The Volvo C30: Pull Up A Seat And Get Comfy

Sometimes a car is so spot-on, you don't care if it's the right size or has the best features or comes from your favorite brand. Meet Volvo's C30 T5, a royal, rollicking romp of a small, two-door car.

It is so wrong in some ways.

Seating is deliberately cut down to just four, not the five everybody else swears (wink, wink; nod, nod) you can stuff into a small car. You can't get the weather-beating all-wheel drive (AWD) that Volvo offers on its other models. (But AWD fits the C30 chassis and is likely as a future option.)

And get this: You have to pay $300 for the privilege of buying certain individual factory-installed options from what Volvo calls the Custom Build list.

2008 Detroit Auto Show Photo Gallery

2008 San Diego Auto Show Photo Gallery

Read Article

Whelan - 1/4/2008 4:26:25 PM

+1 Boost

Loved the looks of this car when it first came out. Had some fun building one online a few times over as well, cool site.

The reviews so far have been good and for the price it is a nice car. Not necessarily an A3 beater but it for some reason has appeal in all the right places. Maybe when the AWD version comes out I will be in the market for a new car and can move up a notch to something like this. I did consider the S40 AWD T5 when I was shopping but the 05's were still a little out of reach and the older models were too old boxy Volvo looking.

Bmw8ter - 1/4/2008 4:56:19 PM

+1 Boost

The boxy Volvo's were the best looking ones. The 1996 850R sedan in black(if you're lucky enough to find it in this color); 1996 850R wagon in white. 1998 C70 T5 in orange saffron(nearly impossible to find this as a T5 or automatic unless it has 120k miles on it). These cars are worlds better in looks than the current offerings, IMO.

Htay7500 - 1/4/2008 5:21:49 PM

+1 Boost

the old 240s were the safest cars in the world. 850 was kinda nice. but I certainly like the current offerings.

mini22 - 1/4/2008 4:56:22 PM

+1 Boost

Its not a Mini Cooper but then it doesn't pretend to be.It's not really a hard core sports hatchback.It's more of a sporting hatch that is comfortable on long drives. It's for the type of person who like Volvo's but wants somthing a tad more youthful and sporting. Just don't expect it to be a sports car and you wont be disappointed.

S4cabriofoxone - 1/4/2008 10:20:13 PM

+1 Boost

I was expecting something sporty with this car, but the reviews have been fine, at best. It's comfortable, spacious, stylish and safe (of course)... but like Whelan said, it's no A3, let alone a Mini Cooper. I'm happy with my choice of hot hatch.