With summer on the way out, now is a great time to buy a convertible, because as temperatures drop, so do prices. And if you want maximum value, it’s worth considering one of the less obvious choices.
Put notions of a sporty roadster or elegant four-seat cruiser to one side and focus instead on the drop-tops that do things differently. The ones that are a bit… weird. Truth be told, this is the kind of convertible that appeals to me most. These are cars you could never be accused of trying to look cool in, with such niche appeal that they’re either surprisingly cheap or surprisingly collectible.
When it comes to kooky convertibles, few can match the Chrysler PT Cruiser Cabriolet. In standard hatchback form, the PT Cruiser was already a ‘Marmite’ car: a curious blend of ‘50s Americana and modern MPV. The Cabriolet model that arrived in 2005 is even more of an acquired taste, with a waistline higher than Simon Cowell’s and a clumsy-looking fixed rollover hoop.
It’s also strangely impractical given its MPV-ish origins, with rear access and visibility compromised by that hoop, and a tailgate that appears to have been designed to make loading the boot as tricky as possible. If you’re looking for something ‘a bit different’, look no further. Although you might end up paying more than you expected: scarcity keeps prices reasonably healthy, at an average of about £2,000.
Citroen went through an unusually sensible phase in the early noughties but reverted to type with the refreshingly bonkers C3 Pluriel in 2003. Instead of a straightforward convertible version of the C3 supermini, it gave us a ‘five-cars-in-one’ affair that answered a question absolutely no-one had ever asked. Roof up, the C3 Pluriel looks like a chic hatchback, with distinctive curved roof rails. In between these is a fabric roof that can be opened like a sunroof or, for a more alfresco feel, folded all the way back and stowed – along with the rear window – under the boot floor. Removing the side rails gives you the full ‘roadster’ experience and if you then have a bulky load to carry (because that’s why you buy a small convertible…) you can fold down the rear seat for a pickup-style load bay.
It all sounds great on paper, but there’s one major flaw: once you’ve removed those bulky roof rails you need somewhere at home to store them, and you'll have no way to put the roof up again while you're out. It’s not great if it rains, then, but a used C3 Pluriel is quirky and affordable, with prices ranging from about £1,500 to £3,000. Whisper it, but I reckon it might even be a future classic.
Some of the most peculiar convertibles are the result of the mid-noughties fad for folding metal roofs. The car that started the trend – the first Mercedes-Benz SLK – was a small, slinky roadster that looked the business with the roof up or down. Applying the same principle to everyday hatchbacks didn’t always turn out well, largely because the need to accommodate large folding panels led to some ‘interesting’ design choices.
The Ford Focus CC and Peugeot 307 CC, in particular, looked decidedly awkward: familiar at the front, strangely elongated at the rear. But they were nothing compared with the bizarre appearance of the Mitsubishi Colt CZC.
The transition from hatchback to convertible was overseen by famous Italian design house Pininfarina, but you’d never guess from the CZC’s unfortunate, tadpole-like shape with the roof up.
Almost as gawky was the Nissan Micra C+C. Cute and bubble-like in standard hatchback form, the C+C version’s extended bootlid gave it the profile of a pickup. Nowadays, both sit in bargain-basement territory, with prices starting at about £1,500.
In recent years, the supply of oddball open-tops has all but dried up. There have been a couple, however, in the shape of the Range Rover Evoque Convertible and Volkswagen T-Roc Cabriolet. Yep, convertible SUVs. Logically, there’s no reason why such a thing should seem strange – various Jeep, Land Rover and Suzuki soft-top 4x4s were sold for decades, after all.
But there’s a difference between a safari-style off-roader and a suburban family car with the roof lopped off. One seems like a natural fit, while the other is a combination of things that work in isolation, but not necessarily together. A bit like roast beef and ice cream. Even so, both models enjoyed reasonable success and residual values are pretty strong, with used prices starting at about £12,000 for the Evoque and £17,000 for the T-Roc.
The heyday of the wacky convertible is long gone, then, and in fact, the most offbeat I can remember driving is the Smart Crossblade, way back in 2002. Strictly speaking, the Crossblade (a highly modified Fortwo) wasn’t a convertible at all: it simply had no roof. Or doors. Or windscreen. Okay, there was a small plastic deflector at the front, but it did very little to protect you from the elements. Only a tiny number were sold in the UK and the first of those went to a Mr Robbie Williams. Yes, that Robbie Williams. He sold it five years later, after putting just 113 miles on the clock. And, having driven a Crossblade along the M3 in a hailstorm, I can’t say that I blame him.
While the Crossblade’s sheer rarity has made it collectible, and therefore quite expensive, the rest of the cars we’ve covered here are comparatively affordable used buys. Especially the more ‘aesthetically challenged’ of the bunch. If you’re after a bargain-priced open-top car, these are some of the most cost-effective options around. Proof that, sometimes, it pays to be weird.
