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r-design

Chipped and tuned, Volvo C30 shows Swedish performance

Volvo long staked its reputation on safety, so you would not expect a hot hatchback to come from the Swedish automaker. But fit the little C30 with Volvo's R-Design trim and give it the new Polestar engine software, and the car becomes a delight to shoot down a twisty road.

The car did not make any more noise than a standard C30, the only things announcing the extra power being a blue badge on its butt and ample response to the gas pedal. The side-grip shifter for the six-speed manual slipped through the gate with European precision, but the … Read more

The Dell Inspiron R's color-swapping strategy

Color matters in consumer electronics, or so we keep hearing. White iPod, black iPod. Black iPhone, white iPhone. Some people buy pink or purple laptops that have been discontinued, just because they're not available hues in this year's lineup. For some, color might even be more important than brand.

If you subscribe to this theory, then Dell's new swappable-lid Inspiron R laptops are a work of genius. All 2011 Dell Inspiron 14R and 15R laptops--which come with updated second-gen Core i-series CPUs--come with a staid back lid, but much like Nokia phones of the late '90s, a … Read more

First drive: 2011 Volvo C30 R-Design

Rounding the a bend on a windy backroad, I was greeted by the familiar tail lamps of a 2010 Mazdaspeed3, fitting as the 2011 Volvo C30 R-Design that I was piloting shares its Ford C1 platform with the Mazda3. Weeks earlier, on a similar road, the Mazdaspeed had scared the crap out of me with its turbo lag and snap torque steer. My current ride was down about 50 horsepower from the Mazda, but felt about as surefooted with more predictable power delivery. In a classic case of "less is more," I was able to hang fairly close … Read more