(Thu 23 Apr 09)

Volvo has added extra visual appeal to the high-economy, low-CO2 DRIVe versions of the C30 (pictured), S40 and V50 by making them available with the R-DESIGN bodykit.

The kit consists of front, rear and roof spoilers, lower door trims, side skirts and 17" alloy wheels, while inside there's cream leather upholstery among other refinements. In common with the other DRIVe cars, these ones use the 1.6-litre turbo diesel engine and have ride height 10mm lower than standard to reduce air resistance, but the R-DESIGN bodykit is incompatible with most of the usual DRIVe models' streamlined body and underbody additions.

The 17" wheels are also less aerodynamically efficient than the rather odd-looking ones used on the other DRIVe cars, and the R-DESIGN versions do not have an engine Stop/Start function.

For all these reasons, the new cars can't approach the official 72.4mpg combined fuel economy and 104g/km CO2 emissions found elsewhere in the DRIVe ranges, but they still perform respectably enough with figures of 62.8mpg and 119g/km. With a maximum of just 109bhp available from the diesel engine they're not very fast, even though they look as if they might be.

The R-DESIGN cars are priced similarly to the mid-range DRIVe SE ones, and cost £17,240 for the C30, £19,095 for the S40 and £20,595 for the V50.

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