Fields Waukesha sent me one final car to review this summer, and while my heart raced with their Jaguars, they almost got me to pull out my wallet for the 2013 Volvo C70 convertible.
I came this close, actually, to pulling the trigger on buying this car, I liked it so much. A hardtop convertible with room, power and style, it’s very close to the perfect family car for the dad who still wants to drive a secret weapon.
Here’s why:
As I’ve previously written, I’ve had a soft spot for Volvos since I learned to drive in one. I owned a ’99 S80 T6, too, and while the brand’s styling has become just too bland for my liking, the C70 really looks good. Top up or top down. And that’s saying something.
Every other hard-top convertible on the roads look a little weird with the top up, but the C70 doesn’t. It looks like a sporty coupe, and it drives like one, too. With a nimble, turbo-charged five cylinder engine, it effortlessly goes very fast. It handles well, and is big enough for a young family.
Obviously, the trunk space suffers from the hard top – which can go up or down under 30 seconds, but it’s not horrible. It has a booming stereo system that sounds loud and clear even when cruising on the highway with the top down.
The C70 gets pretty good mileage, too, for a car with 227 horses and 236 foot pounds of torque. The EPA rates it at 19 MPG city and 28 MPG highway. Over 1,000 miles, I got closer to the high end in fuel efficiency.
So what’s wrong with this car?
Because 2013 is the final year of the C70, it has a very dated interior. Yes, the leather seats hug the driver nicely, but I’m an ergonomics nerd, and starting at $41,200, the cockpit feels cutting-edge ... for 2006. Weird button placement, a pop-up nav that feels like an afterthought, as well kludgy monochromatic screens imply that Volvo was going through the motions on this last version of this very cool car.
Sadly, there’s no replacement Volvo convertible coming right away, but if you can live with the C70’s interior – which is nice enough, just totally uninspiring – there might be some amazing deals in store as inventory dwindles.
In other words, if you’re just slightly less of a car snob than I am, this is an amazing car at a really competitive price. It makes little sense to own a convertible in Wisconsin as your year-round daily driver, but with this car you can – and probably should – do it.
And if anyone pokes fun at you for driving a Volvo, fellow guys, do as I did. Leave them in the dust. Other Volvos might be soccer mom cars. This one is for the dads.
Andy is the president, publisher and founder of OnMilwaukee. He returned to Milwaukee in 1996 after living on the East Coast for nine years, where he wrote for The Dallas Morning News Washington Bureau and worked in the White House Office of Communications. He was also Associate Editor of The GW Hatchet, his college newspaper at The George Washington University.
Before launching OnMilwaukee.com in 1998 at age 23, he worked in public relations for two Milwaukee firms, most of the time daydreaming about starting his own publication.
Hobbies include running when he finds the time, fixing the rust on his '75 MGB, mowing the lawn at his cottage in the Northwoods, and making an annual pilgrimage to Phoenix for Brewers Spring Training.
