A little word association test for you: what do you think of when you hear the word "Volvo"? No doubt some of you will have rather unfortunate answers to that question, but I suspect most people will start to imagine a large car, probably quite expensive, and likely to be of interest to . . . how shall I put this . . . more mature customers.If that's what Volvo means to you, the C30 1.6 R-Design Sport may come as a bit of a shock. Of all the cars the company builds, it's the one with the most obvious appeal to younger buyers, partly because it is also the cheapest at £14,995 and partly because it is one of the most adventurous in terms of styling.Volvos in general do not look as staid as they used to, of course, but the little C30 is well above average when it comes to funkiness, even when it doesn't have a bodykit. The car being tested here does have a bodykit - that's what the R-Design part of its title is about - and the effect is very impressive. This does not look like an entry-level model, even though that's exactly what it is.It does, however, have the entry-level engine, a 1.6-litre petrol unit producing a maximum of 99bhp. You might guess that this means it's not exactly a ball of fire, and you'd be right. To achieve the full 99bhp you have to rev the engine to 6000rpm, which you're not likely to do in normal road driving, and even if you do you're not conscious of the scenery blurring as it swishes past the side windows.I should point out that the test car had less than 400 miles on the clock when I stepped into it for the first time, so the engine would still have been quite tight and not producing as much power as it would eventually do. All the same, figures of 115mph flat-out and 0-62mph in 11.2 seconds do not speak of scintillating straightline performance.It's not a bundle of laughs through the corners either. Ride quality is good for a relatively small car, but when I read that the C30 has "the greatest driver appeal of any Volvo" I can't help wondering what the company thinks driver appeal actually is. Nobody - certainly not a younger motorist who might be looking for a bit of fun rather than just an efficient way of getting from A to B - could describe the C30 as an interesting car to drive.But as mentioned before, it looks good and it's quite cheap to buy; probably cheap to run too, with very low (for Volvo) Group 7 insurance and combined fuel economy of 40.4mpg, which I'm sure is achievable since you're not likely to want to drive it hard enough to get much less than that.The 167g/km CO2 rating makes it more expensive to tax than the 1.6 diesel (by £50 per year now, and by £85 when the new tax structure comes in next year) but the petrol car costs £1500 less in the first place and you would have to rack up a lot of miles before the diesel's superior economy made up the remainder of the difference.The R-Design Sport doesn't have the feel of a cheap car, what with two-tone black and cream upholstery, a leather-trimmed steering wheel, sports pedals and blue instrument dials.Standard equipment also includes 17" alloy wheels (not the ones shown in our pictures, which are 18" and are standard on the more expensive R-Design SE Sport), front foglights, height-adjustable front seats, cruise control, heated door mirrors, and climate control air-conditioning which both filters out unpleasant particles and switches to recycle mode when it senses that too much carbon monoxide is coming into the car.The only thing that's really missing is a footrest, which would help the driving experience no end. The area round the pedals is quite roomy, though, so there is plenty of floor space for your left foot when it's not being used to operate the clutch.Other comments are the same as apply to all other C30s. The styling is love-it-or-hate-it, and if you have any ambition to carry passengers in the rear you'd be better off buying a different car. As Volvo itself implies, the best way of dealing with the rear seats is to fold them down, thereby increasing the luggage volume from the regular 433 litres to a much more impressive and practical 947 litres. Engine 1596 cc, 4 cylinders Power 100 bhp @6000 rpm Torque 111 ib/ft @4000 rpm Transmission 5 speed manual Fuel/CO2 40.4 mpg / 167 g/km Acceleration 0-62mph: 11.8sec Top speed 115 mph Price From £14251.00 approx Release date 01/10/2007
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