Skip advert
Advertisement
Long term tests

Volvo C30 T5

Good and bad experiences this month with our Volvo C30

I’ve had a real love/hate relationship with the Volvo this month. First the love. It’s done the nursery run most mornings recently and my two-year-old son reckons ‘It looks like a sweetie, daddy’. (I think that’s a good thing.) My 60-mile commute each day has been enjoyable too, the odd back-road excursion seeing me arrive at work with a boyish grin on my face.

Advertisement - Article continues below

Now the hate. I’m sure there’s a perfectly good explanation, but I really can’t figure out why there is a hook at the bottom of each front seat that catches the seat belt, dragging it in the path of anyone trying to get into or out of the back seat. It is so annoying!

Also, I thought Volvos were supposed to be solid, but while cleaning the rear window recently the wiper blade snapped away from its arm, even though I was being very careful with it.

A replacement part (£11.75) soon fixed it, though, and in truth these little niggles have done nothing to stop me enjoying the C30 more and more the longer I live with it.

Running Costs

Date acquiredDecember 2007
Total mileage11,307
Costs this month£11.75 (wiper)
Mileage this month964
MPG this month28.7
Skip advert
Advertisement
Skip advert
Advertisement

Most Popular

New Porsche ‘Mission S’ supercar central in plan to tackle Ferrari head-on
What the new Porsche supercar could look like, edited with AI
News

New Porsche ‘Mission S’ supercar central in plan to tackle Ferrari head-on

Porsche’s plan to recover its profits involves pushing upmarket to widen margins, with more customisability and a new supercar
7 Oct 2026
​Best hot hatchbacks 2026 – fast, fun and family friendly cars
Best hot hatchbacks 2026
Best cars

​Best hot hatchbacks 2026 – fast, fun and family friendly cars

The new Peugeot 208 GTi and Vauxhall Corsa GSE join a great variety of current hot hatchbacks that we've ranked
6 Oct 2026
Ferrari Purosangue Handling Speciale review – sharper V12 SUV to face the Aston Martin DBX S
Ferrari Purosangue Handling Speciale
Reviews

Ferrari Purosangue Handling Speciale review – sharper V12 SUV to face the Aston Martin DBX S

Ferrari has retuned the Purosangue’s sophisticated Multimatic dampers to sharpen up its super SUV. We take a drive
7 Oct 2026