The best thing about driving an older Volvo that nobody talks about

[jtp]

I'm not sure I've ever seen a Volvo pulled off the side by police. Including in/around Chicago where where Volvos are much more common.

The brand image simply doesn't seem to attract serious no-good types. When police pull a vehicle for speeding, what they're really hoping for is a 'jackpot' stop... cache of illegal narcotics, organized crime, gang activity, open arrest warrants, driving while suspended/breaking restricted license terms, or obviously drunk/noticeably impaired driving that's more likely to 'stick' in court.

Those who actively engage in those sorts of activities generally want something either super flaunty/flashy (which isn't Volvo), or are objectively looking to 'hide' amongst the larger crowd of common average models (not Volvo either).

"Oh look, a Volvo going 10 or 20 over... I have more 'important' bad guys to chase after than some most likely clean guy merely running late for some appointment".

Tahoes & Escalades are vehicles that are specifically associated with drug runners and 'mid level' dealers. If you're more than 5 miles from home and speeding in one of those vehicles you WILL get pulled over.

Little story about a cousin and his Tahoe. He lives in Chicago, drives 25 miles around I-294 (suburbs) to work every day. Habitually late for work type...like a half hour to an hour late every friggin' day. Always in a hurry in the morning following traffic in the left lanes (70-80mph in a 55).

1. Drove a Black Avalanche 1 year on that commute, maybe 1 ticket. Totalled it in a chain reaction pileup in the snow.
2. Next he had a Buick Lesabre ~3 years, no tickets. Transmission (4T65E!) self destructed at 100k miles.
3. Next car: '07 White Tahoe. Within a year he got so many speeding tickets he was in danger of losing his license.
4. Rear diff went out on the Tahoe, didn't have $ to fix. He drove loaner from mom (Ford 500) for a year...no more tickets.
4. 2 years ago he bought a new Ford Fusion. He brags about the mileage it gets @ 80-85mph. No tickets though.

That’s fascinating because it’s totally consistent with my experience. The main reason I got rid of that truck was money related (payments were high, I found somebody that would buy it at what I owed)but the number of tickets it was getting me was a real factor. I’m not a paperwork guy so back and forth with the MVA was stressful not to mention expensive.

Basically I know how to drive Volvo wagons just fast enough to not draw attention to myself/get tickets. And I learned that threshold is probably substantially higher than what you have in a late model Tahoe.

I’d imagine part of it isn’t just the Volvo brand but the station wagon stereotype.

Edit: For the record I did get pulled over one time going 70 in a 55 in my last wagon. Got a warning. I did get a seatbelt ticket one time in that car, literally 200 yards from my house at the time and I stupidly looked at the cop, reached up and grabbed my belt and put it on.

With the driving record I have now (having driven a Tahoe for a year and a half) I’m sure I won’t be getting any warnings if I am pulled over in the V70. That knowledge makes me very proactive when when when it comes to headlight replacement!

[volare]

The brand image simply doesn't seem to attract serious no-good types. When police pull a vehicle for speeding, what they're really hoping for is a 'jackpot' stop... cache of illegal narcotics, organized crime, gang activity, open arrest warrants, driving while suspended/breaking restricted license terms, or obviously drunk/noticeably impaired driving that's more likely to 'stick' in court.

Gotta say tho, when I was in various bands in the 80s/early 90s (as a player, backline or both) if we didn't have a van, Volvo wagons were next best. Most drummers I knew had one (or borrowed their mother's) because you could fit an entire kit in there and then some. And at least in Boston, the cops knew that, so generally one needed to behave because hey let's pop the drummermobile someone in there probably has some grass.

[mrbrian200]

Oh yeah, well 80s-90s... that was the freshly branded Reagan 'war on drugs' era when they were chasing after every single casual user they could find. And they knew you. That whole war on drugs thing was/is such a joke. And so destructive as it effectively amounts to a government declaring war against (a sizeable chunk of) its own people. I'm not sure there's a worse way to handle that sort of issue.

[wizechatmgr]

Sure there is... They're put into prisons that in many cases are privately owned and operated... =(

[j-dawg]

Your premis isn't valid here in Tx. Blowing by a 'pack' at that speed will indeed get you a ticket!

Got the only ticket of my life in my Volvo like a month after moving to Texas.

[June]

Your premis isn't valid here in Tx. Blowing by a 'pack' at that speed will indeed get you a ticket!

Got the only ticket of my life in my Volvo like a month after moving to Texas.

Texas doesn't count Where else on earth do you pass a cop every 5 miles? Texas! I got pulled over in a champagne rental Cadillac Fleetwood De'elegance in the early 1990's in Texas for going 3 miles over the speed limit on a 2 lane 100 miles from anywhere heading for the town Dr. Pepper came from. June

[ZionXIX]

Your premis isn't valid here in Tx. Blowing by a 'pack' at that speed will indeed get you a ticket!

Got the only ticket of my life in my Volvo like a month after moving to Texas.

Texas doesn't count Where else on earth do you pass a cop every 5 miles? Texas! I got pulled over in a champagne rental Cadillac Fleetwood De'elegance in the early 1990's in Texas for going 3 miles over the speed limit on a 2 lane 100 miles from anywhere heading for the town Dr. Pepper came from. June

Must have been I-35, they are notorious a bit further north in waxahachie.

[Cees Klumper]

Most speeding tickets in France and other places in Europe I've lived come by way of automatic radar station. No police officer needed, and so also no judgment calls as to who to give a ticket to. So I've had speeding tickets in both our Volvos in the past year.

[June]

Most speeding tickets in France and other places in Europe I've lived come by way of automatic radar station. No police officer needed, and so also no judgment calls as to who to give a ticket to. So I've had speeding tickets in both our Volvos in the past year.

They make spray paint for those. . June

[callahanoffroad]

I have to agree with this my current sedan is "step dad green" as we call it and it may as well be invisible. I suspect that it's because it's so ugly that similar to the cloaking system in hitchhiker's guide to the Galaxy. You see it, but your brain finds it so offensive it ignores it hahahaha. there's a speed trap in my delivery radius and they pull over every single tinted vehicle that comes through. My car? 25 over? Nope. Hahaha.