RUNNINGS
BY HARRY KIRSBAUM I PHOTOGRAPHY BY ANGIE BAAN
•lor years, Volvo was considered a safe, dependable, businessman's car.
In the movie Crazy People, starring Dudley Moore as an advertising
executive who decided to tell the truth, his "Boxy, But Good" Volvo
slogan earned him a trip to a mental hospital.
The 2006 Volvo C70, however, has no right angles, and its three-split,
retractable hardtop sheds stodgi-
ness as quickly as you can shed
your suit coat and tie. This car's
got fun.
Sure, like every other Volvo,
the safety is still there, with
front-wheel drive and Dynamic
Stability Traction Control to
make it safe to drive in the
winter (although replacing the
Pirellis with a set of snow tires
is required), and it's one of the
only convertibles that offers side
airbags.
The base price of the C70 is
$38,710. The one I drove cost
$45,745 and included a pre-
mium package with leather seats
for $1,395 and a premium 12-
speaker sound system for $1,550
that'll blow your ears into the
next county.
Housing a peppy 2.5-liter,
five-cylinder, turbocharged
engine with 218 horses and 236
lbs. ft. of torque at 1,500 to 4,800
rpm, the car gets 21 mpg in the
city and 29 mpg on the highway.
The full-size back seat accommodates two comfortably, and the trunk space
is huge when the top's up. When it's down, there's room to store things and
it's an easy way to access them.
Functional, safe, sexy and fun to drive.
What else could you ask for?
❑
Thanks to Dwyer and Sons Volvo-Subaru in Walled Lake
for allowing Cool Runnings to drive the C70.