IT TAKES a summer like this one to appreciate motoring, hood down, with the wind in your hair.

Day after day of glorious weather, not a cloud in the sky and no precipitation to get you running for cover.

We would all love a natty little two-seater to blow our collective cobwebs away. But there is shopping to be carried, people to be transported, functions to perform, and you can't do any of that in a roadster.

So what is there on the market today with a top that comes off but which is still reasonably practical? Well, Audi makes a smart A4 cabriolet, then there's the BMW 3 Series soft-top, the Saab, Volvo and a Mercedes or two.

So what's the problem then? If money is no object there isn't one. But to most humble town dwellers, cost is always upper most in the mind.

Thank heavens, then, for VW, which has produced an amiable four-seater soft-top out of its funky Beetle for a smidge over £15,500.

What you get is a fun package all wrapped up, in the case of the test car, in the most bizarre orange livery.

The Sundown orange is the oddest shade which evokes strong feelings among those who behold it. Many stare and curl a lip, others love and admire the hue and there are very few people who remain unmoved by its inimitable charms. Me? I was glad to be inside it so I couldn't see too much of the colour! Colour apart, Beetle cabriolet is a delight to drive, mainly thanks to dynamics that have you imagining you are in an old bathtub Porsche.

The engine layout is conventional, the 102PS four-cylinder residing in the front powering the wheels just below. But it is the sharp steering, wonderful ride and limpet-like grip that make it such a hoot to drive. It revels in the twists and turns of North Yorkshire, it delights in seeing off the hills and dales.

The motor isn't the most powerful but does a decent enough job while returning respectable miles per gallon. On the motorway it is relaxed and quiet, as is the cabin ambience generally with the hood in place.

But it's off piste, hood down, that the Beetle really shines, transforming even the most mundane of journeys into a pleasurable experience.

A press of a button and a turn of a knob is enough to release the canopy from its stays. Then press a small switch near the handbrake and the canvas peels back in seconds. One switch lowers all four windows and you are as topless as the day you were born.

If there is a fly in the ointment, it is with the build.

Beetle Cabriolet begins life south of the border down Mexico way and feels a little too flimsy for comfort.

Shut the door and it rattles alarmingly, the cacophony increasing further when the windows are down. The gearbox is uncharacteristically sloppy. Third to first can happen all too easily and it twice jumped out of gear.

The orange paintwork looks flat, thin and vulnerable to the ravages of time and the interior feels plasticky too.

Only time will tell whether the Cabriolet has been built to last and in the meantime the best thing to do is enjoy it while you can, shopping, people and practical lives in tow, but with the wind in your hair on a sunny summer day.

06/09/2003