Volvo C70 2.0D SE (2008) CAR review

Volvo launched the C70 with a USP: it was the world’s first four-seat premium convertible with a retractable steel roof. It’s a questionable claim. Is a Volvo that shares much of its underpinnings with a Ford Focus truly premium? Hmm. And, even if it was the first, it’s no longer the only. BMW’s 3-series convertible is a real alternative.

Why are we here then?

Because Volvo has launched a four-cylinder diesel version. The C70 was launched with upscale five-cylinder turbo, petrol and turbodiesel options. Now we have the 2.0D, its engine familiar from the Focus and Mondeo TDCi. Can it really cut it against a 320i CC that’s only three grand more?

Focus dynamics, Volvo style. Sounds good…

Should do. And it is. But it should be better. A £28k convertible doesn’t get off to a great start when the soundtrack sounds so budget - it’s telling that BMW doesn’t offer its 3-series with a folding roof and four-cylinder diesel engine.

There’s plenty of pull from Ford’s oil-burner though, so the C70 never feels less than brisk. It is also blessed with a sweetly mechanical-feeling six-speed gearbox, whose shift feels a little more precise than it does in the Focus (good though it already is there). At motorway speeds, the tin-top makes a good fist of sealing out wind noise and keeping you dry when it rains hard, so it ticks the coupe box admirably.

But at no point will you go and drive this Volvo purely for the sake of it. The steering is numb and overlight and takes away the joy of the otherwise nimble and poised chassis set-up, and the ride feels solidly Volvo-esque, comfy enough but lacking the fleet-footed Focus’s deftness.