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There’s something about convertibles that make people feel glamorous, exclusive and special.

I don’t get it.

My feelings on Volvo and convertibles are similar: strong, passionate indifference. The term”open air motoring” makes me think of an old British man trundling down a road in the cold fog on wheels made of wood. There are exceptions of course, but for the cars with a roof made of metal.

It’s the same for Volvo. My family has owned 3, and while the 2 wagons (a ’91 940 and a 2008 V50) have provided perfectly acceptable transportation, that’s all they provided. The only one that makes me feel anything is my dad’s 1972 P1800ES, and that’s because every time you climb in you get to play “What part will stop working today?”

But when I picked up a 2011 Volvo C70 from Matt’s house it was clear Volvo was hell-bent on changing both of my preconceptions.

As a hard-top convertible it was offering the best of both worlds. Volvos were to cars what the Scranton Office of Dunder Mifflin is to the Empire State building and only one attracts tourists.  That’s starting to change.

Re-designed for 2011 and dressed in Flamenco Red with simple but handsome 5 spoke wheels, it’s a pretty good looking coupe. The nose has been upgraded with more aggressive headlights, helping distinguish this car from the front of the S40, V50 and C30 (A.K.A. cheaper models).

The new headlights bulge and curve back along the fender, like an angry over-caffeinated Camry. It’s no Alfa, but it’s an improvement from the 2010 nonetheless. Looking at those is actually a homeopathic remedy for insomnia. It doesn’t just make the C70 look sportier, it looks more expensive, and that’s never a bad thing. (Although the new badge seems to have been a design collaboration between Lil’ Jon and Austin Powers.

The competition in this market primarily comes from BMW and Infiniti, and with the new design the C70 holds its own. I think the design is more well-rounded than the BMW, and it doesn’t lose anything when the top is down either. Some convertibles only look good with the top down (or up), but I found the Volvo to be equally appealing roof up or down. After class one night I asked a few girls (late 20′s, early 30′s) and they all liked it, calling it cool but mature. “It’s a good-looking car and you know the owner of it isn’t trying too hard. It’s nice.”

Powering the C70 is a brilliant 2.5 liter inline 5 cylinder turbo. I love this engine. It only makes 227hp, but the 236ft lbs of torque comes on at only 1,500 RPM (read:torque steer) so from a stop this mature-mobile moves. It yanks you forward with a deep thrum and the long gears of the 5 speed automatic make it a really practical power-train for both city and highway use, while providing us with a combined 26mpg. The thrust slows eventually, but the owners of this car aren’t the kind to complain about a power-band that falls off at 90mph, and triple-digit speeds are still plenty accessible.

Inside is the same story as the exterior: hardly flashy but very nice nonetheless. One thing Volvo does well is functionality, so all the buttons are clearly marked and where you’d expect. The different textures and colors look good next to one another and there’s plenty of stowage.

It’s also filled with freebies. Volvo said that although the 2011 is only $40 more than the outgoing model, it has $4000 in upgrades. Among the standard features are leather, SAT radio, 8 way automatic seats and BlueTooth compatibility.

Rear seat room is good, as long as you’re not sitting behind Matt and with the top up the trunk is on par with many sedans, making it an all around good traveler. Just don’t expect to do a sun-filled road trip, because although the Volvo’s top-down trunk space beats the fanny-pack sized area of the G37, it’s still on par with the carry-on space you get on a plane.

Our car also had Volvo’s BLIS (BLind spot Information System), which uses sensors mounted under the side mirrors to alert you when a car is in your blind spot. It works fine, but I wish it alerted you a little earlier. My concern is people will assume that unless the warning light is illuminated they’re free to change lanes, and while you wouldn’t hit the car next to you, you’d come close to polishing their license plate. It’s not a substitute for driver awareness.

As nicely appointed as it is, there’s room to improve.  While those nice complimentary leather seats were comfortable, don’t depend on them keeping you in place, my toilet has more lateral support. Some of the plastic look dated and cheap, the gauges get lost in a sea of black plastic, and the screen in the center stack is tiny. Size matters here because this screen provides you with all the information from the phone, HVAC, stereo and car settings and due to it’s TI-82 sized display it can only show one thing at a time. That won’t be an issue when the top is down though, because the glare makes it hard to ready anyway.

