This particular c30 has been well taken care of in my hands. It’s mechanically sound, but I haven’t been able to take care of the exterior like I wanted to. It’s not a show car, but it’s incredible to drive.
Being a 2008, this one started out as a 2.0 (which includes the side skirts and exterior appearance package that eventually became the R-Design kit) but wasn’t specced out to be an R-Design. The odometer currently sits at just under 170,000, but the engine was replaced by the previous owner after they blew the original one. The engine has around 102,000 on it, with all major service (timing belt, PCV, transmission clutch, slave cylinder, and master cylinder) being completed while the engine was out before being placed into the car. The car was at 133,000 when bought with the engine at 66,000. Interior is in excellent shape, with no tears in the leather itself and a few mods done by me to make it more of the car I wanted.
Maintenance parts were generally purchased from FCP Euro or IPD.
Overall maintenance or repair done over my ownership time:
- Oil changes were done on a 2,500-3,000 mile interval, using high quality euro-spec 5w-40 or 10w-40 oil most of the time (it gets very hot where I live, this viscosity is specifically recommended in the manual).
- New drivers’ side OEM Volvo axle and m66 transmission flush
- New Bridgestone Sport tires all around, about 80% tread life and regular rotations (every other oil change)
- New transmission engine mount with Powerflex Poly insert (yellow)
- New passenger side engine mount with Powerflex Poly insert (yellow)
- Spark plugs and coil packs (Elevate coil packs, OEM plugs)
- Bosch QuietCast pads front and rear, Centric front rotors, Zimmerman rear rotors, brake fluid flush
- Brand new hatch handle (common thing for these to break, bought from FCP and willing to help with their lifetime warranty if needed)
- New Fuel pressure sensor
- New passenger side wheel hub (*** from FCP Euro)
- Bilstein B4 front and rear shocks with new strut mounts and strut bearings
Mods to the car:
- Elevate air intake
- K&N turbo inlet pipe
- Elevate coil packs
- Elevate Titanium lug nuts
- Elevate door locks
- R-Design steering wheel
- R-Design gauge swap (odometer is original and correct)
- Cobb Rear sway bar
- Upgraded rear brake caliper brackets and larger diameter rear rotors
- Dynamax rear axle-back muffler with black exhaust tips
It was important to me that the car remain California smog legal, so no changes have been made to the downpipe or catalytic converters. The K&N intake has a CARB legal sticker on it, so it will pass smog without issue everytime.
The dynamax muffler is fun, nice and snarly without being overly aggressive. It does drone a bit on the freeway, but it’s not terrible. No leaks from the moon-roof, transmission shifts well. The clutch return spring is missing, so occasionally the clutch will stick a little; a quick lift from the left foot and it’s back to normal without issue. The steering wheel has buttons for cruise control, but that wasn’t enabled from the factory. You can have Volvo enable it for around 200-250, I just never found a need for it. The dynaudio system is great, but both left and right lower door speakers have gone out, and both speaker grilles have fallen out (very common on these P1 cars). The blue stripes on the front fenders (installed by the previous owner) have faded significantly, but there is all new material included from the previous owner.
As stated before, this isn’t a show car. But I’ve done my best to make this a unique and fun to drive car without sacrificing daily drive-ability. If you have any questions, please ask! I’ll be included a slew of parts that I took off of the car, as I will have no need for them. I can include that list if anyone is interested. I took a bunch of photos tonight but they turned out blurry, so I will add more photos within the next few days.