its first maintenance in 5 years apart from oil, the only problem it has is the air switcher is cranky, and that took over 20 years to crop up. If i bought a Volvo (which I’ve been considering because all I want to upgrade on is safety) and it has a problem in the first few years of ownership, even if it was under warranty, I’d be LIVID! And while we are on the topic of reliability, with the warranties that come with most unreliable cars, why _wouldnt_ a bugged infotainment system rank the car lower just as much as mechanical issues—either way it’s just a trip to the dealer.
I see cars as an appliance, I don’t want to think about it, I just want to use it. So none of this really makes sense to me, if all consumers shared the same sentiment, I feel certain that the market would look considerably different.