Volvo C30 - The Turbocharged Troika: SEMA 2006

Motoring Channel Staff - 3/Nov/2006

Las Vegas, America — Only 10 years ago, the word Volvo would conjure up images of old men in dull hats, driving like they had a deathwish. But that image is now well and truly in the Scandinavian company's past, as Volvo has found Paydirt. 

That's what Volvo Car Corporation has hit with the highly anticipated new 3-door C30. Just a few weeks after the car's global unveiling at the 2006 Paris Motor Show and Australian Motor Show, Volvo Cars, in conjunction with three aftermarket tuning companies, unleashed the ultimate expressions of free will at the annual Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) tradeshow in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The three cars, all highly modified iterations of the production Volvo C30, are the separate visions of Evolve Cars, Heico Sportiv and Burton Snowboards, and lastly IDP. They represent what could be the ultimate dream cars for the growing number of C30 enthusiasts in the U.S. and around the world.

"The C30 represents Volvo's most appealing offer to the young people who love to customise and personalise their rides," commented Hans Krondahl, Executive Vice President for Marketing, for Volvo Cars of North America (VCNA). "These three cars will definitely spark a lot of interest in the C30 and there is no better place to show them off than the SEMA show."

Built purely as design concepts and prototypes, each tuner took a decidedly different take on what the ultimate Volvo C30 could be. Volvo supplied each company a production C30 T5 (2.5-litre 5-cylinder turbo) with a 6-speed manual transmission and gave them only one rule to follow: all Volvo safety features must remain functional. 

Other than that, they were free to let their imaginations run wild. Here is just a glimpse of what each car is about:

Evolve C30
The Evolve C30 is the ultimate street performer and track star with motorsports technology throughout. Horsepower is the name of the game here, with 507 stampeding ponies (378kW) thundering through all four massive tyres. Sophisticated race-inspired suspension, gigantic brakes and a screaming yellow high gloss paint scheme over wild body lines highlight the Evolve C30. Sequential twin turbos, exotic exhaust plumbing and an advanced heat exchanger promise eye-popping performance from this dream C30. Inside are highly bolstered seats, a safety structure and custom leather touches. 

Under the hood, Evolve has modified the stock C30's 2.5-litre turbocharged engine to deliver pavement-blistering performance. A combination of increased air volume and pressure matched with proper fuel and spark delivery through tuning yields an estimated 507 horsepower @ 6100rpm and a stump-pulling 647Nm (468 lb.-ft.) of torque @ 3800rpm. Sequential twin turbochargers are the keys to extracting maximum performance: carefully engineered plumbing and boost management with Turbosmart components tie the turbos together to create a brutally forceful combination.

Instead of a traditional intercooler, Evolve devised a totally cool solution it dubs the Charged Air Cooler. Integrated with the factory air conditioning refrigerant system, an evaporator was constructed inside a fabricated sheet metal intake manifold. Hot, charged air from the turbos crosses over super-cooled piping prior to entering the throttle body. This dramatically reduces the intake charge temperature making the heated air considerably cooler than ambient outside temperature. Engine exhaust enters a five-into-one header, feeds the turbos, passes through a catalytic converter and exits via a custom-built muffler and twin, rear-facing exhaust tips located high in the quarter panels.

Heico Sportiv/Burton Snowboard C30
A joint collaboration between German tuner Heico Sportiv and Burton Snowboards, this C30 promises those with an active lifestyle the ultimate lifestyle vehicle. Fully drivable with 300 horsepower, or about 224 kilowatts, and factory electronically controlled all-wheel drive, this dream C30 features a height adjustable suspension for snow and off-road work, custom cut Toyo tires and an incredibly complex six layer camouflage paint job that will let the car blend in to the mountain environment (to hide from Yetis) while still turning heads on the road. Inside, there's a portable GPS system and gleaming 2008 Burton snowboards and boots.

Heico energized the C30's powerplant with an extra rush of adrenaline. Volvo's 2.5-litre Euro-spec engine is fitted with performance enhancements including a modified Borg-Warner turbo and wastegate and air-to-air intercooler with electronically adjusted water injection, all managed by Heico's power upgrade ECU. Spent exhaust gases are routed through a Metal racing catalyst mated to Heico's stainless steel sport exhaust finished with quad-tip pipes.

With an estimated 300hp (224kW) @ 5500rpm and 428Nm (310 lb.-ft.) of torque on tap, long drives to the wilderness are transformed from a routine chore to an extreme sport. When the traffic clears, downshift the 6-speed manual gearbox, put the pedal to the metal and ear-to-ear grins are guaranteed. Of course, Volvo recommends that the driver observe all posted speed limits.

IPD C30
High tech and high style come through in the International Product Development (IPD) SEMA C30, all draped in the colors of the Swedish flag. Nothing like a little national pride to draw the crowds in Vegas. Producing 384 horsepower (286kW), the ipd C30 retains its factory front-drive layout and puts its best foot forward by offering up plenty of electronic fun and a thoroughly custom fabricated interior, highlighted by a touch screen in the floating center stack and a heads-up instrument display. 

But the icing on the cake is the fully functioning gull-wing style doors.

All show and no go simply doesn't cut it in this exclusive neighborhood. So the IPD C30 is bristling with the latest in aftermarket performance and handling upgrades. Under the hood, K&N's latest Typhoon air intake system feeds a KKK turbo with compressor upgrade and a Swedish built Lysholm supercharger. The primary function of the supercharger in combination with the turbo is to provide "big block" performance from a small displacement powerplant. In stock form, the Euro C30's 2.5-litre turbo engine puts out a respectable 162kW or 218 horses @ 5000rpm and 326Nm (236 lb.-ft.) of torque @ 1500rpm. 

With IPD's enhancements, output is estimated at a whopping 384 ponies (286kW) @ 7200rpm and a mind-bending 564Nm (408 lb.-ft.) of torque @ a low 2200rpm, which is sure to induce the wildest torque steer ever. The gearbox of choice for this application is Volvo's slick-shifting 6-speed manual.

Spent exhaust gases find an easy exit through the IPD 3-inch stainless down pipe with Race Kat and custom exhaust terminated with twin titanium racing mufflers. All the action is managed by a custom software tune from IPD's Swedish partners at MTE. Got boost? You bet! The supercharger provides a 6-psi boost from just 2000rpm producing a strong kick that builds smoothly and climbs way beyond the point where the turbo takes over. Getting to the wedding on time is no problem with this ride.

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- Volvo C30
- Volvo C70
- Volvo S60R
- Volvo S80