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From Swedespeed.com Feature Cars Every Volvo C70 that rolls out of the factory is already one of the most attractive coupe-convertibles on the road. The styling is simple, handsome, and upscale, yet also youthful. This is to say the C70 doesn't lack much in the visual department, but if we were to pick one characteristic we'd like to see more of, it'd be aggressiveness. We recently visited Heico Sportiv's U.S. arm to see if maybe they agreed.
Let's start up front. The silver C70 you see here benefits from what Heico calls its "front spoiler flaps." They look a bit like the front spoiler of a C30 version 2.0, only with the center portion cut out. They help reach our goal of toughness by adding some sharpness to the C70's soft edges, just as front spoilers do on most cars--just think of the stock 850 bumper versus that of an 850R, one of the best examples of the added drama provided by a small kink.
Installation of the spoiler flaps isn't too tough, provided you've got a friend with a paint gun and a warm place to work and let glue dry. It involves a small bit of cutting, along with some drilling, sanding, and gluing, all of which is explained in Heico's step-by-step installation manual. A new set of foglights is required, but they do come with the added functionality (at an extra cost) of working as cornering lights as well. The cost addition for that feature comes because it involves the installation of a control unit featuring a yaw sensor, though the lights also activate along with the blinkers. It takes about the same skills and effort to install this C70's rear enhancement, a slick-looking diffuser. It installs in the space usually filled by the black plastic insert of the stock bumper cover, so no cutting is involved--just a few screws and a bit of glue.
The diffuser represents just half of the rear's toughness, though. The rest of it comes from a quad-tip Heico Sportiv exhaust kit that makes the T-5 sound quite fantastic without being annoyingly loud. The four-tip version is one of two options, the other being a dual-tip setup with one outlet at each corner of the car. We prefer the one you see here, though some folks will surely think it's a bit excessive for this little convertible. Regardless, this cat-back system slips on easily with a few standard tools and an included pipe clamp. You'll notice the exhaust isn't shiny like many aftermarket kits would be--Heico believes, and we agree, that polished stainless looks a bit out of place underneath a car. As such, all of the company's exhaust kits are covered in a rubberized black coating.
Between its nose and tail, the C70 we drove is pretty near stock. It has, of course, an 18-inch set of Heico's VOLUTION V wheels, which look good on all the current small Volvos, C30, S40, V50, and C70. Inside, a custom shift knob, dead pedal, and parking brake handle have been installed.
Overall, we've found exactly what we were looking for from our Heico visit. The team here has succeed in using a few very minor alterations to make an overall package that makes the C70 more aggressive and, as such, more appealing to enthusiasts looking for some top-down motoring thrills. Check out www.HeicoSportivNA.com for more details about all the individual parts we've talked about here. They're not the cheapest parts around (see listing below,) but does beauty ever come cheap? - Front spoiler flaps with fogs: $879 - Rear quad-tip exhaust, with rear diffuser panel: $1899 - Wheels, VOLUTION V. 18: $449 each in silver - Pedal sets, auto trans: $149 - Dead pedal: $179 - Shift knob: $199 - E-Brake handle: $199
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