What it says on the tin. I just got a substantial raise at work and I'm looking into getting a new daily. I've always thought these little cars were neat and found an 08 T5 auto with ok miles for not much money. Can't look at it until this weekend, but curious now.
So... learn me. please?
I believe those were a shared platform with the Mazda3 of the same era
Timing belt is due every 75k
You can get a factory Polestar tune for them, though I think it's spendy from the dealership. The R-design C30s are all tuned by default
Yes, same chassis as the Mazda 3 and the second gen (not sold in US) Focus. The C30 is basically a Mazdaspeed3 that doesn't rust, since all C30s got the turbo engine. The '08 should have the T7 engine, which is specific to the small chassis cars. Probably torque limited in the first two gears because AW55, but you probably won't mind because all C30s are front wheel drive. The torque limits of the AW55 trans are higher than the traction limits 
Of all of the Euro cars sold in the US, the Volvos have the most solid electronics. Volvo did not buy in to the Bosch/Siemens gadget space race, they stuck with conservative tech that just plain worked. And they have the most control freak friendly HVAC system, you get to decide where air goes! Want defrost and vent? Vent and floor? Go for it!
The automatic, if they used the same control strategy as the previous generation S40, is a real gem. The gear ratio spread is very similar to that of an NA/NB manual trans, and once you get the hang of it you can drive it like it was a manual trans with your left foot and right hand tied behind your back. It will hold gears into corners after blipping the accelerator for a downshift just like rev matching a manual. The shifter probably has a flappy gate but you may find yourself not needing it unless you want to do pathological things like bounce the rev limiter before a corner.
Things that suck: Oil filter access. Power steering fluid access (it is electric pump, mounted under the right headlight) Air filter access. Trans line access.... there is a whole lot of "stuff" in the nose of the car.
I had a friend who had one with the MT. I liked it except for the MT. Felt sort of meh. But I had a Miata at the time so I was spoiled. Not a problem with the car in question, and Pete is saying great things about the auto anyway.
Felt plenty fast with the turbo. The handling didn't seem as sharp as the Mazda 3, (maybe it was heavier, dunno) but that might have been psychological.
I like the way they look a lot.
In reply to CyberEric :
Mazda puts sporty dampers in everything. Heck, drive a Mazda 2 back to back with a Fiesta.
Mushy brakes. Hated them. Responds well to a MS3 sway bar in the rear. Can fit a real person in the back seat. The radio song identification really liked warewolf of london. It would come up randomly in the radio song display when it wasn't playing.
Gas mileage isn't awesome in my book. Your book may differ. Ref: https://www.fuelly.com/car/volvo/c30
I always thought these were cool. No first hand experience so nothing better to add.
Driver habits play a big role in economy. Volvos do not have air injection pumps to get the converter lit off from a cold start, they instead play with cam timing and ignition timing to turn fuel into exhaust heat. This murders fuel economy, and you feel it if you do a lot of short trips.
I can return over 30mpg with my AWD tank that weighs a lot more and has lower compression, as long as there are no/few cold starts. Driving down the road on the way to work in the morning, however, my instant economy is 3-4mpg at 35mph cruise 
Cold starts are entertaining because all you hear is turbo.
But on the bright side, no air pump, or plastic lines that break when the check valve fails, no passages to carbon up, etc.
I've bren driving my 3rd gen Z38 for 4 years (uninsured motorist hit my Regal while I was in school, then the used car market went insane) so I'm used to terrible mileage?
Can I run 87 in these or is it strictly 93?
Technically you can run 87, but it will be a lot happier with 93. More power, more fuel economy.
My V50 is on the same platform. As noted, fuel economy is not a strong point. But the engine is fun and makes interesting noises, and the automatic trans really isn't too bad as automatics go. There's some good information on this Transmission Digest page about the Volvo-specific programming of the AW55. Seats are very comfortable, interior is well thought-out, and the whole package seems pretty solid - mine is at 205k miles and still going strong. The work I've done on mine has been straightforward. Timing belt interval seems to be 110k miles from what I've been able to find, but there seem to be different specs for different engine variants, so YMMV.
My wife had one for a DD for 5 years. Auto/T5, 2011 (post-facelift.) I replaced a CV boot, and added the Focus ST wheel bearing retainer rings for the front hubs (recommended if you plan to auto-x with sticky tires.) That was literally all it asked of me. With some aftermarket 18" x 8" Enkei wheels and Michelin PS2s it was a riot, but I was always disappointed in the FWD traction for launching. This was the only FWD car to ever enter my stable, and it will likely be the last.
It made for an awesome all-rounder; comfortable enough for a couple hundred mile trip, fun on a back road, cargo capacity like a mini-wagon.
SWMBO and I went to look at it today and after driving it determined two things.
1. We need one of these in our life.
2. It wasn't going to be that one.
pres589 (djronnebaum) said:Gas mileage isn't awesome in my book. Your book may differ. Ref: https://www.fuelly.com/car/volvo/c30
I always thought these were cool. No first hand experience so nothing better to add.
I'd take 25mpg, hell the only thing I have it the stable that gets that might be my Tacoma. Everything else is about 21. Golf gets about 26 if you baby it on a trip, at full 25# it gets 7.
T5 sound, but the hatch is not dog friendly so no go for us. Ghia doesnt like hopping into the Golf forget about the small c30 hatch.
