2013 Volvo C30 Polestar Edition

Nice looking cockpit there! I've liked this car since I saw it on Top Gear. Speaking of...did you have to clear any Clarkson droppings before you sat down?

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I think you're right, Dave, in 10 years we'll all be talking about snatching one up for 5 grand. Until then, though, nice as it is, it's a bit out of reach.

A longtime Volvo fan, I drove by my friendly Volvo dealer to have a peek. I'd driven a C30 before but it was too expensive for me.

Rebel Blue is what drew me in and after a week of contemplation Black Sapphire is what I came out with. Rebel Blue is cool, on someone else's car. Unfortunately Volvo put the ugly black 17" Styx wheels on, the color looks great with 18" Midir R-Design wheels.

Very happy after two months and 3500 miles. It's the last manual Volvo in the US, one of the last five-cylinders, and is beautifully styled.

It's a shame it was overlooked.

Consider this the sensible, upscale alternative to your boy-racer hot hatches. Starting at $27,000, the T5 doesn’t generate as much power as its distant Ford Focus ST and Mazdaspeed3 cousins, but its interior is tidy, high-tech, comfortable and stylish. Its exterior design is more understated, and under the hood it boasts one of the last remaining five-cylinder engines in production.

The extremely limited Polestar edition—ours has a dash badge claiming it to be number 172 of a total 250 examples—exceeds the R Design version in torque, power and throttle response. This unique software not only increases boost, but it reoptimizes fuel mapping and recalibrates throttle response.

Since it’s a Volvo, the Volvo Engine Laboratories’ lab testing procedures involved are rigorous to ensure the fortressitudiness of its namesake. Why Polestar? That's the name of the racing outfit that Volvo has been working with since the mid-'90s.