It’s a great shame if it’s true that Volvo is cutting corners with the seats in the XC40, as Volvo has always been renowned for having the best designed seats of any motor manufacturer. As a general point though, seat quality can deteriorate within many marques as you drop down the range. The seats in the 2018 BMW X1 were dire and led us to dismiss the car without even driving it, yet I have had a number of 3 and 5 Series cars, as well as a 7 series and never had a problem with the seats. You could also tell in quite a few other areas in the X1 where corners had been cut compared to the higher series models. Whilst the Tiguan we have is dull in many respects, the seats are very comfortable and were put to the test during a 3,500 miles in 3 weeks touring holiday in 2019. As someone who has back and sciatica issues myself, that was a blessed relief!