A year already. Seems like yesterday I was test driving the Ovlov round Peterborough in what felt like a massive car after Aygo ownership. There’s been ups and downs and countless memories made, but overall, was my purchase worth while? I’ll save you some time – yes. Here’s why…

A heavily hated design, a Peugeot engine, awful practicality and harsh suspension. Sounds like a recipe for hatred, right? Wrong.

Firstly let’s address the looks of the C30. Bold, definitely. Beautiful, probably not. But I think that’s what I love about it. It was never designed as an elegant sports coupé, rather something new and different from Volvo – and different it definitely is. No car looks like it. The Scirocco is prettier, the CR-Z boxier, the Veloster weirder. And they’re the closest cars in design I can think of. For that reason alongside a bit of rarity and a loyal fanbase, it turns heads (including my own after parking up.) The front end on my facelift I deem as perfect: a fantastic mix of aggression, curvy elegance and sportiness. The side profile is beautiful too, the swooping roof, R-design spoiler and 3 door shape give it plenty of presence. It’s the back that gets people going though. Gets people going in all the ways. You love it or hate it. Slightly hypocritically, I was on the fence when I bought mine and I suppose I still kind of am. Some days and from some angles I think its gorgeous, other days I really question that. I definitely think the back could sit a little lower just to give it more poise and fully achieve the sportiness that the R-design set out to achieve, but that’s just down to personal preference. I sized up on rims and got some delicious Cruize 18″s that I think suit the car wonderfully, whilst also filling some of the arch gap to give it a lower appearance without springs or coilovers. The one thing you can’t argue about the back is its overwhelming unique factor (something I value highly highly in a car) whilst also being undeniably Volvo. In summary, I like it. I think.

Mine is (unfortunately) the measly D2. In non Volvo terms, that’s the old PSA 1.6 HDi tuned to 115 bhp. Mine may have a little more than that, but even before that it definitely pulled well enough, never left me in a dangerous situation (apart from various visits to limp mode.) I would definitely recommend a simple remap as well as a carbon clean if you go for a higher mileage example. Remap and Revive did mine a few months ago and its been trouble free motoring ever since.

What’s best about the engine, and the remap, is the economy. Shorter trips see about 45mpg, my 10 mile back road commute sees 50, 55 if I go the dual carriageway route. Trip from Oxford to Wales saw 60, and the best I’ve seen is 68.1mpg for the 20 mile trip to my Aunt’s house. Incredible figures, especially for 2011. And mine isn’t even the drivE model, so there’s definitely potential for more.

In terms of reliability, its been… fine. Ish. I haven’t had any major issues, let’s put it that way. Aside from the general maintenance you’d expect from 15000 miles of motoring, it’s gotten through a turbo boost pipe, a DPF sensor and a driveshaft bolt. Not bad going really, is it?

On The Road the car is brilliant. It’s a ford focus under the skin so chuck it at any corner and you’ll get through it, and if you don’t – ha ho it’s a Volvo, no problem. Country roads are great until you hit an inevitable pothole, or a rough section of road as the ride on this R-Design model is undeniably harsh. It does fair alright on the motorway though, the seats are unreal – as an entry point into Volvo seats, it leaves me craving more – and that means that comfort is good, despite a harsher ride. Noise levels are distinctly meh across the boards, but a decent stock sound system makes that less of a problem, I have no doubt the cars with Volvo’s high performance sound or Dynaudio are exceptional. Round town, it struggles – shame really for a hatch. Speedbumps must be taken slowly and potholes send you jolting into the next county. I’m sure non R-designs do better though. The turning circle is ferociously bad – I struggle to believe I bought a coupe-hatchback fusion rather than a TUI cruise ship at times. This, combined with a wide stance and sensors being a rare option means that parking could definitely be easier.

Wrapping Up

To conclude, and to answer the question of more to come, yes. I love it and I’m going to keep it till it dies, I just hope that soon I can give it a weekend friend to join it. If you want something unique, safe, cheap and reliablish, look no further