Volvo C-70 - perfect for taking to the becah

Call me a rear-end man - it could be a compliment or an insult, depending on your persuasion - but I've always found the posterior of any object usually defines the whole.

The back of your TV set, for example, will tell you if you've got a natty flatscreen or an old oscilloscope, or something. The back end of an internet site will usually tell you how  effective the front will be.  And of course there are humans.

Then there's the Volvo C70 hardtop convertible,  and this is one rear-end that Swedish designers have nailed, if you pardon any connotation. From the back, at a three-quarter angle, with hardtop up, this car is simply beautiful, high praise not usually  leveled at a carmaker known more for safety than sartorial elegance.

That the droppable top it wears so elegantly is removable adds to its charms, and of course is the phenomenal thing about humans too. And before I start drooling and getting myself into unchartered waters, I think I'll stop right there.

How can any Volvo elicit that response?  The C70 does, a massive step forward for a company that struggles every day to keep up with the Schmidts sited below them in Europe, in terms of prestige and luxury and driving experience and now in this latest guise appears to have given its latest line exactly what it needed: a good kick up the rear-end, which Italian styling house Pininfarina duly gave it.

Those curves ...

Looks good from front

To all intents the back view looks almost exactly the same as on the Mercedes CL600 coupe, though, and I dare to say it, the line it holds with the front-to-back swoop that joins the raised uppermost tips of headlights fore and aft looks sportier, flashier and yet more reserved all at once.

With the retractable hood down, the car looks more functional but is no less impacting, in fact it draws far more stares from the front, obviously.  With the retractable top up, from square front, it looks like a newly resculpted Volvo, as it should.  But from the side it holds the same lines as Merc's CLK range, though with a more compact snout and perched slightly higher on its axles.

Apart from that, and as Volvo always has been, it's very much its own car: Volvo has always stood apart from its competition in much the same way as its country-fellow Saab. It has to in a segment long dominated by the Germans and now with serious competition from the Japanese.  The US is of course represented by Cadillac, whose CTS range has received the upgrade it's been due for a coupla years now.

The Volvo C-70 was quick and smooth through its five-speed automatic (six-speed manual) box at 7.2 seconds to hit a mile a minute 15.9 seconds to hit the quarter mile courtesy of its 2.5-liter five-cylinder that pushes out 218 horses. It moved well through corners and tight bends and I thought it was amply stiff enough and took rutted blacktop adequately for it being a convertible, though some have questioned the  stiffness of the P1 platform, also on the S40, with the C-70's power, retractable hood down.

The hood is the best bit, of course: it takes under 30 seconds to put up or down at the push of a button and looks glorious either way. You might not get all the grocery bags you want to it in the back with the roof down (the space going from 14 cubic liters to just six) but that's the hardtop trade-off.

Roof drops in under 30 seconds

Still boasts traditional grille

It's good on gas at 20-29 town and highway, every mile of which will be spent in glorious comfort.   The inside has progressed as well as the exterior: the central panel is pretty radical, boasting a kind of swooping, twisting wedge of plastic in front of the handbrake that goes beyond modern into seriously abstract territory, which looks great and functions well.

The ergonomics were great too, with none of the little annoyances you frequently find in Volvos and Saabs, and no elevator-panel control pads. The stereo sounded great hood up or down, and the cabin boasts temperature controls that control, apparently, temperature even with the hood down. 

Those in the back will feel slightly squashed but the car boasts class-leading legroom at 33.9 inches, which means less knees-to-chest inaction on long journeys. And those all-leather seats feel glorious.

It's safe, too, as of course it's a Volvo but more ingenuity in the action of its rear pillars, which in the event of a collision push forward and backward and down to reinforce the passenger area. Include the roll-over protection system and many, many airbags and all is good.

All of this can be yours from a base price of $39,405, though bear in mind that optional add-ons are not cheap.

That apart, take a serious look at the C-70 I loved this car, every bit of it - and give your traditional idea of Volvos a kick up the backside.

Fits in nicely with any surrounds

Seats four in comfort