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From Swedespeed.com Reviews and Road Tests Maui, HI – The island of Maui, a particularly attractive jewel in the diamond-encrusted chain of islands known as Hawaii, is a draw for visitors for many reasons during the winter months. Whale watchers flock here to spot humpbacks that migrate to the local waters for a short time in order toto mate and give birth. Tourists come for the rich Hawaiian heritage in a relatively undeveloped environment, or to simply relax in the sun or visit a spa. Much of the untouched parts of the island are akin to a rainforest, with beautiful sun interrupted by quick downpours on an hourly basis. This made the island a perfect place for Volvo to launch their new C70 with folding hard top, allowing drivers to experience the open glory of the top down and the refined and dry environment of the C70 with the top up.
Within the Volvo lexicon, the car is a little bit of everything as well. It retains the ‘C70’ name as the successor to the original C70 launched in 1998 and followed by a convertible in 1999. It also retains much of the C70’s size, yet is a showpiece for the flexibility and scalability of the company’s P1 chassis architecture that is also used on the smaller S40 and V50 models. The C70 is 4.5” longer than the S40 and 2” wider. It is 5.6” shorter in length than the outgoing C70, but it’s actually .2” wider”. Volvo chose the small town of Hana (population about 700 people) on the Eastern tip of Maui as its starting point for experiencing the C70. There’s not much to Hana – blink and you’ve driven through it, hiccup and you’re well on down the road. The town was built mainly around the beautiful Hotel Hana-Maui, a plantation used by VIPs such as Hillary Clinton during a visit, two general stores, a gas station and little else. It’s a small and private community that is bestowed with incredible beauty. Beauty is one thing, but wer’e here to see a car. We want to drive. As such, a big draw for Volvo in choosing this location was also the Hana Highway – the only main road that connects Hana with larger towns such as Kahului. And by larger, we mean not all that big.
The Hana Highway (a.k.a. Hawaii Route 36) snakes along the northeastern coast of Maui for 52 miles to Kahalui. Along the way, the road features no less than 617 curves, 54 one-way bridges, scenic overlooks of the Pacific Ocean, views of waterfalls and treacherous cliff-side passes. Travelers on the road are comprised mainly of tourists in late model Mustangs, Saturns and minivans gawking at the scenery while locals, usually in older pickuptrucks, dice through the curves and the tourist traffic with equal skill. Toss in a bunch of journalists in C70s with Jersey tags (in Hawaii… trust us, it’s not that common) who make it a personal goal to show the locals a thing or two and you have a concoction near boiling point. Lucky Volvos are safe cars. The cliffs just paces away from those squealing tires are mighty high up. In all seriousness, it’s worth noting if you decide to traverse the road to Hana that local etiquette is to get out of the way of faster-moving traffic on this winding two-lane road that often drops to just one lane on more narrow cliff passes. Learn from our experience. Have patience for locals who know these roads like the back of their hand and lose their patience due to the numerous tourists who flock here and haven’t been informed.
Back to the C70, this latest version of Volvo’s two-door was penned by Volvo designer John Kinsey. According to John, one of the biggest challenges with the C70’s design was translating Volvo’s design language in and around the C-pillar. A strong character line stretches from the top haunch of the rear quarter panel up and over the C-pillar and along the roof in the case of Volvo hard tops. While that may have looked great on a coupe with a fixed hardtop, this wouldn’t work when the top’s down. Instead, Kinsey carried the line along the shoulder of the car, evolving the look and keeping it so the entire line cannot be seen from either the front or rear view as it gracefully traverses more toward the center of the far side and disappears out of sight. The final look of the C70 successfully achieves a credible and equally attractive form as either a roadster or a coupe, especially when outfitted with the optional 18” Mirzam wheel design. It’s two cars for the price of one according to Volvo marketing staff, and they’re not far off. Owners will give up a bit of functionality in places like the trunk when the top is down, with space shrinking from 12.8 cubic feet to 6.0 cubic feet. Additionally, the top needs to be raised underneath the lid via trunk-mounted controls to access the storage piece below. Still, it’s very livable – moreso than traditional convertibles we’ve driven.
The C70 is largely a refined hardtop with the Webasto-developed lid in the up position, but a willing convertible thirty seconds after having chosen open-topped motoring via a button on the center console. Yes, it does take about thirty seconds for the top to raise or lower beneath the double-hinged trunk lid. That’s a little below average time for competitors from Audi, BMW and the like, especially when you consider the aforementioned Audi is cutting that time down with the refreshening of the A4 Cabriolet this summer, as well as adding the ability to raise and lower the top while moving, albeit at a slow pace. To move the top on the C70, you need to be at a full stop for all thirty seconds – time that may seem longer when flash showers such as those on Maui creep up out of nowhere. It leaves you wondering what Magnum must have done in that targa-topped 308 of his. Maybe that’s why his hair was so curly, or why he was always wearing that Tigers cap. Volvo explains this longer up and down time as one drawback of the folding hardtop. Unlike the A4’s soft-top, the additional refinement of the hardtop comes with added weight, making the act of raising or lowering the top very difficult and possibly damaging to the mechanism when combined with the stresses of even minimal acceleration or braking. It would seem the laws of physics work both for and against the C70’s new top.
