Category: Small Family 
Price Range: £16,245 to £21,360
Good-looking, classy small hatchback; solid and safe; comfortable and fun to drive.
Not hugely practical; access to rear seats awkward; rather expensive.
All the usual Volvo virtues - except lots of luggage-space - in an attractive, compact package.
Volvo servicing and maintenance will be a little dearer than for a comparable Ford Focus, but otherwise, the DRIVe C30 should be cheap to run - it'll do an average of 64.2mpg (and 78.5mpg out of town). Carbon dioxide emissions are just 115g/km, putting it into Band B for tax (currently £35 a year) and into a lower BIK category for company car users than the previous 1.6 diesel.
Latest Readers' Drives About the Volvo C30
wrote on 23 07 2007