Citroen C3 Pluriel (2003 - 2010)

Last updated 22 May 2019

Turn the key and pretty soon you're rattling along at a respectable rate. With no top and a drop-down tailgate, this is inevitable, but it's no more your ‘flexible friend' than the old Saab 9-3 convertible. Handling is reasonable, though this is no sportscar. Of course, it's no sportscar. It has two adult-sized rear seats. There is as much if not more room inside as in any small convertible.

Inside the split folding rear seats mean you can run two, three or four up, sacrificing passenger space for luggage space as required. When you're shopping, you simply pop up the rear screen and drop your bags inside the respectably sized boot, which gets even bigger when you use the hood well at the bottom.

If you were travelling, say to the South of France or Spain, you'd take the whole car including the roof rails and use the extra boot well stowage space for luggage. But you'd still be able to doodle through the Dordogne with the top back in ‘convertible' mode, so you would not lose any luggage space at all which is quite a big advantage. Get there, strip the car down to its basics, and you'll have the beach buggy fun car you want.

You don't get aircon. That's £500 extra on the 1.4 and part of a £900 extras pack on the 1.6. But you do get goodies like a trip computer and even a pre-settable speed warning buzzer.