The C30, designed as a lifestyle car, is cheaper than the direct competitors from Audi and BMW, but seems a little pricey compared to the VW Golf. Fuel economy is pretty good unless you're looking at the T5 model, servicing is about average and the insurance group is sensible too. with the premium image, resale values will also be good.

The C30 may be the entry into the Volvo the range, but the premium feel is stil apparent. Dense, soft-touch plastics make up the fascia, the switches feel like they have the usual Volvo durability and it generally feels built to last. Volvo has a great record for producing reliable cars, and the ford group underpinnings back this up.

Volvo built its reputation on safety, and says that the C30 performs just as well as the larger models in a rear-end collision, despite the hatchback shape. Every model has 6 airbags, active anti-whiplash headrests and DSC, whilst an integrated stereo, deadlocking a VIN number shown under the windscreen for all to see should help to put off the criminals.

The Volvo C30 shares the same stylish dashboard with its floating centre console with the S40 and V50, and very nce it looks too, although the switches on it can be a little awkward to use. Anyone can get comfy by adjusting the seat and steering wheel to a wide range of driving positions.

There is generous head and legroom in the front seats for 2 large adults, and another 2 can slide into the rear, although there isn't the rear space of some of the more conventionally shaped rivals, and the rear seats are seperate, so no room for a little one in the centre. The boot is a decent shape but is on the small side and a little shallow, and the luggage cover can be awkward to use.

All Volvo C30s an MP3 stereo, climate control, alloys and electric windows, while SE models get audio buttons on the steering wheel, cruise control and plusher seat trims. Going to SE Lux trim gives heated leather seats and powerfold door mirrors. The new and popular R-Design Sport and SE Sport models get a stylish bodykit, aluminium dash, half leather sports seats and steering wheel.

The engine choice has a comprehensive amount of petrol units, starting with a 99bhp 1.6-litre, through 1.8 and 2.0 and tops out with the fire reathing 2.5 T5 unit from the Focus ST, which provides massive mid-range muscle. Diesel fans are offered a wide choice of 108bhp 1.6, 134bhp 2.0 and 178bhp 2.4-litre D5 units, with the 2.0 diesel being our choice.

Being loosely based on the Focus platform means the is a tidy handling car, particularly with the R design models and the sports suspension. The downside is a firm ride at lower speeds, but it never becomes uncomfortable. The steering is nicely balanced, but a little short on driver feedback - overall a good match for the character of the car.

The Volvo C30 is a refined car on motorways, cruising along nicely. a little wind noise does can be heard from the door mirrors, and road noise is audible if you have the larger alloys fitted. The petrol engines are quiet and refined, but the 2.0-litre diesel lets you know what sort of engine it is and the D5 can be a little rough if pushed.


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2010 Land Rover LR4 Test Drive: New Refinement for Off-Road Juggernaut

England—If there were one major aspect that impresses about the Land Rover, it is the extraordinary breadth of capability shown by the company's cars, not least the LR4 we sampled in Scotland recently. The scope of every Land Rover's operation is striking. One moment you're cruising Britain's motorways at 80 mph on beautifully damped air springs, ensconced in soft leather, the next you're nearly door handle deep in liquid mud, scrabbling for a way back onto the path. LEDBURY, It seems unimaginable that anyone would want to subject their cherished personal transport to this kind of abuse, but that's what every Land Rover is engineered to do. What's more, the 2010 LR4 continues to serve up luxury and off-road performance with panache. —Barry Winfield

The Specs
Now powered by a new direct-injection 5.0-liter V8 engine, co-developed with Jaguar, producing 375 horsepower and 375 lb-ft of torque, the LR4 has about 25 percent more power than was available in the LR3. In fact, Land Rover is proud that the new car accelerates to 100 mph and then brakes to a complete stop before the previous model reaches 100 mph. And they quote the zero-to-60 mph sprint takes just 7.5 seconds.

