Summary
I'LL level with you. I loved the old Volvo 850 T5. This was a car with true cross country ability, was well built and seriously quick. Despite Volvo's exploits in touring car racing, however, there was no way you'd mistake the 850 for a sports car. Wooden controls and a propensity to veer from one lane to another when the throttle was pressed saw to that. I'd like to paint a picture of Volvo's ongoing development of sporty cars in the intervening 20 years but it's not a wholly rosy story. Just lately though, things have started looking up and the C30 SportsCoupe, especially in born-again T5 guise, is proof that the Swedes are finally on the right track. We'll get to what it is later. For the time being we'll just concentrate on how it goes and the answer to that is better than you'd have any reasonable hope of expecting. It's a car that manages to flatter the average driver and rewards those with a few more tools in their locker. So many seriously powerful GTi hatches feel as if they have a little too much power but the chassis of the C30 is so talented and the engine so tractable that it always feels a class act. That's a little surprising as it runs on much the same underpinnings as the S40, a model that always seemed less than the sum of its parts, but the added chassis rigidity of the C30 means that the suspension has a few less curveballs thrown at it and can get on with the job of keeping the car on the road.
Over the first couple of miles I wasn't feeling much love for the steering, the electrically-assisted system offering too much help. Up your game and the Volvo responds, higher speeds bringing a more reassuring weighting. Grab the thick-rimmed wheel, resolve to show the next corner a good larruping and you've got a very willing accomplice.See the full content of this document
Extract
Volvo Is On Right Track
Catch it off guard and the C30 T5 can feel slightly nose heavy, that fi...
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