At first glance the interior looks plain but appealing. Soft-touch plastics, industrial-grade weave cloth seats with nice tight fit to all the pieces and good color matching. Nice touches includes a seat-belt rail that is the first simple and logical approach to prevent rear passengers from having to dive under, over or around the front seat-belts. The interior has its nice touches of aluminum and black. The rear seats offer plenty of comfortable room for two, with space for a Costco run in the hatchback tail. Or, fold the rear seats and gain enough room to move a kid off to college. This simplicity has appeal to the kinds of Volvo owners the author hangs around with ~ i.e. those who think that their Volvo has not been broken-in until it has been pushed over 200,000 miles.
The 5 cylinder 2.5 liter DOHC VVT turbomotor cranks out a smooth 227 horses at 5,000 RPM with a lovely 236 foot pounds from 1,500 to 5,000 RPM. The six-speed manual is very easy to stir when you feel like it. Fun for playtime. Tossing it into fifth or sixth when piddling along in 25 or 35 MPH zones became habit for two reasons - the motor has the torque, and donations to the local constabulary might otherwise have been a bit too frequent. Volvo threw the book at the C30 with every safety component they could stuff in from ABS and EBD, air bags for everyone, anti-whiplash headrests on a list that drones on forever.
