Volvo C30 with the T5, anyone drive it? Thoughts?

[m4gician]

Hey guys,

Out of curiousity (and apparently being able to meet MANY of my performance targets this year), I may be in the market for a new car.

I like my Volvo s40, and I love the T4 and T5 engines. Because CCCpres has given me a bunch of CCC reports (RFD member, survey, etc.) I pulled one on the car and look okay with what I see.

I'm not saying I'm going to buy it tomorrow, but if we're in to the 2010 model year, and as we go on, these incentives and prices get better, I may consider jumping on this car.

For me, the thing I hate is I don't really have any Trunk Space compared to what I have now, but no matter. I'd like to know just out of curiousity, if anyone here owns/driven the C30 with the T5 in it? I mean, I love the possabilities this car has, it'd be a great starter car, and the hatch back makes it a decent family car for when the first me jr comes :)

How does it drive? How does it feel, does it compare to anything else in that size with a turbo?

As well...maybe down the line, is there anyone out there on RFD that has turbo'ed a 2.4i? maybe one with the R package?

Thanks in advanced RFD.

EDIT: I'll probably get a 2007 or 2008 used model with the T5 if I can find one, that'd be my first choice.

[Ben Jr]

I also had an S40 a little while ago, mine was a 2006 T5. I had it in the shop for one of the recalls and had a C30 loaner for the day. If I'm not mistaken the S40 is no longer in production after the 2010 model year, and going forward the C30 is the defacto replacement. For good reason, since I felt it was identical to my S40 driving wise.

The general consensus was that you'd be better served selling the non-turbo and just buying a T5 variant of the S40/C30 if turbo is the aim. The prohibitive factor was simply just the price/reliability and the virtually non-existent aftermarket for Volvo's in general. I'm aware of some companies making bigger turbo's but from what I can tell they're still in their infancy and far from providing conclusive reliability reports. And from what I've been told from a semi Volvo enthusiast, the bigger turbos are only available on the T5 anyways.

[Piro21]

All the girls will think you're trying to be like that Volvo-driving pedophile in 'Twilight'. Just get an S40 hatch if you need to have a Volvo on that platform.

[italstal]

Volvo? nobody buys volvo anymore lol j/k! Have you considered out products around the same price?

Acura csx
Benz B class
VW Golf/Jetta TDI (wagon too)
Mazda 3 or 6 wagon

The Benz and VW will give you the same problems as the volvo WHEN it starts giving you problems (high cost of ownership) and the terrible resale value.
To each their own of course and so if you can live with the rear styling of the C30, then go for it.

happy shopping!

[BradT]

I thought the suspension felt a little sloppy with not a lot of steering feedback when I drove one. Wasn't impressed with the vehicle, though the floating console with the radio/HVAC controls is still cool.

[ES_Revenge]

I like the C30 but there are competitors (namely the A3 2.0T) that are better. I have reasons of course so I will tell you why...

Volvos are overpriced. Even more so than Audis, so while it's tough to say any Audi is a "better deal" than any other car make, you can do so when it comes to Volvo, lol. When I priced out both a C30 and an S40 last year I had the ol' sticker shock--was definitely shocked at the insane prices. The S40, get this, actually apparently has steel wheels and wheel covers as the base/standard wheels. Steel wheels! LOL. Again, I thought Audi was bad with their optional auto headlights :rolleyes:

The C30 is a glorified Mazda3 as we all know (yes to be fair the A3 is a glorified GTI which itself is an uplevel Rabbit). You may argue the C30 has more differences (particularly the engine) to the Mazda3 than the A3 to the GTI, sure; but when you drive these cars (and look at the prices) you quickly find out why the A3 is the better car.

What's odd is Volvo markets the C30 (whether it be the 2.4i or the T5) to a younger crowd, a crowd so young that most people in this demographic cannot afford the car. WTF Volvo is thinking with their pricing and/or marketing I have no idea. :confused: I mean note the Twilight reference by a poster above. It's no secret that Volvo thinks teenagers and young college kids are into this car, but unless they have deep pockets for their age, it's not happening.

