This is James R. Healey's USA TODAY column, which appeared July
10, 1998. Volvo C70: Stylish but pricey
 BALTIMORE - Typical airline experience: Hundreds of
dollars buys bad seats, faulty headphones, baggage delays
and rude treatment by people supposed to be at your
service.
Makes you think that if the USA ever got civilized and
embraced high-speed highways, airlines would be sucking
air instead of flying through it.
The only cheery thought: a Volvo C70 convertible at the parking garage. It waits to flip its lid
and drink the delicious night on the long drive home
Crawl into the Volvo, punch the power-top button and grin as the huge hunk of fabric rises
and folds into the well in front of the trunk. Rrrr, rrrr, rrr. What's that? The top is stuck. Who
put the airlines in charge of the car?
OK, calm down. Remember, it's a pre-production model, and Volvo was nervous about
even providing it. Can't really scold about the top. But its malfunction was an opportunity to
test the emergency top-operating process, and that deserves a hodful of cuss words.
Here's what you must do to operate the top manually if the motors and sensors and rollers
and guides and levers fail:
Rummage in the glove box for the top tools. Open the trunk and pry loose two covers over
places where you must insert a little crank and a lever. Also pry loose a hunk of plastic near
the windshield where you'll need the crank to latch the top tightly.
Make sure the lever in one trunk hole is angled correctly. Crank the skinny, short crank in
the other trunk hole by hand. It takes so long, you'll get a blister. The top moves very slowly
in emergency mode. If you had to do it in a rainstorm, the car's leather interior and your silk
suit would be ruined.
Crank the top latches closed, and hey, you're on your way. Makes you long for a simple
manual top.
The other gripe about the top is that even when working properly, as it did on a second test
car, it takes a forever-like 30 seconds to raise or lower. The payback for your wait is that it
fits completely out of sight, under a hard tonneau panel that opens and closes in sync with the
top. No baby-buggy folds, no ugly top hardware exposed, no need to wrestle an accessory
boot over the folded roof to make it look nice and give the homecoming queen a spot to sit.
When the top's down, the C70 convertible is a handsome buggy. Conservative, but engaging
beyond its lack of styling drama. It's been a long time since any test car attracted the kind of
stares, second glances , unsolicited comments and general positive commotion as the C70
convertible.
When the top's up, though, it seems an afterthought, gracelessly bulky in the rear.
Like the other 70-series cars on which it is based, the C70 convertible's interior is a mixed
blessing. The seats are supportive, comfortable and fine-looking. The dashboard presents its
gauges and controls properly. Things generally seem about where you expect, work easily
and feel pleasant to operate. The turbocharged five-cylinder engine has enough power to
qualify as sporty, although it performs better once at speed than it does in the stoplight grand
prix.
But some details are substandard. A center stereo speaker grows ugly from the top of the
dash. Not all switches and controls are lighted for easy nighttime use. Cupholders are
attached to the lid of the console, so you can't reach in for that Bill Wyman blues CD while
you're bearing mocha.
And the ashtray - are you kidding? Small, hard to reach and not lighted. You wonder why
it's there at all. It's not just Volvo. An epidemic of bad ashtrays afflicts cars these days. In
their rush to tobacco correctness, automakers have resorted to tiny, ill-placed receptacles so
hard to use that they're dangerous.
Note to car companies: Many people still smoke, especially cigars, which generate big
ashes. You needn't condone smoking to appreciate that smokers should not have to take
their eyes off the road and risk ramming a truck at 70 mph looking for the ashtray . If you
put one in, do it right: big, bold, handy, well-lighted. Otherwise, just admit you're anti-choice
on the tobacco issue and don't bother.
The trunk, some 40% less roomy than the one in the otherwise similar C70 coupe, will
pester you long after the payments have ended.
The folding top and its hardware slice cargo space and leave what's left shaped poorly for
common bags . Groceries and briefcases fit fine. But big, hard-side suitcases will be a
challenge. Toss in a set of golf clubs and there's little room for much else.
Granted, it's tough to make a car feel solid when you slice off the steel roof, but even taking
that into account, the test car had more shimmy and shake than expected in a high-price
European luxury car. . Not unacceptably sloppy, but disappointingly so.
Being bigger than Euro-rivals BMW 3-series and Saab 9-3 convertibles allows the Volvo to
provide more back-seat room. That not only makes the rear better for adults, it gives
parents more maneuvering room to get junior into and out of a child seat . No built-in kid
seat is offered, sadly, though the back belts secure an accessory seat reasonably well.
But you pay dearly for the extra size. The Volvo's $43,570 starting price is a hefty $8,300
more than the smaller BMW 323iC ragtop, which is more fun to drive and looks sexier.
Despite gripes, the C70 ragtop was quick, smooth, stylish, comfortable and convenient. If
you don't smoke and seldom carry much luggage - and are willing to believe that the top
problems and the shakes were peculiar to test cars - then the C70 convertible could be a
nice way to hang the whole family out in the breeze.
1998 Volvo C70 convertible
What is it? A four-seat, front-wheel drive, midsize, luxury convertible.
Standard features include 2.4-liter, 5-cylinder turbo-charged engine rated 190 horsepower,
199 foot-pounds of torque; four-speed, electronically controlled, automatic transmission
with economy, sport and winter modes; power-operated folding fabric top; leather
upholstery; AM/FM/CD stereo; power seats, steering, brakes, mirrors, windows, locks; air
conditioning; side-impact air bags for driver and front-seat passenger; pop-up rollover bars;
fog lights; cruise control; remote-control locks; heated mirrors; tilting/telescoping steering
column.
How much? $43,570 to start, including $575 destination charge.
How soon? The '98 models are expected in the USA in mid-August, delayed by start-up
problems at the new factory in Uddevalla, Sweden. After what must be the shortest model
year ever; nearly identical '99s are due late September.
How big? Bigger all around than the popular BMW 3-series convertible; nearly a foot
longer, for instance. Specifically, the C70 convertible is 185.7 inches long, 71.5 inches wide,
56.3 inches tall, on a 104.9-inch wheelbase, weighing 3,601 pounds and providing a small
7.9-cubic-foot trunk because of the space needed for the top.
Who'll buy? Upper-middle-class moms who no longer need wagon-like vehicles because
the kids are gone, and who want to reward themselves for surviving.
Overall: A pricey, conservative handsome ragtop for those who don't demand the sportier
handling of the BMW 3-series convertible.
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