Remember when Volvos were boxy but good?  That was then, this is now.
Photo: Volvo USA

by Stephan Wilkinson

Volvo's newest model, the smallest Volvo ever, is the three-door (two doors and a liftback) C30, a fabulous-looking whatchamacallit that can be termed a hatchback, a stubby wagon, a sportback, a three-door . . . you name it.  Or, like George Harrison's hairstyle, you can call it Arthur.

Anybody old enough to remember that line from the famous Beatles press conference probably feels that "hatchback" is synonymous with "cheapo," but the C30 is anything but.  From the windshield forward, the C30 is identical to the $30,000-plus S40 T5 sedan and V50 T5 wagon, including the very same five-cylinder lightly turbocharged engine.  From there aft, it's a truncated four-seater with a surprising amount of room in the rear seats plus the capability to fold them flat and use the car as a miniature station wagon.  It's a very European concept, though SUV-besotted older Americans probably won't get it.

Volvo doesn't mind, because they're aiming at a different -- read "younger" -- audience.  The ideal customer?  Parents who are sending a teenager off to college and want him to have a reasonably economical car with a legendary record for safety.  How can you tell?  The two basic trim levels of the C30 are called not "Limited" and "DeLuxe" nor any of the other so-1950s terms the car industry's middle-aged white guys still use, but "Version 1.0 and "Version 2.0." 

(Kids: Don't tell Mom, but this thing is quick: with 227 horsepower, it'll do zero to 60 in 6.2 seconds.)

Now, about that trip to Sweden . . .

This photo, entitled "The Blue Lagoon," is one reader's entry in Conde Nast Traveler's $20,000 Dream Trip Contest.
Photo: Conde Nast Traveler

By Brook Wilkinson

Question from reader DonnaE:

"I will be visiting Reykjavik, Iceland for a day during a cruise this summer. I don't want to book a shore excursion to the Blue Lagoon through the ship since I want to spend longer there having spa treatments than the shore excursion allows. What is the best way to get to the Blue Lagoon from the Reykjavik port?"

I like your thinking, DonnaE -- the shore excursions organized by the cruise ship usually eat up gobs of time herding everyone onto and off of buses, waiting for everyone to snap that postcard-perfect shot, etc. I'd certainly rather spend my time getting a rubdown from an Icelandic hunk at the Blue Lagoon, the country's most popular hot pot (the locals' term for an artificial hot spring).

I've never been to Iceland myself, so I e-mailed Tor Jensen, the Scandinavia expert on Conde Nast Traveler's annual list of top travel agents. Here's what he told me: