3 ms·

I think the soccer mom image comes from their lack of "sport" focused cars. I looked at their lineup and saw nothing that looked "aggressive" or "sporty". All o

by lbotos 11y ago

I think the soccer mom image comes from their lack of "sport" focused cars. I looked at their lineup and saw nothing that looked "aggressive" or "sporty". All of the cars looked pretty even keel middle of the road "nice".

underwater 11y ago
The V40 is a sporty looking hatch. Personally I think it looks amazing.
mytochar 11y ago
I believe this was a change in the last maybe 10 years. Before the current line-up of S40's and S60's, their cars looked almost offensively boring (to me); and, with ugly faces. With the new S40's and S60's, I think they are downright pleasant to look at. This may be my perception of that particular coming out of an old generation of looks, and catching up to the current one, though.
semi-extrinsic 11y ago
There are a couple of sporty offerings [1] from their in-house tuning company, Polestar (like AMG for Mercedes, etc.). And the 240 Turbo is still a entry-level rally favorite in Scandinavia. You can easily get 300 bhp, 50/50 weight distribution, manual shift and rear-wheel drive in a '94 model for about $6000, then spend about $1500 prepping it for the entry level rally class. (There is an even cheaper rally class called "Folkrally", where there is a rule to keep the cost down that says at the end of the race, anyone can offer to buy your car for $1700, and you're not allowed to refuse or you lose your rally licence.) [1] http://www.volvocars.com/us/cars/new-models/s60/s60-polestar http://www.volvocars.com/us/cars/new-models/s60/s60-polestar
chockablock 11y ago
It could be argued that not building cars that look "aggressive" is a reflection of their culture of safety. In my view, driving on public roadways should be maximally safe (and thus deeply boring); if you want to treat driving as a sport, then head to a track. Disclaimer: I own a Volvo :)

3 ms·

I think the soccer mom image comes from their lack of "sport" focused cars. I looked at their lineup and saw nothing that looked "aggressive" or "sporty". All o

by lbotos 11y ago

underwater 11y ago
The V40 is a sporty looking hatch. Personally I think it looks amazing.
mytochar 11y ago
I believe this was a change in the last maybe 10 years. Before the current line-up of S40's and S60's, their cars looked almost offensively boring (to me); and, with ugly faces. With the new S40's and S60's, I think they are downright pleasant to look at. This may be my perception of that particular coming out of an old generation of looks, and catching up to the current one, though.
semi-extrinsic 11y ago
There are a couple of sporty offerings [1] from their in-house tuning company, Polestar (like AMG for Mercedes, etc.). And the 240 Turbo is still a entry-level rally favorite in Scandinavia. You can easily get 300 bhp, 50/50 weight distribution, manual shift and rear-wheel drive in a '94 model for about $6000, then spend about $1500 prepping it for the entry level rally class. (There is an even cheaper rally class called "Folkrally", where there is a rule to keep the cost down that says at the end of the race, anyone can offer to buy your car for $1700, and you're not allowed to refuse or you lose your rally licence.) [1] http://www.volvocars.com/us/cars/new-models/s60/s60-polestar http://www.volvocars.com/us/cars/new-models/s60/s60-polestar
chockablock 11y ago
It could be argued that not building cars that look "aggressive" is a reflection of their culture of safety. In my view, driving on public roadways should be maximally safe (and thus deeply boring); if you want to treat driving as a sport, then head to a track. Disclaimer: I own a Volvo :)