Volvo C30 Learn Me

I've always been told super short trips are fundamentally bad for turbos, though. Mitigated somewhat by modern synthetic oils, but they need consistent runs at full operating temperature for longevity.

As an aside, if you think your Fiat gets crap gas mileage versus its EPA rating, wait until you have a turbo five cylinder Volvo sucking down fuel...

wish I could tag Adrian to see this.

In reply to pointofdeparture:

A friend of mine has a '08 C30 6 spd which replaced his '03 MINI Cooper S. Surprisingly, the C30 gets better MPG for the type of driving he does (mainly mixed driving). Granted, the MCS isn't known for stellar mpg, despite the small engine displacement. Both are manuals.

FWIW, my mother has a '09 V50 (non-turbo) with an automatic. For most of the driving she does (neighborhood drives to church and whatnot), she is lucky to get out of the low-20's. I often borrow the car when she's away and can usually squeak out upper 20's in my mixed commute.

Volvos are not known for great MPG.

I drive like 5-8k miles a year, so gas mileage doesn't have me sweating too much. I'd like to use less, less strain on environment, but going from 27 combined to 37 isn't much of a jump to me.

Tom_Spangler wrote: Adrian has one. He will be in shortly to write a novel expressing his love for it, I'm sure.

Yeah yeah Tom, so I like to toot my own horn. Seriously through, I really love do the car. I’ve owned my C30 from new and picked it up in Sweden using the overseas delivery program. As soon as I saw the car at the 07 NAIAS I went home raving to my wife that the best car at the show was a Volvo. A year later I was in the market for a new car. Being a Ford employee that at the time meant a Ford, Volvo or Mazda product. I would have loved a Focus ST, but at that time we weren’t selling the current Euro Focus in North America so I test drove the Mazdaspeed 3, the Mazdaspeed 6, then later a C30 when I could find one. I thought it was going to be a foregone conclusion and I’d end up in a Mazdaspeed 3 based on the numbers. But that didn’t take into account how my age, tastes and needs had changed over the preceding 15 years. I think my wife summed it up best as she got out of the MS3 having already driven the MS6. When the guy at the dealer asked her how she liked it, her response was “I’m 40 not 25 anymore” For some people the MS3 is the perfect car. No doubt if you’re a dedicated autocrosser or track junkie it’s a great car, but for me it just lacks the NVH and refinement I want these days. The MS6 was a great car, but already quite old and due for replacement. Then came the C30. I thought then, and still believe now that the 1st gen C30’s (08-09) were and are the best looking cars on sale under $100K (by which point we’re reaching Aston Vantage MSRP ). I personally absolutely love the styling. Also remember that under the skin they are essentially the same car as a Euro Focus ST of the time. As soon as I got in the car everything just felt ‘right’ Again the interior is one of the best looking of any car at any price, simple but oh so elegant (you think I like my car?) Great materials and very comfortable yet supportive seats. The ride handling is a great balance for a road car that you can occasionally autocross or track. It’s not a Miata in its toss ability, but it does handle very well for a 3,200lb’s FWD car with no LSD. It turns in well and is very neutral. It could benefit from a larger rear sta bar if you want to add one, but I haven’t yet although I may as part of my 100k mile refresh. The ride is amazingly good for the handling; the overall ride/handling compromise is one of the best I’ve ever encountered. The car still feels solid and rattle free at 100K miles and its ability to adsorb impacts from potholes or frost heaves is amazing. Considering my daily commute is on crappy Michigan roads I think it’s amazing.

bmw88rider wrote: My car had horrible sealing issues. Most of the body seals were replaced under warranty. That combined with the just not right seating position for me is why I'm rocking my G37 and not looking back.

Unlike bmw88rider I’ve had no issues like that. After 100K everything seals like new. If you look at the tailgate / rear glass seal, I use the tailgate multiple times a day so it gets a lot of use. There is visible wear on it, but it doesn’t squeak or rattle. Gas mileage isn’t great. The 5 cyl turbo us old tech. No direct injection here. Driving normally in mixed conditions I get 26-27mpg. Spirited driving drops it to 24-25 and caining it drops to 23. Overall not too bad but not outstanding compared to some more modern direct injection engines. The engine is great. 227hp doesn’t sound a lot, but peak torque is something like 240lb/ft with over 80% available at 1,800rpm. There is virtually no noticeable turbo lag, so it goes right now any time you want it. It has that strong low down pull you associate with older V8’s. Up top is can run out of breath, but in daily driving it feels much faster than the MS3. Tom Spangler and I swapped when he had his E36M3 a few years ago and will attest to the fact that it’s far far better in cut and thrust traffic because of the low end torque. It certainly has much more low end torque and better pick up than something like a 2011-2014 V6 Mustang which I’ve championed here many times having had two. In theory the Mustang should feel faster with 305hp and 280 lb’s ft, but it’s much higher in the rev range so unless you take it too the red line, the Volvo is faster in the real world. Remember the old adage, power sells cars but torque wins races? It should read torque delivery wins hearts
Reliability has been fine. The only issue I’ve ever had is the auto start feature where you depress the clutch; turn the key then release it and it’s supposed to keep cranking on its own until it starts. That’s failed about 5-6 times while in warranty and to tell the truth I just gave up. Other than that it’s been gas, oil and tires for 100K plus one replacement battery after six years. Nothing else, zip zero nada. Now at 100K there is some noticeable wear on the driver’s seat cushing bolter when you rotate yourself getting in and out. I got ‘T-tec’ seat trim which is a bit like wet suit material on the bolsters. Now that’s cracked I don’t know how to fix it. The paint over 80% of the car has never been waxed and still impresses people (the other 20% was re-painted after an accident and still looks perfect) Brakes have been criticized, I don’t’ have an issue with my mid 08 car. I did find that the rear rotors were upsized part way through 08 and mine is an earlier smaller car and I’ve had no issues. I think I’ve done two sets of front pads, one set of rear pads and a full set of rotors.

