14 DAY TRIAL // Having a girlfriend is not a very easy job, everybody knows that. The only thing I personally find harder than dealing with your girlfriend on special occasions ? like her birthday, an anniversary or the so much hated by males Valentine's Day ? is actually looking for one (a girlfriend, that is). They say that it?s only a "choices game", but I somehow disagree. The main problem with searching/choosing a girlfriend is the "backfire". In other words, she has to like you too, you nincompoop! The "love it or hate it" phrase is a good way to describe amorous relationships, since compromise cannot be used as a substitute for happiness, especially on a long term basis.
This whole girlfriend experience is somehow similar to choosing which car to buy. I know, it's a bit far fetched, but bear with me! Let's say that you just became part of the new wave of Yuppies (young urban professionals) and you're in search of a car. You're not a fan of any car brand, but you have to find a way to spend your money on a car which can "expose" your new status to the world around you. It cannot be a sedan, even if it's a premium one - those are for "young and married urban professionals" - a small roadster can easily make you look gay or at least a metrosexual, so what do we have left?
Aaah, yes, a premium hatchback! This type of car can also be very misleading about the origins or the status of its owner, but one thing is for sure, it makes you look more active than you really are. And that must be a good thing for a Yuppie!
With this being said, the new Volvo C30 was finally launched in Romania. Designed in Sweden, but manufactured in Belgium, some people will love it, others will probably hate it. The choice in between doesn't seem to exist, especially having a design like that. Not to mention the "more than premium" prices, which were also released - even though the journalists attending the launch received a not very up-to-date price list. I couldn't score this "glitch" too low, since I had received the "real" price list about a week before the launch.
The event was held (by coincidence?) on Valentine's Day, the single day of the year when relationships are started, consolidated or even broken. Everything culminated with the master of ceremony giving a C30 T5 as a Valentine's Day gift to his wife, who was also present (another coincidence?). This, of course, had nothing to do with the fact that the car is mainly marketed for young, unmarried men and women. The new C30 can also be vaguely marketed as a small coupe, since it only comes with two (huge, I might add) lateral doors - even though it's actually a premium hatch, based on the Ford Focus platform.
The choice of engines is rather large for a niche car, as it comes with five petrol engines (from the smallest 1.6 Liter four cylinder with 100 HP, to the engine which is also found in the Ford Focus ST, a five cylinder turbocharged 2.5 Liter with 220 HP and 320 Nm). The "oil-burner" fans are kept close with a choice of three diesels (except Belgians, who get the old 163 HP D5, more likely as a "thank you" note for taking care of the production), from a Ford-PSA sourced 1.6 Liter with 109 HP, to the newest version of Volvo's acclaimed 2.4 Liter D5, producing 185 HP and 350 Nm. Not bad for a car whose expected sales are around 65.000 units per year.
Returning to (one of) the points of discussion, the C30's design is loosely based on the SCC concept car, unveiled in 2001, although the main inspiration for the not-so-common rear design came from the Volvo 1800 ES and the 480, which both looked like no other hatchback on the market. Although the glass rear-hatch is actually a retro motif, it looks very modern, since Volvo was the only manufacturer to use this idea on a large scale. The hatch might look good (or bad, depending on taste), but it's also one of the worst solutions for practicability purposes. This, of course, is not going to matter much for the Yuppies, who are using their cars in the city for 90 percent of the time.
The interior design is typically modern Volvo, with the center console "floating" in front of the dashboard, thus creating a usable space behind it. The rear seats are not arranged in a normal "bench" position though, since the car is actually a 2+2. Not a bad idea, considering that the car has a sporty look and nature, at least by looking at the specs. Of course, even though the car's length can be successfully included in the compact segment, the interior space is not much larger than that of the Mini, for example, which is a class down. The word for it isn't "cramped" though, it's more like "cozy", while being more focused on the driver than on the other passengers, who are more likely to ride in the car only for short periods of time. The interior space isn't helped by the roof's width also, which is shrinking to the rear, thus creating the Volvo trademarked "shoulders" at the back.
In other news, the standard features include the traditional Swedish safety features, like the electronic stability control, side-impact protection (SIPS), WHIPS (which helps in reducing the risk of whiplash injury in a rear-end collision) and six airbags. The main question remains though, is this the car to buy if you're a young broker/lawyer/whatever or just another straw in the hay stack of premium hatchbacks? Just from seeing and touching the car, you couldn't give an all out conclusion, but its chances in the-soon-overcrowded market of premium compacts are pretty good. Most clients won't know nor care about the car's Ford related parts, the fact that it's quite expensive for a car as big as a VW Golf, or the fact that its interior is best-suited for two, not for four or five passengers. In other words, if you don't care about all the downsides that come with not purchasing a mainstream car, this might very well be one of the top picks for a "young, urban professional". Even as a Valentine's Day gift.
Other images from the Volvo C30 launch:
Photo: Tudor Raiciu for Softpedia.com
