Buying a C30 D5

**bailes1992** · Monday 13th October 2014, 16:11

After a little advice really.

I'm slightly bored of my current car (2008 Mondeo 1.8TDCi Titanium now complete with 145k on the clock) which I've had for nearly 3 years.

I keep going through phases of wanting a new car and not doing anything about it.
Issue is my Missus wants me to downsize or get something a little less 'old man' and I would like something with more than 4 cylinders before the eco hippies reduce everything to 3 cylinders and an electric motor.

I was thinking of a Focus ST but doing 20-30k per annum means getting an LPG conversion.

My Father used to have a V50 T5 R-Deisgn but it only ever had useless Pirelli P Zero tyres which couldn't handle the power and as a result I never really liked driving that car, it never really inspired me to put the power down because most of the time it couldn't.

I never realised that the D5 engine was available in the little C30 and I am starting to think it would be a nice compromise. If a little small.

I'm stopping off at Bristol on my way back from a meeting in Reading tommorow to take a look at one.

I was wondering if anyone knows how reliable they are? Did Volvo ever sort out the oil dilution issue after?
Although I'll be getting a full stage 1 remap with an EGR & DPF delete I would still like to know if it's likely to have done any damage in the past.

What sort of fuel economy do they get?
If I could get 45-50mpg I'd be more than happy!

How reliable are they in general?
Do you hear of many turbo/injector failures? Obviously there is the standard DMF that you get with every diesel these days.

Also, timing chain or a belt?

Bailes.

**glynroberts** · Monday 20th October 2014, 21:28

Hello mate. I have a 2008 c30 d5 with shark stage 1 remap.
Oil problem sorted with recall from Volvo.
I get 42/43 mpg on average. Clutch/dmf will obviously be under pressure due to the amount of tourqe generated.
Another issue is front tyres. I got 8000 out of a set of conti's. Now on Michelin sportpilot 2. They seem to be lasting better, but I dought if they will do much over 10000.
All in all I love the car. But remember it is a two door car and is totally impractical for load lugging.

**Biff** · Monday 20th October 2014, 21:40

I thought an egr dpf removal would result in an mot failure?

**Wobbly Dave** · Tuesday 21st October 2014, 10:05

I am selling a lovely blue R-Design 2.0D S40 -

http://www.vpcuk.org/forums/showthre...-2-0D-for-sale

remapped to 163bhp. Worth considering?

**bailes1992** · Thursday 6th November 2014, 07:29

Had a lot of thought into this.
Decided I want something around 2011 so going to have to get a D3 or D4.
To be fair as long as it's got ~180bhp or more and 5 cylinders I'm a happy bunny.

It's going to be in the new year with a bit of luck and will be going straight to Shark for a stage one and a Miltek.
Does anyone know if EGR removal can be done on the D3 and D4?

**Stephen86** · Friday 14th November 2014, 18:04

You realize that they are even smaller than a focus in boot and leg room? The boot size is actually comical. They are not fast at all when you consider the relative size of the car to the engine. Volvo has been more concerned with getting the emission lower the last few years I think.

**don kalmar union** · Friday 14th November 2014, 19:54

C30 D5... excellent choice, the handling can be relatively easily improved with both stuff particularly for these Volvos and some 'ST and RS' items too.

I can offer MTE's well received Swedish written software for £395 including VAT which will give you 'ST' matching enhanced outputs of 225bhp with 480nm of torque.

You don't have to travel with this MTE product as you install it yourself using their unique Softloader system to make an initial read-out that I send to MTE and for you to finally install their calibrations once I have them back.

Don.