Volvo gives its C30 the hot hatchback treatment with its R-Design sport tuning and Polestar power upgrade. This retro-looking car also features a premium interior, although the cabin tech remains basic.
Wayne Cunningham
Wayne Cunningham reviews cars and writes about automotive technology for CNET's Roadshow. Prior to the automotive beat, he covered spyware, Web building technologies, and computer hardware. He began covering technology and the Web in 1994 as an editor of The Net magazine.
Volvo introduced the C30 in 2006, a retro take on a historic model, the 1800ES. The R-Design version includes a sport-tuned suspension, while Volvo's tuning partner, Polestar, offers an option that increases power substantially.
Although the C30 incorporates modern lines, the shape of the car evokes the 1800ES, an old vehicle from Volvo's lineup that used a shooting brake form.
Volvo offers a variety of engines for the C30 in Europe, but the U.S. only gets the turbocharged 2.5-liter five-cylinder. With the Polestar power upgrade, this engine produces 250 horsepower.
The cabin tech in the C30 is piecemeal, the navigation system being a separate component mounted at the top of the dashboard. A radio display lower in the dashboard shows stereo and phone information.
The navigation system, a separate component, flips up from the top of the dashboard. The interface isn't very intuitive, with a row of icons on the left side of the screen.