Continued on Page 2 Inside, the C70 is graced with a stylish interior that is immediately familiar to S40 and V50 owners. Many dash components for the C70 are shared with the 40/50 series cars, including the now signature center stack that is showcased handsomely with the top down. Changes from the S40 and V50 are both pleasing to the eye and functional. Dials on the center stack are trimmed in aluminum on the C70, and the contoured and meaty accessory steering wheel with aluminum inlay that was and remains a dealer-installed accessory on the S40/V50 is standard in the C70.
The center console has been changed to increase the amount of beverages that can be held for four passengers or two very thirsty passengers. Handy door or side bins have also been added on each side for both front and rear passengers, with the doors of the front bins functional with the car’s central locking system – a nice security feature that’ll keep your iPod or your Oakleys from being pilfered should you park the car with the top down.
Seats are swathed in Volvo’s new Haverdal Flex-Tech upholstery. The fabric looks very similar to T-tec found in the S40 and V50, though we’re told it’s more durable for use in an open-top application. As with the last C70, audio quality was a top priority for Volvo with the latest coupe/convertible. Our test car came equipped with the optional Dynaudio system ($1550). When so equipped, the C70 shares the Mitsubishi-sourced head unit found in the 40/50 series Volvos, though the rest of the system is new. Volvo partnered with audio industry staple Dynaudio to develop the speaker system that, when combined with 910 watts of power output, make for plenty of punch with impressive clarity whether the top is up or down. Playing a high-bass track and the subwoofer mounted behind the rear seat can make the backrest visibly vibrate, though it is not intended as a massage chair. The system is offered in all markets on the C70, with the European-optional subwoofer standard for America. On the road, the C70 is a capable if not a blistering performance car. For now, the only engine offered in the C70 is T-5, weighing in at 218hp and 236 lb.ft. of torque via a light-pressure turbocharger. Buyers can opt for a standard 6-speed gearbox or an optional 5-speed Geartronic automatic transmission.
With the manual 6-speed that Volvo expects will attract more of an enthusiast owner, the C70 has adequate power, though we suspect those enthusiast owners might prefer a higher-powered offering. On whether or not additional engines will be offered, Volvo remains coy. With or without additional engines though, the addition of all-wheel drive would present a bit of a challenge. The car’s aforementioned low degree of cowl shake is helped by the addition of structural bracing that would hinder the installation of the Haldex-all wheel drive system found in other Volvos. That’s not to say it couldn’t be done, say Volvo sources, but it would require a higher degree of structural redesign than one may suspect. Still, all-wheel drive would be a nice option as full throttle on wet surfaces results in wheelspin with relative ease. Even with the added weight of structural reinforcements and weighing in at 3772 lbs., the C70 is remarkably agile. No doubt, weight distribution of 54:46 with the top stowed (56:44 with top up) contributes to this. However, when pushed hard, understeer is still the name of the game here as the front-wheel drive car pushes its way through hard turns.
The new C70 will barrel through 60mph in a respectable 7.0 seconds. That’s just .2 seconds off of Magnum’s ’83 Ferrari 308 Quattrovalvole. Not bad, and with the top up, and in a more subtle color than red, Mr. Magnum would have a much easier time tailing a mark. Let’s face it. Robin Masters’ Ferrari stuck out… probably a lot more than a Jersey-tagged C70. The aforementioned structural reinforcements are just the tip of the iceberg in safety – no surprise, as this is a Volvo after all. The new C70 also features Volvo’s Rollover Protection System (ROPS), Side Impact Protection System (SIPS), hydro-formed A-pillars with high-strength steel, seatbelt pretensioners in all seats and door-mounted inflatable side curtain airbags for front passengers. Volvo has high hopes for the new C70. The company expects to build 16,000 C70s annually, with North America accounting for no less than 50% of that production. Another 25% are earmarked for the UK and Germany, with the rest of the world getting the remaining 25%. In all, we’re most impressed with the C70. It’s a highly versatile car that should appeal to convertible buyers and even those who might not be as serious about top-down motoring given its flexibility. As a car that can do a little bit of everything, it’s a good choice. As a high-performance sports coupe, it may be a bit of a let down. Added weight, lack of all-wheel drive and high-performance engine means it’ll woo few if any buyers out of cars like BMW’s M3, but clearly that’s not its purpose. For now, Volvo will leave M3 wooing to the S60R and we’ll head off into the sunset, blasting down the Hana Highway one last time with the top down before handing back the keys and flying back to the snowy North East. Aloha (yes, it means ‘goodbye’ too… very confusing.)
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