I'm not surprised by this. The recent vehicles from Volvo are highly under rated and deserve to have better sales success, although the core values remain the same, the outward exterior is a major change from the past perceptive of Volvos making boxy sedan and station wagons. Problem is the South African consumer is a brand snob, with particular favour for the German trio, Toyota, VW, SUVs and bakkies. I recently saw a new Ford Ranger do a chop on a X5 in a high speed transit on the right lane and wow did the whole body of the Ranger sway as the driver did this, I was on the extreme left, I dropped speed quickly thinking I was a about to witness a multi car accident. Also we should note, this JD Powers exercise is based on vehicles registered 2014 and upwards, not 20 years ago, those vehicles were totally different to what is available currently. Guys are commenting on past vehicle experiences were this is focused on newer vehicles.
I grew up in a household which experienced the some of the best of the past generation BMWs and Volvos, and have driven most of the older generation vehicles. One of the performance Volvos that I experienced and drove was the S60R. Look this was no match for a E46 M3 as a drivers car, but if you consider they achieved X35i levels of performance (225kw 400nm) back in 2004 with a 5 cyclinder turbo (remember the N54 = 6 cylinder, twin turbo), imho it earned my respect as a BMW fan, prior to to the introduction of the x35i vehicles. I therefore can comment as I've experienced both brands which take different approaches to car design, one focused on performance and one on safety.
I think the problem BMW currently have, is that they are implementing relatively new turbo technology across the entire range, whereas other manufacturers have already started a while ago. I know they where the first to introduce on a road car in the 70s but adopted a different route, being normally aspirated 4 cylinder, straight sixes and V8s, up until the implementation of the x35i vehicles. This is further compounded by the fact that engines are shared across different ranges which means if one of the engines develops a problem, it will exist in all the vehicles which use this engine. This is probably what is causing the high number of problems per vehicle, as there will be teething issues in introducing new engine platforms.
Volvo really suffered under Ford ownership, it was a lack of direction and investment in terms of where they were going, with new model releases being few and far between, also a considerable amount of component sharing occurred, e.g. S40 2nd generation was based on Ford Focus, the ST Focus initially had a Volvo sourced 5 cylinder turbo. In the hands of Geely, the focus is to bring Volvo to being a top brand and the investment into the products are bearing fruit. Polestar are now a stand alone brand, and will not carry Volvo branding although the design will be Volvo sourced. The next Polestar development will be based on the 2013 Volvo Coupe Coupe below but will be branded Polestar.
We purchased a 2013 S60 T4 Powershift, 2 years ago, it came in at a price which we could not find an equivalent F30, in terms of year model, year model, spec, etc. It has exceeded all of our expectations and we have been surprised on so many levels, on some items we where never really expecting.
Fuel economy, space and performance are strong, it is only a 1.6 litre turbo paired to a dual clutch transmission. Also a recent report indicates the S60 is also cheapest to maintain in its class, therefore I'm not complaining. Servicing is also quick and painless, as Volvo workshops are able to cater for walk-in customers. We have had no major issues other than regular servicing. Loading a file on this vehicle will take the power output to F30 328i levels, with no hardware changes.
Both brands are great, however each brand finds itself in different spaces as it currently stands.