Called simply the LRV8, the new engine boasts variable valve-timing and lift, the latter provided by a spring between the cam follower and valve stem that reduces or increases the valve excursion. The phase-shifting aspect of the valve-timing control is powered by the torque pulses of the valve train itself, rather than by a power-robbing oil-pump.

Designed to meet the latest ULEV2 emissions requirements, the LRV8 has cut CO2 output by 8 percent, yet equals the fuel consumption figures—12 mpg city and 17 mpg highway (8.3 gallons/100 miles and 5.9 g/100m)—of the outgoing 4.4-liter engine. This motor is mated to a six-speed ZF transmission calibrated to match its specific characteristics. Abundant low-rev torque has allowed higher gearing with much more frequent torque-convertor lockup for optimal efficiency.

The suspension has been revised over the previous LR3, with a new variable-ratio steering gear and new front knuckle design to close the gap between the car's center of gravity and the suspension system's roll center in order to reduce roll motions. Further roll control is provided by a larger anti-roll bar.

For 2010, the LR4 features revised versions of Land Rover's hill descent control and terrain response system—a rotary switch-selected device that offers five specific chassis and drivetrain calibrations tuned for almost any circumstances you're likely to encounter: normal highway driving, grass/gravel/snow, sand, mud and ruts, and rock crawl.

Capping the comprehensive engineering upgrade is a noticeable restyling job by design director Gerry McGovern, employing new headlights, honeycomb grille, and front bumper in a more contemporary and integrated look. New rear lights help update the tail end, too.

An all-new interior provides a much improved ambiance. It's studded with the trappings of modern vehicular luxury, like a five-camera surround system (that even shows what's beneath the front of the car), keyless entry, push button start, electronic parking brake, iPod input and some of the most sophisticated thin-film displays (for onboard systems) we've seen.

The Drive
The LR4 is still a big, heavy vehicle, and the addition of extra equipment has not changed that fact, despite several simultaneous weight-saving strategies. But the big Land Rover's torquey engine, smooth transmission and smart suspension all team to provide the car with a poise and agility that belies the 5800-pound avoirdupois.


Ride motions are well controlled, and without any excessive roll and pitch to confound its handling the LR4 imparts considerable driver confidence. Now fitted with 19-inch alloy wheels and surprisingly low-profile mud-and-snow tires, the LR4 handles predictably and can be pushed harder than anyone has the right to expect from something this heavy.

The car's real charm lies in its Jekyll-and-Hyde character shift. The LR4 is able to strafe the freeways with occupants sitting comfortably in that commanding position, then pump itself up to ford a muddy-bottomed stream. All with relatively few concessions made to overall utility and convenience. Since not many people will ever exploit the LR4's multi-modal off-road talent, it's just as well that the normal-use calibrations are so user-friendly, offering a plush, well-damped ride with precise control.

The Bottom Line
At $48,100, the base 2010 LR4 comes in at about $1,276 more than its 2009 LR3 predecessor, but the retail cost of its additional equipment is $2,600. Or so Land Rover's marketing guys would like you believe. The uplevel HSE model's sticker climbs from $50,325 to $51,750, but again offers more content than that price difference would cover.

The major difference between old LR3 and new LR4 is that great new engine, although we certainly cannot downplay how much better the exterior appearance and the interior fittings are on the new one. When you're in one, there's an undeniable sense of privilege and security. How do you put a price on that?

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2010 Ford F-150 Raptor Test Drive: Is This Race-Bred 4WD Pickup the Most Capable Ford Truck Ever?

