I would be really interested to get the forums thoughts on these cars and also on some points about the car industry itself and how you pick a brand.

I bought a used 2014 Volvo V40 Cross Country about 18 months ago, it is an automatic (my first one of those) and has the D2 engine which is, I believe a Ford 1.6L diesel engine, to go with the Ford Focus based chassis. The engine is a bit gutless for my liking but it is mainly driven by the wife on a 60 mile round daily commute (95% A-road dual carriageway) and she has a very light right foot and couldn't care less about the power.

I think it is a brilliant car. I find the safety features far more useful than I thought I would (Blind spot detection, lane departure warning, adaptive cruise control) and the seats are easily the best I have ever sat in. It hasn't missed a beat so far,which is good as my wife relies on it heavily and we do about 18-20k per year in it. It is now on 64,000 miles. The interior feels very well made and it is all very easy to use.

Because we rely on it so much I have so far always taken it to Volvo for service. Really bloody expensive but also a very good service and very comprehensive breakdown cover. Is it madness to keep this up?

I, like many others, wish Volvo were the same company they were before Ford and then Geely bought them. Back then I hear that, no, they weren't the most reliable but easy to maintain and could last a very long time if that maintenance was kept up. Now there is plastic shroudings, and bottomless software etc. But aren't all modern cars like this? When researching Volvo seems to get a lot of stick for this but I don't see them being much worse than other brands?

My main priority when I bought this car was to buy the safest and most comfortable car for my wife to drive, that was within budget (the car cost me £9k). I still can't think of anything else I would have bought instead.

So what do you guys think of the state of modern cars and reliability/maintenance cost and ease/safety. Do you have any brand loyalty in this respect? Any stand out cars that you feel stick to more traditional values of easy to maintain? Just curious. Anyone else still like a Volvo?