C30 - Hard or Soft Load Cover?

[niggly]

Interested as to which load cover for the boot space most C30 owners have. And which is prefered and why.

When I bought my C30 it came with soft. First thing I was desperate to do was change it for hard. I couldn't find one at a breakers at all, never mind at sensible money.

Now I have lived with the soft for a year I don't want to change it. If you have a large load and/or need to put the rear seats down you can just disconnect it and put it on the boot floor. And it acts as a protector. For example when transporting my winters to storage.

Do you have to take the hard one out and leave it at home to carry that kind of thing? Or does it slot down behind the front seats?

[yesBilly]

I prefer the soft one too, just like my Volvo 480 had.

[AngryScot]

I had the soft cover when I got my C30 and couldn't stand it, a total faff when you've got a handful of stuff. I chuck the hard cover in the rear footwell if I've bought more at Costco than I planned, fits fine.

The thing that slightly annoys me about the hard cover is the narrow aperture, the C30 has a pretty pathetic boot but you have to take the cover off sometimes to get stuff that will easily fit in as it can't quite be persuaded with the hard cover on. I have got really good at taking the cover on and off quickly though. I don't think either of them are ideal to be honest but I didn't buy the car for the boot space or practicality, I've got a Land Rover for that!

[Sasha94]

They are both flawed tbh. When we had a C30 we had both and I never got on with either, the soft cover was a faff to undo (especially with one hand or when raining etc) and the load aperture on the hard cover was too narrow to be properly useful and didn't lift with the hatch. The hard cover did cover the gap when the armrest was down though which the soft cover didn't do. If you are carrying a bigger load the hard cover is a pain as it's not as easy to find space for in the car.

When the hatch is closed the hard cover looks better but had it been my car rather than my wife's I'd have tinted the rear windows and done away with any kind of cover because frankly they are both rubbish!

[BOBAD]

Originally Posted by Sasha94

..... had it been my car rather than my wife's I'd have tinted the rear windows and done away with any kind of cover because frankly they are both rubbish!

This is exactly what I have done and for the same reason ! :-)






,

[scoobysn7x]

When I got my C30 it didn't have a cover the garage promised to remove one for another C30 they had, and confirmed it would come with a cover. When I collected it no cover, but they ordered me a brand new one from Volvo, was praying for the hardcover but it was the softcover that arrived.

I was able to pick up a hard cover fairly local for a reasonable price a few weeks after I got the C30, as I much preferred the look of it. I hate the look of the soft cover looks like someone pitched a tent in the back.

But in the time I've had both I've used the soft cover more, for all it's a faff to use, it offers the bigger load space. The hard cover looks much much better but the opening is ridiculously small, and makes all but tiny object impossible to fit in, and the shape of it cuts down the usable boot space.

Both of the covers are flawed as said, if you have space to store a hardcover, and can get one cheapish it's worth having but if you can only have one the soft cover is more practical, to the point where I'll probably end up selling the hard cover as I don't really use it.

[TheFiend]

I love the hard cover and if I ever need to carry anything in the back I just take it out and leave it in my house....

I love it's design...

My old Porsche 944 had a roller blind cover for the back... it was useless so I just left it in the stashed away position.

[dcw]

As mentioned above, the 480 came with a similar soft cover as standard, but there was a roller blind available as an option (standard only on the Celebration). I have one on my GT.

The roller blind is excellent; the soft cover a right faff...I don't know why Volvo couldn't have done the same for the C30. OK, the roller blind doesn't cover the gap between the rear seats in the 480 and wouldn't in the C30, but at least the C30 has the lift-able centre arm-rest to do that if needs be.

For the short time we had a C30 we only had the hard cover - looked smart but far too bulky when you needed more space.

David

[niggly]

Originally Posted by Sasha94

the soft cover was a faff to undo (especially with one hand or when raining etc)
the load aperture on the hard cover was too narrow to be properly useful and didn't lift with the hatch.
The hard cover did cover the gap when the armrest was down though which the soft cover didn't do. If you are carrying a bigger load the hard cover is a pain as it's not as easy to find space for in the car.

When the hatch is closed the hard cover looks better but had it been my car rather than my wife's I'd have tinted the rear windows and done away with any kind of cover because frankly they are both rubbish!

Interesting replies. Thanks for your thoughts and experiences.
I don't find my soft too difficult to undo - just take the blade out against it's inbuilt spring and it drops down. I can manage it one handed.

When looking to buy I reckoned, as posted, that the aperture of the hard was pathetically small. So it's good to know it is! Also on a number of cars I looked at the aperture cover had sort of sagged and the whole thing had distorted so the cover didn't fit properly in its aperture. Which looked really naff. And the design of the hatch precludes the cover going up with it when opened. But the retro look of the hatch is one of the styling queues I love about the C30.

My soft has a panel at the front that clips down into the load lugs in the floor immediately behind the seat backs so it does cover the armrest hole. In fact if you put the rear seats down and left it in place you would still not be able to see into the boot space from the front. So I'm not sure I've understood that point?

Agree the hard looks better though. It's a if Volvo did, in my view, a great job of the interior and at the last minite someone said, hey we haven't done a load cover. Quick, lash something up. The soft does look tacky.

I got quotes to tint my rears, for cosmetic rather than practical reasons - it is a white car so I thought the tints with the glass hatch would look good. But I bought a BMW Mini Cooper S so I'm 'wasting' money on that instead! And have not had it done.
Thanks all.

[Sasha94]

I should clarify; the hard cover looks very factory and deliberate with the rear armrest down whereas the soft cover IMO looks a bit cheaper and there are gaps etc and the hard cover does stop small items from sliding into the cabin. True story time, I went shopping in the C30 with the soft cover in place, loaded the shopping in the car, came home. Picked all the bags up and went inside. Laura asks if I remembered carrots, I said yes, she couldn't find them. Went in the C30 the next (very hot) day to go out in it and yep, carrot smell!! They had fallen out of the bag and slipped under the soft cover, knocked the armrest down and ended up on the back seats. Festering!!

Wouldn't have happened with the hard cover which is why we left it in pretty much all the time after that. There's a knack to using the soft cover but Laura didn't always attach the little clips the right way round to make undoing it easier.

The hatch and the appearance of the back of the car is one of the reasons it stands out but the load covers are a bit of a faff!