But the winner is still the SAT/NAV, i.e. total garbage. You can only navigate it with a remote, slowing the use of the already over-complicated system further. And in a car made by people so focused on safety they probably wear life jackets on a Slip-and-Slide, I can’t think of anything more accident prone than giving people a remote to look for as they get lost.

Volvo said they essentially added $4000 of upgrades for free, so the cost-cutting had to happen somewhere. For example the old center stack was made from solid aluminum, but has been replaced with a piece of plastic covered by some shiny plastic. It looks good new, but I doubt it will hold up over time.

This is probably because the topic of lateral G’s falls far down the list of a Volvo production meeting. Although the suspension is tight and body roll isn’t atrocious, it’s turn-in leaves a lot to be desired. You know when the UPS man knocks on your door at 8am and you get up, get dressed, and stumble to the door? That’s the C70. You ask it to turn now, but it needs a minute.

You’d think that would mean it drives like a boat floating on pudding, but it doesn’t. It’s a strange no man’s land. The firm springs that keep it from wallowing around corners mean every ridge, bump and crack is sent through the chassis, gently rattling my grey matter. It wasn’t loud or jarring, but every change in pavement was felt and announced with a very muffled but noticeable sound. Imagine your neighbor has a garage band, but they “sound proof” the garage with egg cartons. You don’t hear each note clearly, but you know when they play.

There’s a simple way to get rid of those muffled screams from the chassis though; put the top down and let the noise escape. Raising and lowering the top in the C70 is pretty simple: put the car in park, depress the brake and push down a little plastic button. 29.4 riveting seconds later and the clam-shell trunk closes with a *whump*, the windows roll themselves up, and you’re done. In my 3 days with the car I noticed only 1 real annoyance: You can’t raise or lower the top while in Drive.

It doesn’t matter if you’re going 2mph and surrounded by EMTs, it won’t let you. I found this very annoying one day after putting the top down and getting stuck in traffic on the 405. Knowing it takes a full 30 seconds to raise the top, I was forced to sweat it out for an hour. Volvo would say it’s for safety reasons, but I  point to that stupid NAV remote and ask that they fix this.

Once it’s all said and done though, it’s almost as comfortable as when the roof is in place. The cabin is relatively wind-free up to about 75mph, and the stereo (USB and aux. jack come standard) overcame road and traffic noise with clarity and ease. Apparently Volvo built its heater system out of wind-tunnel fans and molten lava, so you could drive with the top down all year, even in Minnesota. Just as it does aesthetically-save for cargo space-the car loses nothing when the top is stowed.

The G37 and 328i, both start at $45k. From a performance standpoint the G37 has the better drive-train, and the Bimmer handles better, but for a price. A 328i with just BlueTooth, heated seats and NAV will set you back 50 grand, and that’s with ugly wheels, leatherette seats and a standard stereo. Get drawn into all the pretty option boxes and you can easily spend $60,000. It might rive better, but it’s not as pretty as the coupe or (for the money) as well-equipped as the Volvo.

Climbing in for my last drive I paused to consider whether I should drive with the top up or down. And that’s the key. They give you options. Sure it’s not going to handle as well as a true coupe, but most people don’t care about lateral grip so they basically get two cars in one.  And unlike soft-tops (which generally look terrible with their tops up) you don’t have to compromise on noise, looks, safety or security.

Volvo’s best cars, like the S60R, are like B+ students, always somewhere in the middle but nonetheless very good. And just because a B+ student doesn’t command the highest salary, doesn’t mean they’re not capable of some very good work.

For what it is, the 2011  C70 is fine. It’s MSRP is $39,950, and it comes with more features than it’s competitors from BMW or Infiniti. Our car had the Dynamic Package, Multimedia Package and Convenience Package, raising it’s price to $46,650.  It’s not super-fast, and it doesn’t handle like sports car. It’s not supposed to. It’s a Volvo.

But it’s also… a Volvo. That means it comes with a stigma; it’s boring and thus, you’re boring. That’d be ok if we were talking about simply “a car” but we’re not. We’re talking about a convertible, and those are supposed to be exciting. Without that, what’s the point? The people shopping for convertibles are looking for something specific, and are willing to pay for it. Convertible people buy fun cars, Volvo people buy the C70.

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 29th, 2010 at 2:29 am and is filed under Photos, Reviews, Uncategorized, Viewer Submission. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.