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Being an avowed Volvo owner and Germanphile, I could still say with a good conscience, to avoid anything but Mercedes out of Germany. Even then, you're paying too much for what you get, at least in the US market. VW's are okay, but they have a certain, "made for sale but not long-term durability" feel. They're fun for a while, but then they just start to seem junky and thin. They also attract stereo thefts like you can't believe. If you do go down that route, get the nice factory deck no matter how much it annoys you to pay all that money for it - you'll save the extra money in the long run.
If I were you I8would put some money into the suspension of your Volvo, or buy another newer one and spend some extra cash on suspension. You'll never get it to seem as snappy as a new VW without significant effort and $$$; don't delude yourself. Its easy to get sick of your Volvo - they last forever, and are thick in places. But that's their beauty, they last forever, and are thick in places. They are (or were) straighforward examples of good engineering, not marketing like most cars.
Also keep auto ownership in perspective, arguably the most dangerous thing most people do in the industrialized world is drive their cars - you'll walk out of pretty much any wreck if strapped into most Volvos; no such guarantee with the VW or anything else, except for maybe a big Merc.
IMHO.
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