Volvo C30

Clean new C30 slashes road tax bills

Volvo is playing the green card with this – the C30 Efficiency.

Auto Express Car Reviews

04th September 2007

And the newcomer certainly lives up to its name, with CO2 emissions of 120g/km of and combined economy of 62.8mpg. Power for Volvo’s greenest-ever conventional-engined car comes from a revamped 1.6-litre turbodiesel with 104bhp. Revised gearing and aerodynamics also help boost economy.

The firm is adding the newcomer to the range to offer a model that falls into the band B road tax bracket – it costs £35 a year in VED. Another benefit of the low CO2 figure is that this C30 would be exempt from the London congestion charge under new plans being considered for next year. The Efficiency will be sold alongside the current 109bhp C30 1.6D, which returns 57.6mpg and has a CO2 output of 129g/km. As this model is in band C, owners pay £115 a year in road tax. However, the 1.6D could eventually be axed from the range.

In addition to the C30 Efficiency, Volvo has developed a greener new auto transmission for 2.0-litre turbodiesel versions of the C30, S40 and V50. This box features Powershift technology, and uses a clever two-clutch system to give instantaneous gearchanges. As a result, it boosts efficiency over standard automatic oil-burners. The set-up will be available alongside the C30 Efficiency from early next year.