All right the Boxster is not really a direct replacement for the 850. My wife drives a Saab 900S Convertible that has a lease ending in July. The Boxster will be her car. We are just taking the opportunity now to buy the Boxster because thanks to the weather in Chicago and the plunging stockmarket the Porsche dealers are dealing now. Come spring they will be back to MSRP. So the Volvo has to go now.

I will drive the Saab till July and then trade it in on a BMW 3 Series via the Euro Delivery program.

So to answer your question the Volvo is being replaced by a BMW. And yes I looked at the S60 and yes I like it equally as well as the 3 Series. The reason I did not consider the Volvo was "Customer Service". Below is a small sampling:

- The Auto Climate Control Saga - The first winter I had the car I noticed a lack of floor heat. There was a cold spell at the time and the car was undrivable (try driving with -5 degree air blowing on your feet). I was traveling in Michigan at the time so I got the car to the nearest dealer. They needed it overnight to diagnose. I asked for a loaner car and they said no. I then called Volvo and was told that failure of climate control is not justification for a loaner car. Needless to say I was pissed. So I rent a car on my own expense. The next day the dealer then calls to say that they have ordered parts overnight but have no mechanics available to do the work (a complete dash removal) for at least three days. So I find another dealer to do the work and drive the car over that day. The next day I get a call and find out that the climate control housing is broken but this wasn't detected until the dash was removed. So now my car is in pieces and they estimate a week to get parts from Sweden. So I ask for a loaner. Unfortunately they have none available. So I call Volvo and they tell me that loaner cars are a dealer preference - sorry. Three weeks and $1000 in rental cars later I get my car back with a dead radio. Oops they must have shorted the wires reinstalling the dash. And of course no parts and no loaners.

- The Phantom Oil Change - In the Chicago area it takes two weeks notice to schedule an oil change and they want the car for the whole day so they can "fit it in". Oh and no loaner cars for oil changes. So I arrange for coworkers to pick me up in the morning and drop me off evening. Well imagine my surprise when I arrive to find that they were too busy to get to my oil change - sorry!

- The Evaporator Saga - I noticed my A/C cycling before my 40k service so I tell the dealer. The dealer tells me the tested the system and found no problems. At 63k it starts up again so I go to an independent Volvo shop and they tell me about the poorly designed Evaporators. I call Volvo for assistance since I am just out of warranty and complained 20k miles before and they tell me to take a hike.

At no point in any of these situations did VCNA do anything to assist me. In fact they went out of their way to annoy me. In contrast to my last car an Infiniti G20 where Infiniti and their dealers did everything they could to keep me happy. If they just had a little more headroom in the Q45 I would probably have bought one of those instead of the Volvo.

Needless to say I am done with Volvo for a good long while.

Drew