Volvo C70 CONVERTIBLE
Practical and Convertible Arent Normally Two Words That Go Together. Except When It Comes To Volvos Practical C70 Convertible. Vanessa Hinkley Checks It Out
This
Volvo is beautiful, luxurious and has all its assets in the right places which means that it doesnt have much in common with me. Having, said that, when you take the C70 convertible out on the road, everyone turns and looks, but theyre looking at the car, not the driver. So, yes, I reckon itd suit me. Its a true four-seater and comes without any of the hassles that hard-core rag top owners so often endure.
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It also has everything you could possibly want from a prestige car. When you get your first glance of the
Volvo C70, youll probably try to guess which manufacturer put it together (unless you spot the badge, of course). It doesnt have a hint of Volvos old boxy, sensible shifter image. No, all that has now been consigned to the history books and this car is a superb example of the marques new image.
However, its not the first time the Swedes have designed a stunner. If you can cast your mind back to the old TV series The Saint, youll remember the car that Roger Moore drove. Well, that was a Volvo P1800. (If you cant remember dont bother asking me about it, Im far too young).
It was even more sleek and chic than old Rog himself. Oops, now you know I was lying about my age! It was only fitting then that the more recent Hollywood film of The Saint also featured the C70 coupe with Val Kilmer at the wheel. In summary, Volvo has invested £140 million in this car and Id say its money well spent.
I cant usually say much about practicality when Im talking about convertibles its a struggle to find anything to fill the space under this heading. After all, most of them have two seats and a tiny boot. Buyers dont tend to have practical attributes on their lists of features in this sector of the market. The Volvo C70 convertible breaks all the rag-top rules.
It seats four for a start. Amazingly, back
seat passengers have quite a generous amount of legroom, while the driver and front passenger can stretch their legs to their hearts content. When it comes to stashing the shopping, its no problem thanks to an incredibly large boot. In fact, I was quite shocked to find so much space in a convertible.
Whether you opt for air conditioned luxury or have the roof down, once youre behind the wheel, you wont be disappointed. This is one of the most refined cars in the class, an essential attribute given the C70's raison d'etre as a Grand Tourer. In theory at least, this is a car that can mix with quick Mercs. In the 2.3 T5, rest to sixty takes just 7.
5s on the way to a top speed of some 149mph. The 2.0-litre version that I tried however, was a good bit more leisurely (9.9s and 124mph).
So far so good. Volvo is quite capable of producing luxurious mile-munchers and has a stable of potent engines. Where the Swedes have no track record is in producing
BMW-bashing standards of handling. To be honest, they still havent.
This isnt the car to buy if youre really a driving enthusiast and like to take the twisty way home. Pitch and roll around the bends is very different to what youd find in rivals like BMWs 3 Series Convertible. The ride quality could be slightly better too.
Prices range from £24,884 to £29,983 with a choice of 2.0, 2.4 light pressure turbo and 2.3 T5 turbo petrol powerplants.
Whichever one you choose, youll get tons of standard equipment, including a luxurious leather interior trimmed with wood veneer. Theres also just about every conceivable electronic gadget you can think of, along with a state-of-the-art ten-speaker Dolby Surround stereo system which is my own favourite feature: its a serious sound system. Thanks to prominent dashboard mounted speakers, the 4x100W in-car entertainment is plenty loud enough to drown out all manner of road noise, along with any murmurs coming from irritating back seat drivers. So, when my husbands in the car, all I have to is crank up the stereo
Give me the money to spend on a C70 and Ill certainly live with it. This car really does seem to have everything I want, as well as everything I need.
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