My First Car is my Dream Car!
by Adam Khan  My family does not have a long history with Volvo. My dad currently owns a gold 2004 S80. It has been very reliable and a good family car. When it came time for me to get a car my dad said, “You can pick any Volvo you want” He was a big fan of Volvo’s reputation with safety. Needless to say, I was very excited for my first car. When we went to the Volvo dealership I was originally interested in the S40 - we had seen a very sleek looking one in the lot. It was metallic silver, had dual chrome tipped exhaust, and 17” rims. But in the showroom, where I saw my first C30, it was love at first sight! My dad and the salesman negotiated a price about a week later.
When I picked up the car two weeks later I was in a state of shock. It was a version 2.0 (pre- R design) Electric Silver with fog lights, 18” gunmetal grey Atreus rims, Geartronic, with leather steering wheel, and black interior.
About a month after having the car I joined a forum for the C30 (www.c30world.com). It’s been a very useful site with all sorts of information about the car. This site is where I learned more that 90% of my knowledge about the car. It has also been a good place to see how other members customize their rides or install performance modifications.
Personally, I was more than satisfied with the performance of the car. The handling was responsive and the acceleration was quick. Volvo claims the C30 has 227bhp FWD out of the in-line turbo charged 5 cylinder engine. That kind of power and handling is very nice for the New England back roads that I drive on. One thing I noticed was the amount of body roll there was when I would take a turn with some speed, so I went onto the forum and asked if anyone else was experiencing that as well. One member suggested I check out IPD’s website and look at the rear anti-sway bar. After doing so I was sold on the idea of getting one, and saved up for a few weeks to buy one. Payment went smoothly and I received it in about a week and a half after purchase. (Their service was great and I hope to buy from them again, possibly a Stage 1 Softloader.) Fortunately for me, my Engineering teacher allowed me to use the tech room’s car lift for the installation. The instructions were very straight forward and easy to follow. The only difficulty I could imagine someone having would be owning the correct tools.  I’m very glad I purchased the rear anti-sway bar. I believe that it is one of the best “bang-for-your-buck” parts you can get. Though its effects aren’t very noticeable in everyday driving or commuting, when I go for a drive in the back roads of New England, the effects are more than noticeable and one can’t help but grin when driving with it.
 Next I replaced the stock air filter with a K&N air filter. I have yet to feel a real difference performance-wise but I have noticed a subtle difference in the exhaust note when at higher RPMs. After my minor disappointment with the air filter I decided to do something to help out the suspension. Over at www.c30world.com there was a group buy for a front strut bar. Like the rear anti-sway bar, its effects were not noticeable in everyday driving, but when I took the same back roads that I used to test the rear anti-sway bar I could feel the difference. The difference wasn’t as dramatic as it was when I first installed the rear sway bar but the front strut bar complimented it nicely.
 I’m proud to be a Volvo owner, especially of one as rare as the C30. In the States there are less than 5,000 C30 models. And to display my C30 and Volvo pride I purchased Prancing Moose Emblems. Here’s the story of them that I pulled from C30World:
“Moose History 101: Shortly after the XC90 debuted in 2002, Volvo organized several test drive events, where quite a few Volvo fans came out to see and drive the new SUV's on cone slalom courses to experience the advanced Dynamic Stability Traction Control (DSTC). One of the courses was a special slalom, where a professional driver would take a carload of folks, accelerate to a high speed, take his foot off the brake and gas, and crank the wheel hard one direction, then the other (simulating avoiding an object in the road). Any other tall vehicle would have certainly become unstable and possibly lost control or even rolled over, but the Volvo's DSTC took over and kept the SUV in perfect form without a hint of trouble. This course was the ‘Moose Avoidance Test,’ a fairly common test for places that might actually have moose.”
The C30 is a beautiful car and receives attention from all sorts of people; I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of hearing compliments about it. I couldn’t imagine driving any other car.
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