There are some people who will clock that this car is a Volvo diesel and give a brief involuntary shudder. I used to be of that persuasion. My father owned a Volvo diesel so unrefined that these days he would have been slapped with an ASBO. I can even now recall the sound of that engine firing up in the morning. There was the first clonk of the key, followed by the pregnant pause while the glow plugs warmed up, followed by the sort of noise you'd expect to hear at the back of a Waltzer. Things are a good deal different now and Volvo's latest C30 D5 shows quite how much things have changed.

Where Vic's old 760GLE had just 124 asthmatic horsepower to lug around a car that weighed more than the Eurasian plate, the C30 D5 has a spry 180bhp to power a car that's neat, light and compact. Four trim levels are offered, opening with the SE and R-Design Sport at £19,495. Then comes the R-Design SE Sport at £20,745 with SE Lux variants topping off the range at £20,995. All versions are supplied with the Geartronic five-speed transmission. This offers the convenience and smoothness of a proper automatic gearbox equipped with a torque converter but also adds a little sass with the driver able to select gears sequentially.

The D5 diesel engine is a modern common rail 2.4-litre unit with five cylinders and is mounted transversely across the front of this C30, driving the front wheels. It's probably the most appealing engine in the whole C30 model range offering decent economy and even more torque than the storming T5 petrol engine (350 vs 320Nm). It makes this peak torque figure at between 1,750 and 3,250rpm which mean that you won't need to rev the engine to kingdom come to get decent punch from a standstill out onto a roundabout or when zipping into fast moving motorway traffic.

"Volvo is turning out some very well rounded cars. The C30 D5 could well be the most attractive of the lot"

From a standstill you'll need just 7.8 seconds to get to 60mph and unlike most performance figures you read in magazines that are the work of skilled road testers with zero mechanical sympathy, Volvo's Geartronic box will allow you to replicate this sprinting ability with metronomic efficiency. Just stand with your foot on the brake until you can feel the gearbox start to strain against the torque converter, lift the brake and bury the throttle. The C30's traction control systems and gearbox software does the rest. You just sit there, steer and make sure you don't accelerate into something that's going to spoil your day.

Where conditions allow, the acceleration only lets up with 140mph showing on the clock, a decent performance for a diesel in this bracket. Fuel economy is predictably good too, with an urban figure of 29.7mpg, an extra urban showing of 52.3mpg and an overall figure of 40.9mpg. These figures may not be quite so easy to replicate. An attractive carbon emissions figure of 182g/km will also put the C30 D5 on the wish lists of many company car user choosers granted a £25k budget. Well worth sneaking onto the options list and past the gimlet eye of your fleet manager is the Premium Sound system which features a digital 5x130w Alpine amplifier with Dolby Pro Logic Surround Sound and no fewer than ten Dynaudio speakers.

So much for the nuts and bolts of the C30 D5. What is it and who's it aimed at? Based on the chassis of the S40 saloon, the C30 takes Volvo's contemporary design direction and smashes it out of the park. If you're still not quite comfortable with the concept of a sexy looking Volvo, this one will leave you wondering exactly when the sands of motoring fashion shifted under your feet.

This is the fourth car spawned from the S40 platform, the others being the V50 estate and the C70 convertible. Volvo had long earmarked this fourth model but weren't quite sure what it was going to be. Taking a wait and see approach, the company consulted its customers, looked at the way the industry was moving, consulted its magic 8-ball and came up with the C30 'SportsCoupe', a model that drives down the average age of Volvo buyers by a good few years.

The company is keen to stress its similarity to the old P1800ES, although they are a little more reticent about comparing it to a model a little fresher in most customers minds, the 480 series, built between 1985 and 1995. The design brief was formed from various customer clinics and when it took shape, it was loose and relatively easy to fulfil - customers wanted something desirable, low and wide with big wheels and four seats. They also fancied lots of standard equipment and a punchy stereo. Given that latter day small Volvos have had a rich design element to their interiors, translating that to the exterior wasn't a tough job for Volvo's stylists.

Some things are reassuringly Swedish. Safety hasn't been skimped on and as well as the usual airbags and seat belt tensioners, the C30 serves up WHIPS (Whiplash Protection System), SIPS (Side Impact Protection System) and even the option of BLIS (Blind Spot Information System). This acts much like an extra set of eyes and utilizes digital camera technology mounted in the door mirrors to monitor the areas 3m to each side and up to 9.5m behind the driver. If a vehicle enters this area, a symbol appears on the windscreen pillar near the rear view mirror to indicate that something's there when you take a quick look towards the mirror. Active at speeds above 10km/h, this system isn't the only safety benefit buyers of the C30 enjoy. Special water repellent glass is fitted to the mirrors and side windows. Water beads up on the glass and the airstream quickly clears it, leaving unimpeded visibility.

The C30 package is an amalgam of all that's best about modern Volvo. The D5 is the pick of the range. It might take a long memory to realise it, but Volvo has come a very long way.

TOP 4 C30 DEALS

The results below show the top C30 deals on buyacar

	Volvo C30 D5 SE Lux 3dr Coupe
	ETR	Mthly £311	Saving £2,564	Price £18,436
	Volvo C30 D5 SE 3dr Geartronic Coupe
	ETR	Mthly £305	Saving £2,531	Price £18,244
	Volvo C30 D5 SE Lux 3dr Geartronic Coupe
	ETR	Mthly £332	Saving £2,728	Price £19,547
	Volvo C30 D5 SE 3dr Coupe
	ETR	Mthly £284	Saving £2,367	Price £17,133

typical 10.13% APR

PCP finance quote over 48 months,  10,000 miles pa,  deposit of £1000