bmw88rider wrote: The C30 is comically small in the back with the rear seats up. A heck of a lot smaller than the GTI. The good thing is you can fit a real human in the back seat in decent comfort. My wife would ride back there for hours in comfort on our regular Austin to Houston trips. Basically though if you wanted to carry anything in it, You had to fold the seats down.

This simply does not compute. It’s massive inside, TARDIS like. While it’s a true 4 seat Coupe it’s the same wheelbase as the S40 and V50. There is loads of room in the rear. As I said, we picked it up in Sweden and did 10 days and 2,200 miles in it around Sweden, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, England and Wales. At the time my kids were 7 and 13, although we are all tall. We took ample luggage for the trip with everything from beach wear to heavy cloths for wet and rain. We lugged cameras, computers, clothes, souvenirs and even 5 people (only 4 seat belts ssshhhhhh) for 50 miles. We’ve never had an issue. We’ve also taken it camping in Colorado for two weeks as well. Seriously, anyone that thinks it’s a small car should have grown up in Europe, it’s massive.

I think the most telling thing is I’ve owned the car for eight years, that’s far longer than any other DD I’ve had and I still can’t imagine swapping it for anything else as a 12 month, all weather DD. Eight years on it still looks new and fresh, it still drives great and even though I get a brand new company car every year, my wife drives that and I drive the C30 and don’t want to stop.
If you plan on doing a lot of autocross or track driving there are faster, sharper, better handling cars out there, but for a road car there’s nothing I can find to compare to it.

Some pictures from autocrossing.

Three small pictures to prove I was at the ‘Ring. These are from the famous ring cam that shows cars entering the circuit. I thought I had the full size ones, but these are all I can find.

From November 2009 GRM Readers rides

Damn. Now I'm super emo about the one that I posted in the first post, it sold yesterday :( And nothing around in my area in black in in that condition.

Sounds like the car i want. A bit of a refined hatchback for someone who isn't a racer type, doesn't want a VW Golf (just had bad experience on reliability with friends and family), and wants something nicer than a Honda Fit.

This one is really darn nice, wonder if they would come down ALOT. It is a 2012.

http://www.cars.com/vehicledetail/detail/635764786/overview/

Suspension. When he car launched there was the V1.0 (base) and V2.0 upper trim level. On the base the body cladding was black plastic, on the V2.0 the cladding was painted either body color or contrasting like mine. With the V2.0 you got slightly uprated and lowered suspension, about an inch lower. This V2.0 suspension is what became the 'R' design suspension, but that wasn't launched when I ordered my car, and by the time it was launched my was was a scheduled build and our whole vacation was booked around it.

Oh, one negative, the stock wheels. You can see the wheels I have, they are painted with a diamond cut face stock. The clear powder coat is E36 M3, it started failing within 12 months and they wouldn't do anything about it under warranty, now it looks dreadful. While you can obviously get after market wheels cheap, there's nothing I like for sensible money so I'm considering dropping $170 per wheel to have them totally re-finished.

Focus and Mazda three wheels obviously all fit too, if I don't get them re-finished I'll probably get Focus ST wheels instead.

Now the shocks are worn I'm probably going to go Koni FSD as someone else mentioned. I don't see the need to swap springs although I may add a stiffer rear bar.

Dude you're well into seriously NICE G37 money if you're expanding to the 22k+ range. Seriously look at www.carmax.com

They've gotten a lot of them lately.

flatlander937 wrote: Dude you're well into seriously NICE G37 money if you're expanding to the 22k+ range. Seriously look at www.carmax.com They've gotten a lot of them lately.

Yea, you're right. That does get into G37 territory. I'm not sure if I'm adult enough for a G37.. I'm getting kicked out of my apartment this month, moving into another apartment for who knows how long, obviously street parking. Right now the utility of a nice hatch sounds better than the RWD v6 of the infinity. Also I feel like I'd worry about my G37 outside on the street, it would attract way more derelicts than a Volvo..

They hold up way better for the long haul IMO.

They have an incredibly good auto, even the paddle shifters work very well(fast!) on I think the '10+ or so.

Volvos... The interiors are pretty awful and creaky and loud. I like them otherwise and wanted an S80, but got in one and remembered why they're so cheap used.

