And I thought railway modelling was expensive!

[Mountain Goat]

Using genuine parts does not neccessarily mean the parts are any better. Both genuine parts and copy parts vary considerably from manufacturer to manufacturer and even in the same manufacturer there can be issues.

Take Toyota for example. At one time every other Taxi was a Toyota because they were very durable and very reliable. Suddenly overnight it seemed to change and then Skoda took over. I found out why. Someone I knew bought a brand new one, and just after the parts warrantee had expired (2 years) he was feeling the brakes juddery and they had a funny noise. He took it to be looked at and the discs had completely worn out through their vents and the car had only done around 8 to 10K a year. Toyotas reputation for quality dissapeared with the couple of years they messed up.
Mercades had issues going back a decade or so ago with both their paint and their elsctrics (Depending on model).
Those Volvo 3 series. The 360's and 340's looked similar but they were totally different cars underneath. The 340's felt elderly things which drank fuel but they lasted and lasted. They were made in Sweeden. The 360's were really sprightly high performance vehicles, which were made in the old Daf factory in Holland? (I think it was Holland). The Daf produced 360's did not last so long with their bodywork. They would still outlast Fords and Vauxhalls though, but it was the 340's that had the long lasting bodies.
I did notice that the 360' would rust in entirely different areas according to their colour. The purple and brown versions would end up with entire large patches of rust under the paintwork in the middle of panels like the doors. This was unusual in that it was a large area but the paint would stay intact and form a large bubble when it separated from the rest of the metal of the car.
The other colours rusted in more conventional ways (As in small areas but it would go through). Silver cars would rust underneath the front fog lights (Even if it had no fog lights and had the plastic inserts) so one would check silver cars in those areas. They also would rust right at the front of the bonnet.
The red cars tended to go on the back under panel and the front panel.
The light blue 360's would rust at the sills.
I am trying to remember if the grey ones (Darker grey then silver) and the navy blue ones as it is going back a while. The black ones if I recall went under the wheel arches? The 360's were my favourite cars and I ended up looking at every one I saw for sale in secondhand garages so I must have seen dozens and looked underneath etc., and I noticed the patterns between the colours and where they would rust and it aas almost like I coud predict where to look according to the colour of the car. Lovely cars to drive with excellent fuel economy even when towing, and yet they had so much go! Handling was amazing despite the back end would come out... One drove them back end out as they were precise to control. I once had a guy who was into his Ford Escorts who loved rallying, and when he was inbetween cars he bought an old 360GL and he could not elieve how well the car handles. I told him how the GLT versions handled even better and he could not believe me. (The GLT's had their engines and suspension modified by Porsche and had aluminium drive shafts to make them rev quicker).

[bulleidboy]

I owned my Volvo 960 Estate for twenty four years and it never had any rust on it whatsoever - things obviously improved in the late eighties early nineties. I only changed it as one or two things stopped working - central locking for example. My XC70 estate - my first diesel - runs well with 80K on the clock. I have considered having it upgraded by Polestar - just to give it a bit more mid-range power.

[RAF96]

I had 3 x 360s with the 2L engine for towing. Handling was good with a front engine and rear transaxle and gearbox.
The last Volvo I had was a 340 with the 1.7L Renault engine, which surprisingly was just as good a tow car.