I was lying flat on my stomach in the snow, when I looked up and saw my neighbor. He had been clearing his portion of the alley with a snow blower but now sat on the bumper of his car watching me. He might have been eating popcorn and laughing, but I’m not sure.
I was trying to power my way through the alley in the 2008 Volvo C30, but unfortunately, not all of my neighbors had considerately cleared the area around their garages. So, I got stuck somewhere between my garage and the guy with the snow blower.
2008 Volvo C30
C30 opens new doors
One for the road
After scraping around my front tires and clearing the snow from under the car, I was still stuck. With snow in my hair and covering my jeans, coat and shoes, I got back into the warm car and contemplated my next move, taking deep calming breaths. That’s when my neighbor and his dog started ambling in my direction.
Thankfully, the C30 is light and my neighbor was kind enough to give the car a good strong push. When I escaped from the alley, I managed to slide my way down the unplowed street until I could get to a main plowed-and-salted road.
Moral of the story: Just because it’s a Volvo doesn’t mean it can tackle snow drifts.
But, it does handle pretty well during a snow storm.
During the brunt of the storm last week, I drove out to a friend’s house in Hoffman Estates for a party, and I was actually impressed with how the C30 handled on snow-filled streets. The wipers kept the windshield clear, and the tires managed to find the pavement through the inches of sludge that coated the streets and highways. While I did slide around a bit, I didn’t feel like I was getting pushed around or out of control.
Other than the whole stuck thing, I was pretty impressed overall with the C30. Especially considering the base price of this new compact is $23,445.
At its most basic level, Version 1.0, it has a five-cylinder turbocharged engine that delivers 227 horsepower and 236 pound-feet of torque. For a car that only weighs 2,970 pounds, imagine what that means: Quick, easy acceleration and zippy passing maneuverability.
Being such a small car, I would have expected the fuel economy numbers to be a little closer to 30 mpg for highway driving. However, they’re not bad with city/highway estimates of 19/27 mpg for the automatic transmission.
The optional five-speed automatic transmission ($1,250) was a smooth and relatively quick shifter. The standard transmission is a six-speed manual, and while I typically prefer a manual for the sake of power control, I was very impressed with the automatic. I don’t think it sacrificed any power, and it did perform beautifully.
In addition to the C30 being fun to drive, it has attractive, unique styling. The rear of the vehicle is punctuated by the signature Volvo bumped-out taillights, but the eye catcher here is the large oval rear window. It doesn’t really increase the driver’s visibility out the rear, but it does add visual interest. I’m typically not a fan of Volvo styling, but the C30 manages to look like a Volvo and still maintain a sense of style.
The inside of the C30 is even better. It’s simple yet attractive. All the controls are within easy reach, and you don’t have to guess what each button does. Everything is intuitive, well placed and comfortable. I liked the contours of the seats, and they were both supportive and firm. The test vehicle had cloth seating surfaces and brushed silver accents on the center stack and door handles. The effect was very classic.
Even without power seat adjustments, I was able to get a great driving position with the manual height adjustment. Visibility out the front was very good, but there were a couple of blind spots over the right and left shoulders.
With this recent spate of cold weather, I did notice that the heat doesn’t work as well as I’d like. I tried numerous combinations of head, torso and feet venting but still found that I was cold until I was hot. It didn’t seem like there was too much in between, and I constantly fiddled with the HVAC as my body temperature switched between hot and cold.
The test vehicle was the up-level Version 2.0 model, which added a dynamic chassis, 18-inch Atreus alloy wheels, sport body kit and rear roof spoiler, up-level audio system and polished sport exhaust pipes. It also added $3K to the base price. The test vehicle also had a laundry list of options including metallic paint ($475), automatic transmission ($1,250), fog lights ($295), cruise control ($185) and an few other appearance-oriented items. The as-tested price was $29,350.
The thing I don’t quite understand is the whole “Custom Build” program. Volvo will charge you a flat, one-time $300 fee if you choose any of the “Custom Build” options, and then they still charge you for the option itself. In addition to “custom” paint colors (you have a choice of six) or the “custom” seating surfaces (you have a choice of seven), they’re going to slap that $300 fee on you if you want pretty much any other option. Items such as rain sensing wipers ($175), Bi-Xenon headlights ($700), cruise control ($185) and heated front seats ($450) are all considered “custom.” So, even if you only want one of these, you’ll still incur the $300 fee.
I suppose the good news is, if you tack on a slew of “custom” options, you’ll only pay the $300 once. The thing is, there are only about five options that aren’t a part of the “Custom Build” program. So, I think this is really just a way to get $300 extra dollars out of a customer. Not a fan.
Say you’re a no-frills buyer and want to avoid the “Custom Build” program as well as any other options. You’re choices go down drastically. You have three choices of paint (red, black or white), two interiors (off black or gray) and one set of wheels. Interesting.
While I really don’t like the idea of a “Custom Build,” I do like the guts of the car. The engine is peppy, the ride is smooth, and the C30 handles pretty well as long as you don’t have 6 inches of snow in your alley.
Leaving snow out of the equation, however, this is the perfect Chicago car. It has a utilitarian hatch with 12.9 cubic-feet of cargo volume, has enough legroom to seat four adults in moderate comfort and is small enough to slot into tight parking spaces.
Then again, the good thing about Chicago: There’s always public transportation right around the corner.
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