2006 Volvo C70 Convertible (w/max options) review from North America

I received the 2nd car in Eastern North Carolina of the new Volvo C70 folding hardtop convertible in June 2006. It was part of the first shipment of these cars to the US, so it did not have everything quite perfect.

The folding top was not perfectly aligned, so when folded, some parts were rubbing where they shouldn't. Eventual fix was to have the top realigned by a specialist, and to replace the scuffed up rear deck.

I am on my second 'recall'. The fixes are not major, and I am happy that they are putting fixes that they came up with later, back onto my early production car.

Gas mileage averages 21.5 MPG. I had hoped for more...

Currently, the top is having problems sensing that it is closed when the car is at certain parked on an unlevel spot. If the right rear tire is elevated, the sensors will sometimes think the top is not fully open - it is the sensor that verifies that the reverse opening trunk lid has closed completely over the retracted top.

I love the car, drive with the top down all the time.

It runs great. The performance is good for a "luxury sedan", but it will not blow the doors off anything.

After 14,000 miles and almost a year of driving, there are some squeaks and creaks in the top when it is up. The body is showing more flex than I remember from when it was new.

As a tall person, my eye level is higher up the windshield than I would like.

-- I wish I could sit a few inches higher, but then my line of sight would be looking right into the solid cross piece at the top of the windshield.

-- With the driver seat lowered as much as possible, the rear view mirror still obstructs my line of sight towards the right. This is a problem at intersections where I have twice failed to see cars coming at me from the right. (luckily so far, no accidents from this)

-- The memory seat doesn't work the way I expect (from my experience with Chrysler and Toyota power seats). When I start driving, often the seat has not returned to my position, but the mirrors have (?).