Road Test: Volvo C70 2.3 T5 2dr Auto

Volvo C70 cabrio T5 The C70 has been around a long time, and it's no longer available in fixed-roof form. But the convertible soldiers on and although it arrived after its coupe sibling, it has still been around since 1999. So with rivals like the forthcoming CLK and A4 rag-tops, the open C70 has got its work cut out trying to keep up. While safety, style and performance are all selling points for Volvo's cars, they're also key attributes for its German counterparts - so what is there to steer potential buyers towards the Volvo camp?

As you'd expect there are the usual Volvo virtues of strong build quality, excellent ergonomics and - in T5 form as tested - plenty of poke. Too much poke in fact, because while Volvo's turbocharged petrol cars are always good for a laugh in a straight line, they tend to come unstuck (literally) when the roads get wet or you need to put the power down in a real hurry.

With little more than delivery mileage on our test car, it didn't seem very fair to cane it - but then few drivers are likely to either. Even with the odometer showing just into three figures, the engine had plenty of go, but the chassis can't cope with sudden bursts of power - especially when the going gets twisty. But at least the brakes are strong and the automatic transmission is beautifully smooth.

Remove all the badges from the interior and you'd instantly be able to guess you were sat in a Volvo - it may be dull to look at but it is user friendly. It's just a shame that it moves about so much on uneven surfaces - the scuttle shake is probably the worst of any drop-top I've ever driven. Well anything from the last 20 years or so, anyway.

Raising and stowing the hood is simplicity itself, with everything done for you at the touch of a button. There are no catches (well, not in the literal sense, anway) and whether the roof is up or down, noise levels are perfectly acceptable. At high speeds you'll want to put the side windows up, but that's the case with just about any convertible, so it's no hardship.

Although the roof mechanism is neatly designed, it's always nice to have a hard top option, for added safety, security and comfort in our long, dismal winters. Volvo doesn't offer that route, so you're stuck with a roof that gives pretty awful rear and rear three-quarter visibility when it's up - something that's not helped by a rear window that's way too small.

Also too small is the boot, which is robbed of space by the roof when it's stowed. That's expected, but rivals now offer mechanisms that help increase space with the roof up - not so the Volvo. At least the cabin is a bit more spacious - fitting four people in is a possibility as long as they're not all six-footers. The seats are all very comfortable as well, although the two-tone leather of our car was of questionable taste and the heated seats really need an intermediate setting if you're not to fry your backside.

With all-new prestige convertibles on the horizon from just about every manufacturer in the sector, it's hard to see the Volvo lasting much longer. In isolation it's not bad, but the raft of rivals it's about to face will present a pretty convincing challenge.

Richard Dredge