In a shift to sportiness, Volvo’s C30 T5 2.0 compact is stylish yet sensible

The 2008 Volvo C30 T5 is the best-looking and most enjoyable compact car to go on sale this year.

That’s right, a Volvo. If you haven’t noticed, the Swedish brand famous for its durability, safety and boxy looks now has one of the most attractive and sporty model lines in the auto industry.

Owning a Volvo used to be like going to an Ingmar Bergman film: You didn’t really expect to enjoy it, but you believed the experience would leave you better off in some vague, undefined way.

Today’s Volvo remains profoundly Swedish, but in the light-filled, design savvy and modern mode of Ikea furniture, not the clichéd image of dour eaters of fermented sardines.

The 2008 Volvo C30 T5 doesn’t just have the clean elegant lines of Scandinavian design. Its useful hatchback design gives it the cargo capacity to haul a roomful of furniture boxes home from your local Ikea. That practicality comes wrapped in Volvo’s flowing styling, making the C30 one of the most stylish workhorses on the road.

Prices for the C30 start at $22,700 for the base model, which Volvo calls version 1.0.

The top 2.0 model adds standard equipment and starts at $25,700. Versions 1.0 and 2.0 both feature the company’s smooth and powerful turbocharged five-cylinder inline engine, which also provides the T5 part of the C30’s name to distinguish it from less-powerful models Volvo sells in Europe.

A smooth six-speed manual transmission with an easy clutch mechanism is standard on Versions 1.0 and 2.0. An optional five-speed automatic adds a hefty $1,250 to the cost of either model.

I tested a C30 Version 2.0 with a manual transmission and a relatively modest set of options that nonetheless raised the sticker price to $29,455. All prices exclude destination charges.

The sticker price is one of the C30’s few weaknesses. It’s among the costliest of the current crop of performance compacts, which includes the $22,435 Dodge Caliber SRT4, $21,100 Honda Civic Si coupe, $22,340 Mazdaspeed 3 and $22,730 Volkswagen GTI.

The Volvo does have a price advantage over the $25,930 Audi A3, however.

The C30 is also among the best of the hot compacts, more manageable and fun to drive than the overpowered Caliber SRT4 and Mazdaspeed 3, more distinctive than the rather bland GTI, and less common than the very good Civic Si.

A sense of proportion is key to building a really good front-wheel drive sport compact. Boy-racers get seduced by horsepower, cranking it up to the point that the front wheels are overwhelmed by the conflicting demands that they transmit brute force and delicate steering adjustments.

The C30 T5’s 227-horsepower turbocharged five-cylinder hits just the right balance. It provides lots of oomph for strong acceleration at all speeds without generating the torque steer that mars the Caliber SRT4 and Mazdaspeed 3. The engine is so smooth and powerful, in fact, that I repeatedly found myself cruising at 50 or 60 m.p.h. in fourth gear, because there had been no noise, vibration or sluggishness reminding me to shift up.

The EPA rates the C30 T5’s fuel economy at 19 m.p.g. in the city and 28 m.p.g. on the highway. That’s competitive with other performance compacts, and Volvo recommends regular gasoline, a pleasant surprise in a highly tuned turbocharged engine.

The suspension holds the road, flowing through fast curves and keeping the car steady and level in antic maneuvers. Bump absorption was good, but the suspension was clearly tuned more to hold the road than provide pillowy softness. Steering feel and response is good, and the brakes provide assured stops.

The C30 was very quiet, with little wind or road noise.

Those mechanical goodies come wrapped in a lovely body that blends Volvo’s signature rectangular grille and purposeful fenders with a fall-away roofline and a sporty, surefooted wide stance.

The looks come at the cost of some practicality, however. The descending roof limits rear headroom significantly, and the little rear hatch’s space-pod styling creates a cargo opening that’s smaller than ideal.

Rear passenger space is the interior’s only real shortcoming, with limited legroom to complement the low ceiling.

The driver and front passenger will travel in style, however. There’s more than enough space in every dimension, and the design blends attractive dark soft-touch materials with satin-finish metal-look trim and optional aluminum accents on the steering wheel and shifter.

Those aluminum accents were among the options that drove my test car’s price up, however. If it were my money, I’d pass on them, and all the other options, with the possible exception of the pricey $1,200 power sunroof.

Standard safety equipment includes antilock brakes, electronic stability control, curtain air bags and front-seat side air bags.

The interior lacked some features I expect in cars that sell for nearly $30,000, however, including memory for seats and mirrors, power seats, leather trim and a remote release for the hatch. I was also annoyed by the fact that the ventilation system switched the fan to its lowest setting whenever I shifted from front defrost to regular heating.

Those shortcomings notwithstanding, the C30 T5 is a very good, thoroughly Swedish package. It’s purposeful, stylish without being flashy, well made and safe.

Go easy on the options — it’s what any sensible Swede would do — and you’ve got the best small car to hit the market this year.