Ford's 2010 F-150 SVT Raptor simply looks ferocious. With its swollen flanks, carved-in headlights and taillights, aggressive stance, visibly rugged suspension pieces and thumping 35-inch-tall BFGoodrich off-road tires, this nearly 3-ton, four-wheel-drive pickup is brutally gorgeous. It looks tough enough to run straight down the Baja Peninsula at full speed, jump across the Gulf of California, invade the Mexican mainland and then continue rampaging down through South America until it plowed over Antarctica and started up north across Africa. With that much visual firepower, the obvious question is this: Does the substance match the style? Let's find out.
SVT Gets Dirty
The Special Vehicle Team (SVT) has been Ford's hardcore performance division for nearly 17 years and gets credit for delectable road machines ranging from the 2002-to-2004 SVT Focus to the current GT 500 version of the Mustang (yeah, it did the Ford GT too). But until now, its concentration has been on pavement-based ability. And after two successful generations of the F-150-based SVT Lightning performance street truck, there was every reason for the team to do a third one. But the 2WD sporty truck market is a fickle one. And so this time SVT turned to high-speed, Baja 1000-style, off-road desert racing for inspiration. In particular they looked at "prerunner" trucks used by race teams to scout courses. The pre-runner look is jacked up, hogged out and explicitly mechanical. And that's a function of what a prerunner is asked to do: skitter along the desert at high speed with its suspension soaking up ruts and the occasional armadillo strike without slowing. So SVT decided to concentrate on the F-150's suspension and produce the most capable desert truck possible—while retaining civilized on-road manners and the necessary utility.

The Specs
To build the Raptor, SVT started with the 133-inch-wheelbase F-150 extended SuperCab 4x4 equipped with a 5.5-foot cargo box. Most of the Raptor is still pure F-150. The basic ladder frame is the same, the cab's structure and sheet metal is untouched, the 320hp 5.4-liter SOHC 24-valve V8 is unchanged, and the six-speed automatic transmission behind it hasn't been modified. Even the suspension pickup points (where the suspension pieces bolt to the frame) are the same as any other F-150's. But beyond that, the Raptor is as different from an F-150 as, well, a velociraptor is from a brachiosaurus.

Suspension travel is to a prerunner what horsepower is to a drag racer. That is, everything. And since the suspension pickup points were already in place, SVT decided the most effective way to gain travel was to increase track width by making the suspension links and control arms longer. So up front, SVT developed new cast-aluminum upper and lower control arms, added their own longer springs and equipped the Raptor with specially developed FOX Racing shock absorbers. The solid rear axle has been beefed up and widened, its center stuffed with short 4.10:1 gears and fitted with SVT-developed leaf springs, and it's damped by a pair of stupendously cool-looking FOX Racing remote reservoir shocks. Finishing the suspension package is a set of special 17-inch cast-aluminum wheels wrapped in those 35-inch-tall BFGoodrich LT315/70R17 All Terrain tires. Do the math: A 35-inch-tall tire on a 17-inch wheel means there's a full 9 inches of super-squishy sidewall to swallow up rocks and crud.
Altogether the Raptor's track width is up 7 full inches, and that allows the front suspension to travel 11.2 inches (total rebound and compression) while the rear can move 12.1. In fact, the Raptor is so wide that it's legally required to run with amber marker lights to demarcate its breadth. For this, SVT has cleverly integrated the appropriate LEDs into the front grille and across the tail.

SVT has kept most of these new suspension pieces visible to anyone looking even casually at the Raptor. Wise move, because as tough as these new components seem to be, they look wicked too. The control arms are perfect castings that could be mistaken for an F/A-18's landing gear, the shock bodies are polished aluminum and the diameter of the biggest branch on a redwood, and the wheel-and-tire package has the savage purposefulness of a bear's claw. There's an argument to be made that the only way to make the new Raptor tougher-looking would be to strip off its body entirely.

To cover the additional width, all the bodywork forward of the cab's firewall is new, and the cargo box gets its own set of flared fenders as well. Viewed from above, the Raptor has a Rubenesque hourglass figure with a healthy chest and seductively plump hips. From the ground it just looks awesome with open wheel wells, functional hood and fender vents, ready-to-pounce stance and a grille big enough to consume an entire Golden Corral buffet in a single gulp. The Raptor is an almost freakishly attractive pickup—the Megan Fox of half-ton trucks.


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