The Volvo C30 T5 is a Refined Hot Hatch for Grown-Ups

[izaakkanzig]

"I'm getting ahead of myself" LOL earned my thumbs up

[codykamminga]

You know the saying, The A in Volvo stands for aerodynamic

[mbwh]

A new exhaust will make the car so much more lively. 5 cylinders just sound so nice!

[EmperorNefarious]

American's not understanding the fog light is a feature, I use it as an safe anti-tailgater option. It's a brake check without using your brakes.

[autotempest]

"You don't grope your dash when you're driving down the road." - Hey, speak for yourself! 😂

[AllieStrange]

I initially saw this and thought "meh a C30 review, not gonna watch that", then realized it was aging wheels and was like "Oh, well I guess I am gonna watch that".

P.s. I love that license plate lol.

[MichaelSteeves]

That garage door disappearing just before the burnout nearly gave me a heart attack!

[sparacis]

Just a few corrections, The R-Design package also has lowered springs, and a quicker turning steering rack as well as stiffer control arms. You can in fact also turn off traction control by holding down the button on the turn signal stalk

[connorgoss]

It's amazing how easy those headlights are to remove when replacing the headlights in my old 2005 V70 were an incredible nightmare. Maybe they learned something in the 6 years after mine was made.

[glockmanish]

This car shares the platform with many others: Volvo C30, S40, V50, C70 ... Ford Focus, Kuga ... Mazda 3
When loocking for suspension tuning parts you may be more successful when e.g. search for Mazda 3 of that "vintage".

You wouldn't believe what some select poly bushes and wheel spacers do for the handling of this platform. It still is hydraulic power steering!
I drove a 2011 S40 T5 AWD for 9 years and did all kinds of stuff to it ... I recommend the following treatment to fix the driving engagement complaint:

Basics:
- lower the car! but be carefull: the factory front struts don't like lowering at all. They bottom out and thus loose all the damping within some months or a year. I've had very good results with Koni Special Active Dampers 8745-1110L and 8745-1110R ... they held together the last 2 years until I got rid of the car, ride perfectly acceptable over small bumps but firm up on slower movements like weight transfer in corners (exactly the other way aroung to normal dampers). Before I drove Bilstein B8 ... on this platform they are unbearably stiff and in the end give you less traction on real-world shitty roads due to their stiffness.
- widen the track: Either use some 10-15mm/side wheel spacers with the stock wheels or look for some wheels with less ET. Volvo decided to go with crazy high ET (51, 5mm if I remember right) ... this creates a tiny scrub radius and thus makes the steering unnecessaryly light und uncommunicative. I've driven 18x8 ET40 wheels plus 10mm spacers (to clear the Porsche brake calipers) and I really needed to convince the car to change lane opposed to stock where giving too much input was way too easy.
- change the engine torque mount to a stiffer one! The Elevate one worked for me and is definately an improvement.

Rear axle:
- 2 sets of Whiteline KCA394 or Powerflex PFR19-810G to set the rear axle camber to about 1 degree ... this does magic to this platform ... any type of lowering springs, including (!) Volvos own R-Design, increase the camber in rear. That just makes it unbearably understeery ... the mentions bushing allow you to fix that! Don't go too low on the camber, or the DSTC will intervene if your turning radius gets too smal for your steering wheel input. At 0.5 degrees of camber my S40 ABS block rattly ended the fun when trail-braking the highway exit at 10km/h lower than what the car was capable off. Increasing to 1 degree rear camber fixed that I and could happily take my Autobahn exit at 80km/h again where 40km/h where allowed.
- Whiteline W63320 or Powerflex PFR19-811 bushing for the dog bone control arm ... these arms are responsible for holding the track of the rear wheels. They are alyways under tension and their bushing get twisted quite a lot due to the arm being short. That's why they are worn in almost all cars on this platform at this age, as long as they didn't get replaces in the last 2 years.
- Elevate rear sway bar. The factory anti-sway-bar setup is just too safe and comfortable.