The G37s while adult-y, are FUN. Have you driven one? Think your old Crown Vic level of comfort but sport mode turns into Mustang+370Z type of magic.

I have drove a G37. Loved it. Pretty sure if i bought one over the Fiat I wouldn't be looking at the C30 haha. But, yea the inside of the G37 is much nicer than the C30. Though I think the C30 is a better looking car on the outside.

Coldsnap, I think the trunk on the G37 may be larger than the hatch on the C30.

FWIW, the C30 failed my can-I-put-a-guitar-in-it-with-the-seats-up test miserably. I ended up in an E92 coupe, which handles many guitars with no problem (and can also be picked up for well under 20k)

For a 90k mile infinity, at what time will things like suspension and engine parts need to start being replaced?

On that note, be sure not to forget the 100k timing belt and PCV system service if you end up getting the Volvo.

Coldsnap wrote: For a 90k mile infinity, at what time will things like suspension and engine parts need to start being replaced?

Not really anything. I've replaced a wheel bearing here and there, an axle shaft occasionally, and water pump on a couple. They are really dead nuts reliable. Change the trans fluid(and t-case if AWD), and diff fluid and oil/filter and you have basically nothing to worry about. Window motors maybe? Not done a TON of them really though(compared to 370Z, more common in those for some reason IMO).

Low or dying battery will cause some weird electrical gremlins.

With the sheer amount of G37s we see through the large used car dealer I've worked at for 8+ years... We see VERY few failures and problems with them. The things listed above are the only things I recall changing on 2 or more vehicles. And it's not like EVERY one has those problems(like BMWs with water pumps...). It's an odd one here and there.

pointofdeparture wrote: I've always been told super short trips are fundamentally bad for turbos, though. Mitigated somewhat by modern synthetic oils, but they need consistent runs at full operating temperature for longevity. As an aside, if you think your Fiat gets crap gas mileage versus its EPA rating, wait until you have a turbo five cylinder Volvo sucking down fuel...

I don't know what the EPA rating is for mine (same engine, just 80% its size) but I can squeak near 40mpg if I use the dreaded cruise control and set it to 65-67mph, and I think my record was 15mpg the other way.

As others have noted, modern era Volvos are like VWAG products except they don't suck. The interiors don't fall apart, the chassis don't get clattery, the electronics are pretty bulletproof (the best of the European cars that aren't Mercedes, at any rate), and Volvo doesn't have miles of corrugated plastic plumbing for air injection because unlike VW, they did figure out how to get a car to pass US emissions without Band-Aids.

And the automatics they used aren't a death sentence for fun. If the C30 uses the same tuning as my older S40, just drive it like it was a manual except for the left leg and right hand bits. You can command downshifts by snapping the throttle, takes the same amount of time to execute as a double-declutched downshift and uses the same right foot motions. And if you downshift manually, the trans will allow you to rev-match - it waits to shift until you give it a little throttle to blip the engine speed up.

I've been eyeing turbo C30s in case something awful happens to my S40.

Coldsnap wrote: I wonder why silver though, its a str8 grocery getter in that color.

Have you no concept of stealth?

Adrian, Mine was not the norm for all of the sealing problems I had. The dealer even said it to me. I just got a lemon in that case.

I say it's comically small in the back because I couldn't even put a guitar back there without folding the seats down. My first step for anything except basic grocery shopping was to fold down the seats. YMMV

Overall, If it weren't for all of the dealer visits. (6 unscheduled while I had it) I'd probably still have it. The drive train was rock solid and never caused an issue. It was the body and brakes that caused me all the heartburn.

flatlander937 wrote: Volvos... The interiors are pretty awful and creaky and loud. I like them otherwise and wanted an S80, but got in one and remembered why they're so cheap used.

BS. I use and abuse mine every day. There is staining on the center of the seats from some many spilt coffees and kids in the back. It's got 102,xxx miles on it WITH NO SQUEAKS, RATTLES or CREAKS. The only issue with the interior is the wear split I mentioned on the drivers bolster where my fat arse slides in and out of it 4-8 times a day.

The thing is built like a vault.

In reply to Adrian_Thompson:

Well I'm sorry my personal experiences dealing with all makes an models for the last 10 years desnt align with your opinion.

Most Volvos with 6+ years on them I notice nearly all seem to creak around the center dash area, the buttons and switchgear feel kinda crappy, and everything is made of incredibly brittle plastic. The worst is most automatics with the stupid plastic shifter gate cover, those things don't wear well.

Now I will say I shouldn't have said "loud," I didn't mean like cabin noise or anything. I was referring to all the plastic crap creaking.

It's my opinion based on my experiences, nothing more. That said, I've maybe driven 3 C30s... I see way more S40/60/80 and XC90 than anything so maybe that has something to do with it.

My older S40 is also creak and squeak free, and has twice as many miles as Adrian's. The front drive cars are built a LOT better than the rear drive stuff.

The headliner started falling down after I slept in the back seat this fall, I'll admit. And I split the stitching in the seat from careful over-tensioning of the seatbelt in an attempt to "tall guy mod" the seat so I could get headroom.

Our S40 is also as tight as the day we bought it, 10 years ago.