THE jury is out on whether convertibles are designed for people to see out of, or for people to see in.

Convertibles, almost as old as the car itself, have often been the target of people who with an air of vanity, like to be seen enjoying the unique exhilaration of open-air motoring.

It appears to be popular. Almost one-fifth of the sub-$80,000 sports car sector’s sales are convertibles. But like the sector itself, sales are slipping with a 17 per cent drop in the seven months to July 2015 compared with the previous corresponding period.

Part of that is attributed to the exit or model run out of some key open-top players – BMW’s 1 Series, Mazda MX-5 in run-out and Volvo C70 – that wasn’t countered by new comers such as the Audi A3, Holden Cascada and examples of the car tested here, the BMW 2 Series.

The 2 Series uses the basic 1 Series hatch as its platform, revving up the engine choice, boosting the feature list and presenting it in a more muscular iteration of BMW’s desirable yet unmistakable body design.



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