Volvo C30 T5 - general consensus?

[TheVole]

Hi all,

I've been looking for a new car for the last few months. The criteria so far has been £10k or - ideally - less, small (no bigger than a Focus/Astra) and fast. Well, faster than my MX5 at least. Practicality is of no concern, other than I very, very occasionally need 4 seats - but the size of the boot doesn't matter one bit.

I've been to see a Volvo C30 T5 R-Design this evening, one that's had the Polestar upgrade to 250bhp/370nm - but I can't find too much online about them other than numb steering and to keep an eye out for the anti-skid service message appearing on the OBC, indicating a failing ABS pump.

So, what do the PH collective think of these? Should I look for something else instead?

[Mr Tidy]

I quite liked the look of these back in the day, but everything I read suggested the Focus ST with the same 5 cylinder engine was much better to drive and obviously had the same scope for power upgrades.

But as I was doing a fair bit of business mileage at the time I ended up with a BMW 123d which fitted the bill.

As a fan of RWD if I was looking for a small hatch with some grunt now I would be getting a BMW 130i (265bhp as standard).

Or if I could live with FWD I think I would still go the Focus route, or maybe a Leon Cupra, rather than the C30.