Road Test: Mini Convertible 1.6 One 2dr

Have you caught the new film-spoof TV ads for the Mini Convertible yet? 'Lassie comes home in Minis' is the best, with 'Mutiny on the Bounty' a close second. They play for laughs and don't pretend you'll acquire mysterious sexual chemistry, impress retard exec mates on the squash court or encourage you to fantasise the wife is actually your mistress. But Minis virtually sell themselves, and, frankly, had the marketing team cocked this one up it would have been goodbye comfy office and hello Siberia.

The new gaggle of convertibles is set to raise the Mini's game even higher, starting with the Mini One. First off, it looks just as brilliant topless as it does with a lid. It's still a four-seater and it's got a damn clever roof too, which slides back 40cm for a sunroof effect at the first touch of a button (up to 75mph), then retracts fully at the second, exposing aluminium roll bars. Side windows and rear quarter lights raise and lower automatically as part of this Mini ballet, but uncharacteristically our pre-production test car had a fault and one of the rear windows stuck halfway up. The hood doesn't disappear into the boot space and looks a bit pram-like when folded. But the small boot space can be extended by folding the rear seats flat and the way the boot lid opens downwards as it did on the original Mini is a nice touch.

The One's 1598cc engine remains the same as the hatch with 90bhp at 5,500rpm and 103lb ft torque at 3,000rpm. But the gearbox is all new, the old Rover five-speeder being replaced by a Getrag unit with vastly superior shift quality. Because of the extra strengthening stitched into the convertible body, though, weight is up by 125kg adding nearly a second to the 0-62mph time.

Despite the strengthening work and a compliant ride, heavy bumps will set the opened up shell a-wobbling. Handling is a tad less urgent than the hatch too, but that's hardly the point. The topless One is about as cool as they come, there's little buffeting with the hood down and it's not too noisy with it up. It's closer to grown-ups' money than the hatch at £13,325, but with the optional £100 Mini TLC policy giving you five years or 50,000 miles free service and maintenance, it's still great value.

Jesse Crosse