VOLVO C 30

First Impressions

How cool does this Volvo C30 look? With lowered suspension, a multi-spoiler rear and large, glinting alloys, it's every inch the sporty range-topper. How surprising, then, to actually discover it's Volvo's eco car. The greenest car ever built by the Swedish company. It's the C30 DRIVe - Volvo's Prius-beater.
Instead of using hybrid technology to save fuel, it takes the Volkswagen Bluemotion approach. Improve on what you've got, rather than debut expensive new tech. Volvo's fitted longer gear ratios, low-resistance tyres and a gearchange indicator. The power steering saves a tiny amount of fuel. Different gearbox oil has even smaller, but still useful, savings.

The biggest changes are to aerodynamics, though. The underbody is now totally smooth, so it has less resistance to airflow. There's a special rear spoiler and a bespoke bumper with built-in diffuser. Even the alloy wheels are a unique 'airflow' design - all to ensure the C30 passes through air as cleanly as possible.
All this comes at little cost, relative to hybrid expense. The C30 DRIVe range starts at £15,000 - indeed, now you can't buy a standard 1.6D model in non-DRIVe guise. Volvo's made it standard across the range. Only the racy R-Design misses out on the changes - but, so stylish are the DRIVe cars, is there even a place for that version anymore?
Performance

The 1.6-litre turbodiesel is pretty much unchanged. The main differences are modifications to the electronics, so it runs smoothly at low revs. Why? Because 3rd to 5th are 'longer', meaning the engine spins fewer revs at speed. This is good for economy, but often not for response. Luckily, this engine has clean pull at low revs.
It responds well to the accelerator and never feels like it's bogging down. It's actually slightly faster to 62mph than the outgoing non-DRIVe version, too. This is because 1st and 2nd gears have been made a bit sportier, so the gaps to the higher gears are spread out better. An inherently smooth-revving engine, it's refined and pleasant to use.