There’s nothing like an automaker trying to break the mold while still paying homage to its past. Most of the time these experiments go very bad—just look at the Pontiac GTO as an example—and rarely do they go off without a glitch. Volvo’s C30 is a good example of a cross breeding between the modern and the classic that falls just a bit short when it comes to the exhilaration most would expect from a compact, sporty car.

Taking the frameless rear liftgate styling from Volvo’s classic 1971 P1800ES and mixing it with the brand’s shoulder-hugging taillamp design makes the rear fascia the most distinguishing feature of the C30. The front end clip, actually everything from the a-pillar forward, is borrowed from the S40 with which it shares its chassis and underpinnings, so the classic Volvo front end styling treatments remain basically intact, which is a good thing because it keeps the C30 in harmony with the rest of the family.

Like the front structure, the interior of the C30 is a basic carbon copy of the S40, with its Bang & Olufsen-inspired slim center stack console design and brushed aluminum trim. What’s interesting—and odd—about the interior is the rear passenger compartment and its dual bucket seat design. At first, there seems to be no logical reason for not putting a bench seat back there, other than to limit the number of passengers you can accommodate. This seemingly defeats the purpose of developing a car for younger buyers, most of whom probably have hundreds of MySpace and a few real-life friends they hang with. This means the C30 will be relegated to the driveway or parking structure for those bar hopping nights.  More worrying is the fact that the glass hatch and lack of a cargo cover makes it impossible to hide things in the back.

On the plus side, the C30 lives up to Volvo’s safety linage by utilizing specially-designed crumple zones to absorb energy from and impact before it reaches the passenger compartment. On the minus side, the C30 exhibits excessive understeer, a trait not helped by the fact that the bulk of its 3,198 lb. mass (98 lb. heavier than the GTI and 530 lb. heavier than the MINI Cooper S) is over the front wheels, and the suspension errs more toward safety than fun with tuning more akin to a Corolla or Cobalt than the GTI or Cooper S. Weight also impacts acceleration despite the fact that the C30 has the most horsepower in its class—227 hp and 236 lb.-ft. of torque (compared with 172 hp / 177 lb.-ft. in the Cooper S and 200 hp / 207 lb.-ft. in the GTI). It’s a burden that keeps the C30 from matching or exceeding its direct rivals that, coupled with handling more akin to Volvo’s “boring but safe” past, forces it to rely on its looks to get by. In this market, that’s not enough to entice young buyers to buy a car that falls too short in the “fun-to-drive” column.