Volvo C30 2011 review

We've just had a dose of PCP, and we're hooked. No, not the drug known as angel dust, but an equally addictive and street-lethal prospect: the Volvo C30 Polestar Concept Prototype (PCP).

You don't often get to fling a one-off motor show concept around a track. And of you're going to do it, who better to do it with than a World Touring Car Championship driver.

So we've just done a few track laps with Robert Dahlgren around the Swedish brand's tight 2km test track in Gothenburg. And even by the time you read this, we'll still be grinning.

It's a blue streak on steroids, with the hot turbocharged 2.5-litre engine used by the blistering Ford Focus RS - upped by Volvo's racing partner Polestar to deliver 300kW of power and 510Nm of torque to all wheels via a tweaked race-spec six-speed manual.

Polestar was given free reign to draw on their experience in developing successful Volvo touring car championship vehicles - but in the PCP's case without being hampered by the restrictions of race regulation specs.

In Dahlgren's hands, on a track he knows intimately, it's an expertly-guided missile - swift, deadly and unerringly on-target.

And even under the control of our amateur mitts and boots, the car is good enough to get around the laps with a respectable amount of aggressive accuracy.

That's helped by razor-response steering, the prodigious grip of a race-spec Haldex all-wheel drive system, Ohlins racing suspension that gives the car remarkable composure even at ridiculous cornering speeds -- and massive Brembo braking ability when you need to call on it

It's fast enough off the line, but slamming the pedal wakes up the turbo and the C30 almost instantly teleports forward. Polestar claims a 0-100km/h time of 4.6 seconds, and we believe it.

Under acceleration, the visceral growl from the straight-though exhaust is beyond anything you'd ever expect from Volvo.  It would be stealthy fun to idle up beside any Aussie street hoon's side - and then leave them blistered in the aural afterburn.

And the styling would get an aftermarket fan fluttering, with an aggressive bodykit, black 19-in alloys, plus an interior with Polestar blue dials and acres of dark sueded finish stretched over the Recaro seats and steering wheel. And dashboard. And centre console.

The concept car is worth more than $200,000, but Volvo says it won't ever be put into production. So - just like the street drug - you're not allowed to have it.