Volvo C30 ES: "Entry Level Performance" At £15,000

The entry level Volvo C30 ES is now about £1,300 cheaper in the UK. Volvo UK has now priced the 2.0liter 145ps C30 ES, the entry level petrol powered car for the UK, from as low as £14,995 on the road. This is actually quite decently priced as if you went in the way of the Ford Focus, the Ford Focus Zetec 3 door 1.6 100ps manual to be precise, you'd have to pay slightly more money £15,421 for a measly 1.6liter econo-box.

I suppose most of you would know that the Ford Focus is basically a brand spanking new for 2011 model. So it's really a new model against one that was launched in 2006. But this being a Performance Car oriented website and all I suggest that if you want something fast, yet light on the wallet during the initial purchase, the Volvo C30 ES could be the one to get, petrol bills aside. I suppose some of you would cringe at the thought of pumping more petrol than necessary but hey, sometimes you've got to live a little.

The C30 ES comes equipped with a 2.0 liter engine that makes 145ps and 185Nm. It basically allows this 1341kg warm hatch to hit 62mph in 8.8 seconds and have a top speed of 130mph. So you have better bragging rights at the weekly boy-racer meetings. It may not have the ultimate finesse of the Ford, or some Volkswagens, but I do believe that 90% of the time you'd use the car for daily commutes and these daily commutes aren't to the Welsh countryside. At the very least, its only at the traffic lights where you'll see some excitement nowadays.

The Volvo C30 will perform decently well most of the time yet still allow you to enjoy a bit of speed with adequate, if not totally stupendous handling to boot. But being the entry level car, there are some drawbacks, like the fact that it will only come in a 16inch tire and alloy wheel combo. But that's upgradeable (and they're not wheel covers) and you could head over to the nearest Heico dealer for some Volvo performance goodies too.

You also get pretty good standard equipment for the interior too. Electronic climate control, traction control, an audio and information system with the now common auxiliary input, fabric seats with a leather wrapped steering wheel and gear knob. And when you add that unique tailgate that reminds me of the Volvo 1800ES from the 1970s as well as that better than a piece of IKEA furniture "floating center stack" that graces its interior the Volvo C30 is quite a unique car to be seen in. Especially since there aren't as many C30s around as there as Hondas, Fords or Audis these days.