[oilburner]

I'm just back to Volvo with a 2015 V70 D4 VEA geartronic I picked up last week. I have in the past owned a 2001 V70 2.4 and a 2005 S80. I also had a 2008 S80 D5 for a few weeks as a courtesy car.

I would say this, the depth of quality was far more evident in the P3 cars. From the feel of the leather to the thud of the boot lid, the P2 cars (especially the ones without Ford bits) were made to last. Both my old Volvos are still on the road according to their MOT history and both are around the 200k mark.

But you can't compare them to the P3 because the world has changed. Targets for CO2 and PM have changed the fantastic 5 pots to so-so 4 pots and increasing sophistication of safety and infotainment functions has changed priorities from quality to headline feature count.

However, the best comparison is to the 2009 Mondeo 2.0 Tdci I used to have. Obviously my P3 V70 feels very similar to the Ford, and despite the Mondeo being more enjoyable to drive, the V70 is like the same car but done a lot better. And that is a good thing - because the Mondy was still a very good car.

I will always have a soft spot for the old V70 (even though it suffered most of the common faults that all the early cars had) but I wouldn't dream of trading my P3 in for one, even if I could find a perfect condition P2 out there.