BUYING A CONVERTIBLE

Buying a Convertible is no longer as simple as it used to be. For a start, there are now four quite different market sectors from which to choose, full of products offering quite different recipes for wind-in-the-hair driving pleasure.

You used to know what you were getting from the name. Whereas the 'Convertible' title designated a fully-folding roof, 'Cabriolets' left you with an unsightly rollover hoop once you were open to the elements. Fortunately, these days, stiffer bodies have tended to make such hoops a thing of the past but the 'Cabriolet' tag remains.

Either way, it's first of all a case of deciding exactly what you want. Sports convertibles tend to sit just above the Family Hatchback-based models, sired by cars like Vauxhall's Astra, Renault's Megane, Peugeot's 308 and VW's Golf. Here, with more money spent on development, there are fewer drawbacks in terms of scuttle shake, roly-poly handling and general juddering.

At one end of the scale is Ford's Focus Coupe Cabriolet, aimed firmly at the sporty set. The latest version looks even better and is great fun to drive. At the other end of the spectrum lie cars really aimed more at Grand Touring, models like Volvo's C70 Convertible, Audi's A5 Cabriolet, and Saab's 9-3 Convertible.

If you want a bit of both, there are a couple of good all-rounders here though, the traditional choice being BMW's 3 Series Convertible, a great combination of rear wheel drive handling fun and refined class. In fact, it was pretty much unbeatable until the launch of Audi's gorgeous A4 Cabriolet which has now been superseded by the A5 Cabriolet.

As a general rule, you probably don't want to drive your convertible too fast. By cruising along there's a far better chance you'l...