Ford might be an easy scapegoat, however the S80 was in the can long before Ford bought the company. The abysmal reliability record of the early S80 has only to do with a car that was released to market before it was finished. Unfortunately Volvo's mistakes wound up in customer's garages instead of the development lab where they should have resided.

What you can blame Ford for is the manner in which they choose to not support the car in the marketplace. A responsible upscale car company understands that they need to insulate customers from design and build quality issues beyond the letter of the warranty.

Volvo and Ford only understood warranty cost containment. Those are the sorts of folks you need to avoid paying your hard-earned money to. Sell the toad and learn from your mistake. The best thing you can do is to not suffer in silence and share your ownership experience with other prospective customers. The power of customer testimonials is something that Ford and Volvo should understand.