I wound up buying one of these last august, always wanted one but they were too pricey and rare the last time I was in the market for a daily driver. It's a T5 R-Design, so it's got all the stiff shocks and the frankly ridiculous factory body kit. AMA!
My experience so far has been that I am in Virginia, and I already knew the roads in this state are absolutely horrific. So the stiffer shocks that are part of the R-Design package are not fun and you'd be surprised how often you wish you had just spent the money importing a 2CV instead. The hatch is much bigger than you think, bigger than it looks too, so I always underestimate what I can fit in the car. I intend on getting an ECU remap because as people have pointed out, these are basically MS3s except the factory tune was 227bhp and the MS3 was 275, so they can get a 40 horsepower bump easily. As far as the power goes, mine is at 150k and still throws you forward, so they survive like Volvos, but it's the same T5 engine they put in SUVs at the time so you'd expect it to be under-stressed.
My last daily was a 07 Mazda 3, which I loved but the gearbox was giving up the ghost. Having come from that to this, which AFAIK is the same chassis, there is a massive difference in the turning radius. The C30 is terrible in turning radius vs the similar Mazda. I think this is likely due to the fact that the Volvo uses a 5-cyl vs the Mazda 4-cyl and since both are mounted transverse there's just not as much space for steering. The doors are also heavy and massive, they're built Volvo safe and that means they feel like they have a couple of I-beams in them. I have to take every parking spot with a wide turn-in and I live in apartment building so sometimes parking takes a few tries and I try not to park sideways on a hill because a tight squeeze means hauling oneself out of the thing with the door trying to come in on you is more effort than you'd usually expect.
On a smooth road it's fantastic. I just wish I didn't live in a state where, if it's not the worst roads in the country, it's at least the most inexcusably terrible roads in the country. Or at least I wish the state/local government would just start putting down gravel, because the patches are worse.
In reply to jb229 :
Whiny pedant: the C30 got the 2.5t engine not the T5 engine. The T5 engine in that timeframe was a 2.4l with an all forged bottom end, special connecting rods, an updated cylinder head with better cooling flow, etc.
I know it is Internet shorthand to say "T5" to mean "turbo five cylinder" but in Volvo speak, T5 is a very specific engine. It's essentially an R engine with higher compression and a smaller bore.
Volvo only ever put the 2.5t in that chassis. Ford put the R engine in the not-sold-here Focus RS (a C30 with Revo knuckles, basically), with a different turbo because the P1 chassis doesn't have enough firewall room for a K24-7400 turbo, it got an integrated turbo/manifold with, IIRC, a K16 spinning within an inch of its life.
-posted from my S60R with T5 engine swap for cylinder walls that don't crack
If we're going to do pediatry, it's ok to call it a T5 R-design... because... that's what volvo called it.
I had a 2008 for a brief period in 2021. It was a 2.4 N/A auto. It drove very nice, adequate power, the transmission was good (the same transmission model had problems in the older S70, which I had and it never shifted smooth and ended up grenading itself after a few months, the one in the later cars is OK). The seats and the ergonomics were top notch. I could drive for 500 km and I was still comfortable. Cool styling outside and inside. Audio system was good. Basically it was everything I was looking for in a car. But.... even if some people say Volvo's don't rust, they do. At least here in the northeast. I had to do a bunch of repairs due to rust and corrosion. Hubs, rear brakes, trailing arms and bushings, etc. The straw that broke the camel's back was when the powersteering hardlines ruptured due to rust and dumped all the power steering fluid on the garage floor. That was right after replacing that damn PCV diaphragm that you can only get from IPD with 2 weeks of shipping delay because Volvo wants you to replace the whole PCV oil trap thingmajig instead of the small rubber diaphragm that fails. I bought a Corolla (for reliability and nothing else) and sold the Volvo only 5 months in.
To this day I miss the comfort and cozyness of all 4 Volvos I owned. In my opinion, no other car is that good for our winters. I even bought Bilstein B4 shocks for the C30, it would have been the best daily. And it looked awesome in the somewhat uncommon "Quebec blue":
jb229 said:
On a smooth road it's fantastic. I just wish I didn't live in a state where, if it's not the worst roads in the country, it's at least the most inexcusably terrible roads in the country. Or at least I wish the state/local government would just start putting down gravel, because the patches are worse.
lol, now I'm curious where in Va. you live. I've spent 30 years here (NoVa and Tidewater) and when I go to other states north or west I usually think "these roads suck compared to home" haha. And I drive a GTI on 18s, so not like I'm in a cush ride.
OT to the original post, I dn't know much about the C30s, but we did have a guy running rallycross in one for a couple years. He was reasonably competitive (in either stock or prepared, I forget) but he did have a control arm snap up front which did some damage....
I've always kind of wanted one, but mostly because as a teenager I drooled over the Volvo 480s that I saw living in Europe, and I assume the C30 is its spiritual successor.
jb229 said:I intend on getting an ECU remap because as people have pointed out, these are basically MS3s except the factory tune was 227bhp and the MS3 was 275, so they can get a 40 horsepower bump easily.
If you have an R-design, you already have a fairly aggressive ECU tune. The aftermarket can provide more juice, but as Pete noted, that particular motor isn't very stout (by Volvo standards)
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