Wise Buyer: Volvo C70
The Swedish two-door packs safety and value into a package on the stylish side of sensible
A stylish modern classic for pennies.
Volvo launched its first coupé in 1959. The stylish P1800 became an icon, largely because of the hit TV show The Saint, but when the P1800 went out of production in 1971 it would take another quarter of a century for Volvo to come up with a sequel. That car was the C70, produced in collaboration with British firm TWR, although all C70s – including the convertibles – were manufactured at Volvo’s Uddevalla plant in Sweden.
Why you want one
The looks alone should have you sold on the C70, especially the svelte coupé which looks gorgeous from every angle. But the C70 is more than just a looker, because you also get typical Volvo levels of safety and comfort, with seating for four adults in both open and closed versions. As standard all C70s come with climate control and a superb Dynaudio-supplied hi-fi with either 10 or 14 speakers; as the world’s first car to feature Dolby Surround Pro-logic, it’ll allow you to enjoy your collection of Abba CDS like never before.
While the C70 coupé is decently refined, the convertible isn’t quite as quiet, although it’s still pretty good. As standard an electric three-layer roof is fitted, along with a heated glass rear window, so in theory you get the best of both worlds – tintop refinement with the option of top-down motoring at the press of a button.
Whichever C70 you buy, you’ll get impressive safety credentials, as all cars come with side impact protection, front and side airbags, seatbelt tensioners, plus disc brakes front and rear (ventilated at the front) with anti-lock. Volvo really went to town with the convertible, as this also features extra strengthening for the bodyshell, plus a pair of roll hoops tucked behind the back seats. These hoops pop up if the sensors detects that the car is in danger of rolling over – these, combined with strengthened A-pillars, ensure your bonce shouldn’t make contact with the Tarmac.
Why now is the time to buy
These cars are disappearing at quite a rate, now they’re around two decades old. According to How Many Left, around half of the surviving C70s built up to 2001 are on SORN and many of those cars will never return to the road. Parts availability is currently pretty good, but it won’t remain so forever. That’s why you need to buy the best C70 you can, invest in it while the bits can be bought, then hang on to it. The problem is that, where the best cars are concerned, their owners are already doing just that.
Which one?
Volvo didn’t offer a diesel-engined C70 MKI, so all of these cars have an all-aluminium five-cylinder petrol engine that drives the front wheels via a five-speed manual or four/five-speed automatic gearbox; most surviving C70s have the manual transmission.
Engine choices consist of a 163bhp 1984cc
(2.0T, from December 1999) or a 240bhp 2319cc
(T5, from launch in June 1997), both of which are turbocharged powerplants, or there’s a 2.4-litre engine (from April 1999) in various naturallyaspirated or light-pressure turbo forms with 165-193bhp depending on spec. Most of the C70s for sale are fitted with the 2.0-litre turbo engine.
C70 coupés are rarer; virtually all of the cars we found for sale were convertibles, which is a shame because scuttle shake is problem. As a result, the coupé is more enjoyable to drive,
‘Coupés are rare – virtually all the cars we found for sale were convertibles’
exploiting the TWR underpinnings without wobble. But the manual gearbox is more satisfying to use than the automatic variant, although the latter does allow more relaxed cruising.
Values aren’t generally affected by a C70’s specification, body style or engine – while even the mileage doesn’t make as much of a difference as you might think, unless it’s barely turned a wheel since it was new. A C70’s worth is dictated largely by its condition, with tatty examples available for as little as £600. Expect to pay double this for something reasonable, with a really nice car fetching up to £2500. You could pay £1000 more for a superb low-mileage C70 with a load of options – but the chances of you finding one for sale are extremely minimal.
Make it better
The most common modification is a remapped ECU, as an extra 50bhp or so can easily be realised from as little as £360. As the high-performance derivative, it’s the T5 that’s most commonly remapped, with as much as 322bhp possible; the most that Volvo ever offered from the factory was 240bhp. Budget £360-£1500 depending on the year and spec of your C70, or for £6000 you can buy a kit to boost the T5 engine to 347bhp at the wheels (416bhp at the flywheel).
If you significantly up the power, you’ll obviously want to invest in improvements to the suspension and brakes, too. Expect to pay around £1100 for an uprated front brake kit with 330mm ventilated discs, while a set of four coilovers is around the same price; for around £500 you can buy a set of four uprated Koni dampers.
Other performance upgrades include induction kits and air filters, strut braces and performance exhausts, but fitting these will undermine two of the key C70 facets: its cheapness and the low-key comfort. There’s also a raft of stuff you can buy to modify the cosmetics. Items such as aftermarket seats, steering wheels, alloy wheels, pedals and grilles are available, some only from the USA.
‘Values aren’t generally affected by a C70’s spec, body style or engine’