Volvo C30

trackrat

trackrat

trackrat

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Joined
29 Dec 2004
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Halesowen
Has anyone got a Volvo C30, as I am looking to buy a new car and that is on my short list.
Looking for good and bad points for this car.
 
jongeeone said:
From the from the front, the car looks awesome. Not to sure on the back still.

Its a Volvo, im sure it will last forever.
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Agreed, the back end is a bit of a miss as the rest of the car looks really good. If it drives well then it could be a good shout, as its a bit different to everything else out there.
 
Its a nice car, ive driven the 2.5t model, and it goes nicely, its basically a focus with a nicer interior.

Expensive for what it is tho.
 
The C30 is a huge sales disaster and is not a popular car. This means residuals will be very low - wait a few years then buy one for virtually nothing but dont put your cash into it now.
 
I had the 1.6 litre diesel as a hire car in Italy about 6 months ago

Awful, awful car. Really nasty

Awful to drive - wierd vague light lifeless steering. Very soft suspension. Very noisy engine with absolutely no power at all

Hopeless boot - very small, very shallow (barely fitted our small hand-luggage sized suitcase) with a nasty flimsy bit of plastic to put over the top to hide the contents from view

Noisy at speed and noisy on the motorway. I really hated the interior too - the gap around the dashboard from the windscreen looked messy and unfinished. I didn't like the fact that nothing lined up either

I'm not keen on the looks either

It really was one of the worst cars I've ever driven - I drove it for a few days on a mixture of roads and it failed spectacularly.

I couldn't wait to get rid of it!
 
[TW]Fox;11732821 said:
The C30 is a huge sales disaster and is not a popular car. This means residuals will be very low - wait a few years then buy one for virtually nothing but dont put your cash into it now.
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Do you know much about them?
I've heard nothing at all about the entire range, but some models to look quite nice IMHO.
 
How long have they been out?

I've only ever seen 2. Infact that could've actually been the same car anyway.

Rarer than the BMW X3 it seems!
 
It's an expensive, yet softer, Ford Focus by all accounts but I've not experienced them beyond the pages of a magazine article. It's odd - I've not even felt compelled to go and drive one which I usually am with interesting cars.
 
I used to own (and love) a volvo 480turbo which seems heavily referenced in the styling (imho) so naturally i find it an interesting car. Probably something I will at least look at when the prices drop as Fox said.
 
i was thinking about them yesterday actually
i haven't seen any in months, and then i saw 2 in highgate :p

my mum's got a V50, obviously a lot bigger than the C30, but i presume it'll have the same stand vague, wallowy volvo handling..
the C30 is fine from the B pillar forwards, but it gets a bit iffy from there. the back is tiny and the boot is virtually non existant.

not sure why ajgoodfellow had such a torrid time, perhaps it was the horrendously slow engine, or some italians broke it :p

either way, it's a solidly built car, nothing has fallen apart or failed in ours in the 2 years we've had it.
i'd recommend the S40 over the C30 though if buying new
get one of the top-end models if you want to go places quickly, either the D5 or whatever the powerful petrols are that aren't the T5
 
[TW]Fox;11732994 said:
It's actually not - V50 is Focus based.
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well i know the C30, S40, V50 and C70 all use the same platform, the Ford C1, as does the focus, among other cars

but the V50 is taller and longer and it's an estate, so it is bigger than the C30 (albeit not underneath)
 
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I've heard myself (but im no JC) that since the new Volvos are built on ford platforms they have lost their "Indestructable" nature, and quite a bit of their handling and driving experience potential.
 
the C30 shares the same engines and transmissions as the Focus, which is good to know on a performance/reliability perspective, and in a test drive I had (2.0l R Design) it handled pretty much the same as its counterpart, which is no bad thing. I personally would opt for the S40 as it also is a good drive yes is more practical, more contraversially I believe the S40 is also a lot better looking. What is good is you can upgrade R Design SE pack (i.e. fully loaded) for about half the price than it used to be and there are lots of offers on it since it isnt selling well. Powershift transmission is a great addition but only available on the 2.0 Diesel, which at ~138PS would make me opt for the T5. The D5 unfortunately is proving to show its age compared to new diesels, as well as sounding like a tractor. That being said, its quite unique on the roads at the moment, which is a nice thing.

I would buy new, only since I get a discount, I would NEVER pay full price new as residuals unfortunately on volvos (possibly bar the XC90) are TERRIBLE, no matter how good you think the drive and spec is.
 
Lol, used market values VS new ones...

Ok then, seeing as second hand it was cheaper than the equivalent skoda, yes thanks its going great.
 
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