Ford bought Volvo's car division for $6.5 billion about 7 or 8 years ago.
Volvo continues to build construction equipment, marine power drives,
standby power generators, air craft jet engines, and trucks.  It is one of
the world's largest truck builders.  It has nothing whatsoever to do with
automobiles today.

I own a 2001 Volvo S80.  It's not very good.

Pat

The S60 and V70 and S80 are all getting a little older now... S80 is being
replaced for 2007, S60 and V70 probably a year or so after... The S40 was
just recently re-done, and seems to be doing well... their SUV got a new V8
and sales of that derivative are suppose to be climbing.

Their cars are long lasting... but the new ones are more complex then the
older ones... but all new cars are more freakin complex then older ones, I
don't get why people are so scared of this fact. In the 70s and 80s cars got
way more complex then 50s and 60s cars... Its evolution.... They are rated
better for reliability then most other European makes, major issues are
software related.

They are, in general more boring to drive then German cars, but they ride
better over bad pavement, and they handle competantly, compared to a lot of
other cars out there... You don't see too many Volvo's screaming down the
highway, or with their tail ends hanging out around corners... but it's more
because the owner group is more mature and the cars don't beg to be driven
hard.

They aren't that expensive to maintain (but you will pay for the high
quality parts in the way of H or V rated replacement tires, brake pads, and
possibly synthetic oil in the turbo models)... actually cheaper then a lot
of other Euro brands tho... Your VW was costly for what it was... I know I
had a 1999.5 Golf TDI, very expensive to maintain... My parents' have a 1993
960 wagon with 170K Kms on it.... it's been comparatively cheap to operate.

Volvo trucks are a separate entity

Volvo was bought by Ford because they (Ford) thought it was a good idea,
Volvo was profitable, and are still making a profit... they also had a brand
new chassis (P2) and excellent engine ranges (that Ford isn't really using
right now)... Volvo was lacking funds to develop as quickly as they wanted
and needed to... but was doing alright on its own.

Volvo has an agreement in their contract with Ford, that basically states
that Volvo's will always be Volvos... I think that means they will run the
company the way they see fit, and build the cars they want to build.

I can't answer all your questions but I can say I am the owner of a 2000 S80
T-6 that has been nearly flawless since new. I did have one small "aspirator
fan" replaced under warrantee during it's 7,500 mile service and a strut
lost it's dampening after I rallied the car over some really rough roads at
high speeds but, other than those two things, nothing but scheduled
maintenance. IMHO it's a tough, well designed car. And the chassis is really
strong and rigid unlike it's American designed counterparts.

Spanky