C30 Polestar worth the money over a VW GTI?

[passleft]

OK, so I'm looking for something better on gas than my 2004 XC70. Most of the time it's just me driving around and I miss having a sportscar. I found a C30 Polestar at a local dealer with the 6-speed manual trans, and loaded with most of the bells and wistles (BLIS, sunroof, heated seats, etc). While it's a really nice car, and only one of 250 made... it is still in rebel blue... and not quite as sporty as the VW GTI. PLUS it's about $5,000 more!

I love my XC70, and think the world of the inline 5 turbo, but I'm thinking Volvo's priced themselves too high and not quite enough power on this thing...

Any thoughts?

[Quartz]

I found a C30 Polestar at a local dealer with the 6-speed manual trans,

Question: have you test driven this car? The reason I ask is that I also have an XC70, but before I bought it I was strongly considering a C30 stick instead.... that was up until I actually got behind the wheel of one. Coming down from my old touring car I found the shifters in the manual C30s to be absolutely terrible, it felt like it was attached to the tranny with bungie cords or something. Obviously this was quite a few years ago so maybe they've fixed that by now, and it sorta depends on personal taste anyway, but it's worth mentioning. A lot of cars seem great on paper until you get in them.

[passleft]

Oh I've driven it, and thought the clutch was too long and yeah, there's something goofy about the shifter; but I used to have a Honda S2000, so most sticks feel that way to me... In the last week I've driven a Mini hardtop, VW GTI, Passat golf and jetta diesel, and a Ford Focus ST - all stick. The GTI and Focus ST had the best transmission feel (not too surprising) but even the diesel VWs were pretty good, except for a severe lack of initial power in the low RPMs.

I think I've dropped the C30 from the list, as all the other cars are $5000+ cheaper than the C30. Other than the exclusivity of the C30 Polestar, there's not enough reason to want this car for me. Don't get me wrong, it's a really nice car, but it's not enough sports car or luxury car to make me buy it... I'm sorry to see it go, but maybe Volvo can come up with something better now that they're on their own again.

[Quartz]

Heh, well you don't have to justify anything to me. Like I said I decided against one myself.

Naturally a car that's decked out will cost more, and be a worse deal if you don't care about half its features. The "polestar" thing is just a software patch- you can get it applied to almost any volvo, so if part of you is still glancing out the corner of your eye at the C30, maybe look at a lower model?

[passleft]

OK, the Polestar at almost $35k isn't worth the money... The VW is a little box... The Focus is, well a Ford, and at $30k it ain't worth it either...

My local Volvo deal had a 2013 Burgundy 6-speed T5 with the premier package... $30k MSRP, sold today for $26,000 !!!! I pick it up tomorrow!