Front axle:
- Whiteline KCA428 or Powerflex PFF19-1002G give you more caster, which increases the centering forces and road feeback. Together with the increased scrub radius due to the wheel spacers makes the speering stiff enough that you can actually feel the cornering radius by the applied force rather than only by the angle
- when lowering the car you should really mount the steering rack high to prevent bump steer. There is akit from Whiteline (KCA405) ... but

Engine:
- stick with the K04-Turbo! I've driven K16 for 6 of the 9 years and found it to be way too laggy. The bigger turbo needs bigger injectors and bigger fuel pump. And that's where the trouble starts. I could write an essay about the bodge jobs in the ME9 of this Volvo Platform we tackled with our tuner. I just recommend you: DON'T! ... The car drives really nice with a squeezed out K04, especially if your goal is having fun in the corners. It is possible to extract 300hp from it with about 350lb-ft of torque. Sticking with the K04 and the stock injectors keeps the bodge jobs in the ECU hold together
- replace the tiny stock intercooler ... this thing is an abomination!
- replace the downpipe/cat with high-flow stuff. The rest of the exhaust system is obligatory.
- only drive the tuning intercooler and high-flow-cat with a tune! The Bosch ME9 (especially in Volvos buggy adaptation) doesn't like the boost increasing too fast. Without a proper (!!!) tune you'll get wavy torque curve, laggy throttle response and even cutting out cruise control.


The nice thing: should you still feel the need for the K16 turbo, it is 80% drop-in. The downpipe flange and its position is fully compatible (so the downpipe fits both ... that's how we got our cars through TÜV), the intake pipe just needs a different silicon joiner (intake on K16 is a couple of millimeter bigger), the boost exit on the compressor housing is exactly the same and at the same place and the water lines fit without any changes. Just the oil hardlines don't fit and either need the original Focus MkII RS oil hard-lines (which are expensive for what they are) or some flexible lines instead.

[dirkbonesteel]

Volvo is underrated. They build an amazing car

[nolansprojects]

Am I the only guy who goes into his shop sometimes with zero intention to do any work and just sit in it? There is just something about the atmosphere that is so relaxing.

[donotatme]

It kinda looks like they stuck a TV remote in the center console

[tylerhatfield]

I see DankPods supports your Patreon. He’s a man of culture

[fuhri]

I own the almost exactly same C30 T5 R-Design and I absolutely love it. my wife thinks it's ugly but she's wrong 😆

[maximilianwimmer]

these T5 engines are absolutely awesome! they sound amazing, they have buckets of low-end torque despite small displacement/turbo (who needs a diesel?) and still have pletty of top-end power. a man of culture, I salute that choice of car!

[one-six]

I remember seeing my neighbor's C30 parked in the garage as a kid everyday I get from school and loving that weird-yet-fun back hatch design and its entire complexion. Plus my dad owned a S90 at the time, so the pre-2015 interior design actually carried a bit of nostalgia for me – and it still looks modern enough for my taste! If I have the money to waste on a little hatch just for fun, I probably would really want this...

[SlicerVorzakh]

The smaller the car, the more cavernous the glove compartment. In my Fiat 500 Abarth I have my third and fourth passengers sit there, easier than shoving them in the backseats

[BallisticStigmata]

Just bought a 2009 C30 "2.0" (R-Design before it was badged as such). Lowered, blacked out, de-badged, Stage 2+, full setup to support it, re-positioned ECU; The works. Previously owned by a Volvo master Mechanic with only 89k miles.

From a guy who has owned the other Sweedish cars (SAAB) for 17 years, I fell in love with it IMMEDIATELY. Sounds great with the full turbo-back exhaust -- Just right, not overdone. The interior is overly-simplistic which I love. Mine does have the DynAudio system so the large dash speaker does split the dash in a tasteful way.

I haven't mashed the throttle all the way once. Don't even have to. Making the turbo do its work, the tuned-torque with torque-delete tune just MOVES this car.

Also 8:06 was hilarious. "Airbags surround your entire being. Everything from your head to your ego." 🤣

[solarpepino]

I have one 1.6 Diesel, manual, with 320.000 now no Nice and Safe to Drive....Very Rate 9 Stars