Ever hear of a “mashup”? If you’re part of the target market for the Volvo C30, a hip urbanite with an eye for style and a taste for the latest and greatest, then you may have. A “mashup”, for those who haven’t heard of them, is a musical work made by underground DJs melding two or more mainstream songs together to create something unique. Mashing two different melodies, often from completely different genres, can result in something attention-grabbing and completely different. If done right, it’s an art form to behold, something not spiritually unlike the Volvo C30.

Some of the best mashups take something old and something new. We’re fans of classic rock and rap mixing, like Mei-lwun’s Sweet Home Country Grammar, blending rapper Nelly and Lynyrd Skynyrd. Also grabbing a spot on our ‘Most Played’ playlist is DJ Melchizedek’s 99 Congas - an odd pairing of Jay-Z and Gloria Estefan that does an impressive job at making the illustrious Sean Carter sound almost Miamian by way of Cuba.

With the C30, Volvo saw the need for a model that would bring a atypical, often younger customer to the fold – something more effective than hand-me-down 240s and 850s with college-bound kids at the wheel. For this, Volvo has moved into a new realm, going for a wholly different crowd that may have never considered the Swedish brand.


To create the C30, Volvo started with a classic they know well – the station wagon… at least the back of it. The track’s been recorded before, in the form of the disco-era 1800ES sport brake with its glass-doored gate. This time around though, it’s a modern remix of the classic design.

This traditional theme is mixed with something modern – a three-door configuration that any GTI or MINI owner would easily recognize. Straight up, the C30 isn’t for families. Young urbanites… yes. Empty nesters… sure. But four bucket seats aren’t really conducive to baby seats. It’s stylish, it’s hip, it’s young and it’s decidedly un-Volvo.

Though the body is basically all new, the C30 still makes use of some existing platform basics – Ford’s C1 chassis set, which plays base to everything from the new Land Rover Freelander to the cool European Ford Focus. The car is probably closest to its S40 brand sibling, even though it shares no other body panels than the hood on the outside and a full 8-inches have been lost in length thanks to lack of a traditional trunk.


On the inside, similarities are more obvious. Trim varies slightly, but the dash and its curved center stack are lifted wholesale from the S40/V50 and C70. Changes for this more style-concious model are focused on touch and feel, which is why the C30 gets optional S40 equipment like a leather and aluminum steering wheel with matching shift knob as standard fare.

The bucket seats are skinned in the same lycra-like fabric named T-Tec that is used in the S40. Like the S40, leather is optional. Unlike the S40, you can also opt for silver-white center segments on T-tec seats for a more eye-catching presentation… even without the optional red carpeting.

From the outside, the car certainly looks good. It’s the most expressive take yet on Volvo’s current broud-shouldered design language. The car can either be had with oldschool matte black accent body mouldings (Version 1.0) or more muscular and painted body kit that is either color matched or painted in an accent color depending on your flavor (Version 2.0).


A body kit isn’t all Version 2.0 will net you. That package also sports 18-inch machined Atreus alloy wheels, dynamic chassis (i.e. more aggressive suspension.. no 4C here), sport tail pipes, interior aluminum inlays and additional color combinations.

For those serious about their tunes, Version 2.0 also features the 10-speaker DynAudio sound system and Sirius Satellite radio. There’s also the standard WMA CD playback functionality and auxiliary audio input jack (standard on all models) on all models along with an optional iPod integration kit. It’s all the better for playing those downloaded mashups you scored on sites like Get Your Bootleg On (GYBO).


Sampling a bit of MINI, Volvo is trying something a bit different for those who want to go off the reservation and beyond the norm. More extensive equipment choices are now available for both Version 1.0 and Version 2.0 and can be used to tailor a C30 specifically to your tastes. Volvo product planner Art Battaglia described it best to us as “any European equipment we could offer legally in the USA, we’re offering.”

For a nominal price of $300, Volvo’s custom build program will allow you to seriously personalize your car. Just how much of a deposit a dealer might want on a blue car with red carpeting remains to be seen. Still, Volvo says you can do that combination, and any other from their long list of offerings, so long as you’re willing to wait for the car to be built.


Volvo Cars North America tells us they’re working on some accessories of their own as well – stuff Europe doesn’t have. Things like carbon fiber interior trim and center stack sound very cool, though we found some of the tear-away flag graphics to be more Scion’s beat. If that’s what C30 buyers want though, VCNA seems bent on making sure that’s what C30 buyers get.

Of course, if you want the pre-packaged C30s, there are still a healthy number of combinations to choose from when the car hits the market in September. Prices will start at $23,395 for Version 1.0 and $26,395 for Version 2.0.

On the road, the C30 feels much like a front-wheel drive S40 T5. There’s generous amounts of torque and a manageable amount of torque steer. Performance numbers are similar, with a 0-60mph time in 6.2 seconds. More normal driving than harder 0-60 runs will net you 18mpg city and 28 highway for the manual according to Volvo (18/27 for Geartronic).


The Version 1.0 on its smaller (and more cute) flower-power alloys with all-season rubber is easier to toss around, though it feels a tad wallowy on the highway. Version 2.0, with its more aggressive suspension and summer rubber on 18s is the better choice, though the dialed in lift-off oversteer isn’t as dramatic. We’d opt for the dealer-installed sport suspension option fitted to a Version 2.0 – about as close as you’ll get to the lower and more aggressive European setup after cutting up some canyons outside of San Diego, California where Volvo let us sample the C30.

My driving partner at the Volvo launch is an online mogul in charge of one of the top automotive websites catering to the urban set. Forget mashing Jay-Z, my co-driver probably hangs with him on occasion. But, he hasn’t heard of DJ Melchizedek or the mashup genre that I’m preaching like a driver’s seat evangelist as it pumps out of my iPod and through the Volvo’s 650-watt DynAudio system.

Like the mashup, the C30 melds some widely differing genres into a workable package. And, like the mashup, getting the word out on its very existence will be the toughest part of the sell. Although, once experienced, the car should win over a healthy number of non-Volvo buyers to the fold.