Just about everything I touched on the Volvo was poorly designed. It was a whole weekend's work just to change the blower on the heater. On my old Hillman Minx it was a ten minute job (lift the hood undo three nuts unplug the heater, replace do up the nuts and plug the new one in). On the Volvo, you had to take the front cover from the console, then you removed the side panels on the console, then you removed the Radio, then you removed the supporting corners for the console, the you removed the glove compartment, then you unhooked the ducting that was behind it. Then you removed the instrument panel and the ducting behind that. Then you lie down on the floor and unscrew the housing then you pull the housing forward so you can get to it then you unbolt the blower fan, Then you take a file and file out the housing because the new fan doesn't fit. Then you reverse the whole procedure to put it all back. AND when you switch it on it makes a godawful noise so you have to start again.

The water pump doesn't have any bolts in the direction of the sealing face so you have to 'half tighten' the bolts on the front but leave one out so that you can get a pry bar in the bolt hole to compress the seal on one side then you put that bolt in and remove a bolt from the other side and do the same thing.

The power steering rack is the same diameter as the seals so that when you replace the seals the rack tears up the new seals when you pu it back in.

The air filter is wedged down under the bodywork so you can't replace it without squashing your new filter and then you have to straighetn it out again. The 'O' ring is too big for the groove and is held in place by a floppy plastic cover which pushes the 'O' ring out of it's groove when you try to replace it.
The brakes.... the oil filter, the voltage regulator..... and so on, and so on.

Oh! and you couldn't trust the local dealer to fix it. He returned it from a routine service one time without any oil in it.

Bert - Well you did ask.