Hi All,
Interesting to read the various opinions.
My take on it all (having worked for Volvo since 2003) would be:
Safety - Volvo have always been (and still are) ahead of the curve on this, although the gap probably isn't as wide as it has been in years gone by. Volvo still use more Boron Steel (strongest, and most expensive available for automotive use) in their vehicles than any other manufacturer (that I'm aware of) - We've had some systems on our cars, such as the city safety, as standard for longer than most manufacturers too.
EDIT - Thought I'd find some information to back up the Boron steel Claim... have a look at the below:
http://www.boronextrication.com/2014...e_extrication/ - 2014 XC90
http://www.boronextrication.com/2018...ody-structure/ - 2019 BMW X4
Note that the Volvo uses more "Ultra high strength Steel" (boron) around the main cabin (encapsulating the whole cabin, rather than part of it) and generally uses a higher proportion of Steel over aluminium. The most suprising part for me was that the BMW doesn't seem to have any steel in the roof going from left to right of the car, so presumably in a rollover incident the BMW would be far "softer" than the Volvo....anyway.. think I've made my point!
Equipment Levels - When you compare Volvo to BMW/Mercedes/Audi the level of standard equipment is usually higher. An example of this would be the Adaptive Cruise in S/V/XC90.
Seat Comfort - This has been touched on already, but is something which until you've spent a while in a Volvo you don't really appreciate. I did have a short stint out of the motor trade where I had a BMW 420d Coupe (which I didn't pick myself...) as a company car and, while it was a nice car, the seats were awful!....I was doing the equivalent of 30,000 miles a year in it and used to ache like nothing else by the end of the day. Did look nice and handled well (in the dry) but the seats would have been a deal breaker if I was buying one....
Build Quality - Apart from during the Ford Era I think the build quality has always been as good as, if not better than our competitors. I'm probably a bit biased!...
The fact they aren't a BMW/Audi/Mercedes - Volvo sell significantly less cars in the UK than "Zee Germans" - I always see this as a good thing as far as its less of a herd mentality for someone to choose a Volvo. The "Old Man" Stigma is well on its way out and we do see a lot of people moving over from German Manufacturers now, which we didn't so much in previous years as we had more people moving up from the Renault/Vauxhall/Citreon crown than people moving across from the German Competitors - I take this as a good sign Volvo are doing something right!
Styling - If you put a current R-Design model next to a BMW M Sport / Audi S Line / Mercedes AMG line then I (personally) think they look every bit as good... something you certainly couldn't have said back in 2003 when I started!....
There is much more (and I could probably talk about it all day), but gives you an insight into my take on what makes a Volvo!