GRM Review: Volvo C30 Polestar edition

Run_Away wrote: "Polestar". Heh.

You would think that would be a stripper.

ReverendDexter wrote:

fidelity101 wrote: If it was 5 doors I'd buy it.

No. Go buy one of the the other hatchbacks that won't make a 3-door anymore if that's what you want. Every manufacturer is slowly dropping them to only make 5-doors, and that in my opinion that SUCKS.

I did, I have a mazda2. I would buy a mini countryman but my job doesn't pay that well.

I'm not looking for a race car just a nice daily car. Hell the rx8 even has 4 doors :)

I think I may test drive a regular T5 one of these. Afterall its based on the old mazda3/focus platform.

I might wait a year and pick up a C30.. see if I can make a dealer trade on the 850 for it.

You know, I think I've only seen 2 or 3 on the road...ever. I looked at them when they first came out, and the price drove me away.

I always loved the styling of these cars, they are gorgeous. And I'm sure they can handle great since they have the same chassis as the new Focus. And that's the problem. The Focus is just as nice inside and out, and it's 10k less. This seems to be the case of all Volvo products these days. Nice, but you can get better for cheaper.

I went onto Volvo's site a couple years ago and priced one out with options, moderately-equipped (comparable to my wrx, as much as possible). It came out to something like $39k all told. Thought it was pretty ridiculous for a car that gets outperformed by a WRX, MS3, or a number of other cars in it's general "class" range (e.g. hot hatches, etc).

I never thought to look at them again, due to the distaste on the stupid price.

I love the styling of the c30s, especially the T5 version. I am going to watch the depreciation rate on these closely.

I also completely agree that they are way over priced as new cars.

irish44j wrote: I went onto Volvo's site a couple years ago and priced one out with options, moderately-equipped (comparable to my wrx, as much as possible). It came out to something like $39k all told. Thought it was pretty ridiculous for a car that gets outperformed by a WRX, MS3, or a number of other cars in it's general "class" range (e.g. hot hatches, etc). I never thought to look at them again, due to the distaste on the stupid price.

hell even a MS6.

I just spent some time looking through my local (300 mile range) autotrader for a C30 w/ manual and found even used the price is still upper teens, even for the older ones.

I did too.. cheapest I found was 16,000 They are definatly holding their value well

We love ours. Bought one of the restyled ones as soon as it came out. It's a great city car and my wife loves it. It's not a sports car. It's a sporty car that has great low end torque.

As for the pricing, I walked in and got almost 5 grand off a new one without really breaking a sweat. We got the 5 year maintenance and warranty package too.

If given the same choice today...I would make the same decision.

From memory mine was around $26k, but that was with overseas delivery which was something like 6% off MSRP plus two return airline tickets and a night in a hotel and up to 3 months insurance, basically a free vacation. Same deal as anyone could get walking in off the street and better than I could have got with the company discount at the time. Now these days it's more expensive to do the OSD, but in 08 and 09 you were crazy not to do it.

Mine is far from a base stripper model too. It's a V2.0 (there wasn't an R design when I got mine, it came out later) I added the two tone paint, the funky two tone seats (but not leather) upgraded sound, duel zone climate control, heated seats, different steering wheel etc. I chose not to get power seats as they take too long to move to get in the back. The only option I didn't get that I wish I had with hindsight was the moonroof.

HappyAndy wrote: I love the styling of the c30s, especially the T5 version. I am going to watch the depreciation rate on these closely. I also completely agree that they are way over priced as new cars.

T5 is the only engine they sell in the States, our friends to the North and South got the smaller engines though as well, not that you'd want anything else. The T5 isn't the most efficient engine by modern standards, but man is it a sweet engine

I search for used periodically and they are few and far between, still very expensive and almost impossible to find with a stick.

I never get tired of looking at them.

Hands down the C30 was the best overall compromise of ride and handling. No it's a rock hard hot hatch, but yes it is a supreamly comfortable car that is still fun to thrash around. To me the MS3 was unacceptably harsh,

First thing i wondered was whether c30 springs/struts bolt into an ms3. Not sure how closely related they are. But i always thought of the s40 family et al as just being a luxury mazda3.

B

Woody wrote:

I search for used periodically and they are few and far between, still very expensive and almost impossible to find with a stick.

I never get tired of looking at them.

Yup, I've got a friends who's been searching as far away as Florida for a used stick vesion at dealers. Yes they are rare in total numbers, but the funny thing is there is one other on my street 4 houses down and two different ones in my parking lot at work, plus a third different one in a different parking lot at work. But this is Ford and they were all bought when Volvo was still part of Ford, not a Chinese company.