Volvo's C70 convertible

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Calling all sun-seeking drivers. Volvo's 2006 C70 is a stylish, open-air car that doesn't skimp on safety and security.

Arriving in U.S. showrooms in time for the year's warm seasons, the new, four-passenger, two-door C70 is revamped from top to bottom, compared with the first-generation C70 that debuted in 1998.

The biggest visible change is the car's roof. It's a three-piece, power-operated steel hardtop, which provides the kind of security against break-ins and vandalism that no fabric-topped convertible can offer.

The new C70 also is the first convertible with curtain air bags. Typical convertibles don't have curtain air bags for head protection in side and rollover crashes because the bags usually deploy downward from a fixed car roof. In the C70, Volvo officials became the first to install curtain air bags in the insides of the doors and engineered the bags to deploy upward.

Starting manufacturer's suggested retail price, including destination charge, of $39,405 makes the 2006 C70 the lowest-priced new convertible with power hardtop in the U.S. This price is for a model with six-speed manual transmission.

A C70 with five-speed automatic starts at $40,655.

Either way, the C70 undercuts the previous lowest-priced hardtop convertible car -- the 2006 Mercedes-Benz SLK280, a two-seater that starts at $43,675.

The C70 now uses the same front-wheel-drive platform as the Volvo S40 sedan and Volvo V50 wagon.

It's a more modern, more rigid foundation than the earlier C70 and helps give this weighty car, which tops out at nearly 3,800 pounds, a stable base.

The front suspension uses a MacPherson strut design, while an independent, multilink configuration works at the rear. Standard tires are 17 inches in diameter compared with 16-inchers in the previous C70.