Volvo C30 D5 (2006) CAR review

It’s been T5 this and T5 that, I’m pleased to see you’re finally going to tell me about the C30 that I can afford to fuel.

We aim to please. Yes, the blown five-cylinder T5 sounds great and certainly delivers the goods (6.2sec 0-62mph) but it’s fond of a drink whatever Volvo’s official figures say. To be honest though, if covering marathon distances between stops is your thing, you’d be better off in the 1.6D (11.3sec to 62mph and an incredible 57.6mpg) although we’d probably take the more rounded 2.0D which manages 49.6mpg and still scoots to 62mph in 8.8sec.

So what’s the D5 all about?

It’s a kind of luxury performance C30 – luxury because it’s the most expensive model in the entire range, only comes in the top three trim levels and only with an auto box. The common rail unit stretches its 2.4 litres across five cylinders rather than the four of the other diesels and delivers a respectable 180bhp and 260lb ft of torque. For the record that’s 24lb ft more than either the T5 or 2.0d can some up and, although naturally it's down on power compared with the 225bhp petrol, its 44bhp on-paper advantage over the 2.0d tries hard to justify the £300 price difference.