Anyway on to talking about the car. The C30 2.4i, I'm glad we're not talking about that because wow that's a definite "don't buy". The T5 is certainly much improved, but there are quite a few things I just can't get over about the C30...

First off are the acquired-taste looks. The front end and sides of the car look great and the two-tone on certain colour T5s is rather awesome; but, that rear end I don't know what on earth they were thinking. :confused: I think the rear looks outright horrid. The looks are pretty good otherwise though and with the R-Design package I think it is quite nice overall.

The interior... The steering wheel is rather huge/awkward as I recall--neither comfortable nor enjoyable. In fact everything seems really "square" in the car. Perhaps the A3's wheel is not exactly small either but it certainly doesn't seem as large. The Volvo steering wheel is very bulky feeling.

The rest of the interior, well, the Volvo is fairly unique (well compared to other makes I mean) and it has that going for it. I can't say anything is particularly bad in the interior. In fact, I'd say it's good. But as good as it is, it still can't beat the Audi. Again, the R-Design package has the nice seats with the 2-tone though, that's pretty nice I must say. I guess you could equate the R-Design on the Volvo to the S-Line on the Audi.

The trunk/hatch would be good if they actually made the rear of the car open. But it doesn't! Instead it's the window that opens and therefore the liftover is really high, the width of the opening is rather lacking and that all makes loading things more difficult. It's a hatch without the practicality of a hatch and with a lot more ugliness.

The A3 (and GTI) also have the DSG option, something not found on the C30; and the manual trans/shifter I really didn't like all that much though such is the case with pretty much all Volvos I find.

Though the T5 has much improved handling and steering than the 2.4i (which is horrid), even the T5's steering is rather vague IMO.

For these reasons you may decide the S40 is the better choice but when you look into the S40, one thing will really started to hit you--price. The S40 is also glorified Mazda3, only with a price in the sky.

The A3 2.0T now comes with the option of Haldex AWD (Quattro), while the C30 does not. This is really a much needed feature, particularly in a small front-driver with turbo-brand low-end. You may think 2WD is fine but when you are spinning the tyres on summer rubber in 2nd gear on a hot dry summer day, with a stock engine, you will soon begin to question that thinking LOL.

Of course on the A3 2.0T you can only get Quattro in 09+, but at least it can be had now. The S40 w/AWD also uses a Haldex but again...the price!

On to the engines, the C30 may have the edge here slightly, but the quick shifts of the DSG in the Audi help to equalise that. Both are "chip tunable" with big power gains from software though, which is good. Again the T5 probably has a slight edge from one more cylinder but it's not a huge advantage as one might think. From driving them in stock form, I wouldn't say the C30 is significantly faster anyway.

Anyway I'm not saying the C30 T5 is a bad choice--I do actually like the car--but just saying you should test drive an A3 and/or GTI as well, because you may find you like it even more. Of course if you are used to Volvo styling, interior features/controls, design philosiphy, etc. then you may well like the C30 better. But I'd at least give them a drive. I think the A3 has to be the main competitor for the C30 anyway.

Just get an S40 hatch if you need to have a Volvo on that platform.
:confused: There's no such thing. Did you mean the V50? Boy we are surely climbing that price ladder now, lol.

[KawaiiTentacleBeast]

Don't Volvos sell with big domestic-style incentives that take the price well below MSRP for the reasons you state? That's what people say, but I've never gone shopping for one so I don't know.

[ssainani]

Have you considered out products around the same price?

Acura csx
Benz B class
VW Golf/Jetta TDI (wagon too)
Mazda 3 or 6 wagon

except all of those are pieces of dog ****

the c30 t5 is a great car .... it looks good... handles well ... is good on fuel

we almost bought one -- until we tested the a3 which is better in pretty much every way apart from a little slower with the 2.0t

easy to fix that though .... but srsly .... it made no sense to get the volvo when the audi existed