Open up to convertible cars

Two things you especially notice: the sounds, such as birds singing, and the aromas, for example when you are near a woodfire chimney. These are just a few of the joys of driving with the roof down. Driving is more alive in the open air compared with being cacooned in fabric-and plastic-lined steel.

Mark Webber chooses to do it for a living, doesn't he? The very first motor car as we know it - the Benz of 1886 - was an open carriage. Ever since then open-top cars have existed, despite the demands of safety, practicality and mankind becoming softer and less adventurous. 

That's not to say the convertible of 2011 is unsafe, impractical and takes a hardy adventurer to operate it. The modern convertible has a weather-proof roof for the heaviest rains. Manual soft-tops can be opened or closed in a few seconds. The automatic, press-button soft or hard-tops are a wonder of articulation and on some cars can be opened even as you approach the car.

Some convertibles have little rollover hoops that pop out if the car senses it's tipping over. And they have the full safety kit of their fixed-roof cousins - ABS brakes and stability control to help avoid a prang in the first place and airbags to help if there is one. 

I once owned a Moke, the utilitarian runabout based on the BMW-Leyland Mini. Why? Because it was the cheapest open-top reasonable car I could get. The fun of driving in the fresh air has not waned. 

When I joined the classic car brigade, the first criterion was that it had to be an open-top sports car - so a Bugeye Austin Healey Sprite it was (and still is). Then when I bought a brand new car a few months ago, guess what? It's another convertible sports car. 

In the time I've had my latest sports car, I have driven it with the roof up only when it rained. Even on the chilliest of winter nights, it's roof-down open motoring. 

A little bit of heater, a warm jacket and, if particularly cold, a neck scarf and hat is all you need. More expensive sports cars even have warm air directed around the neck, as well as having heated seats and steering wheel. I keep sunscreen, hat and sunnies in the car for other days. 

Even in the suburbs you hear the birds chirping. Get beyond the suburbs and there's the sweet smell of the countryside on a fresh morning or at sunset. Even the alluring waft coming from a country bakery. You get all those joys, even in a four-seat convertible cruiser.

But if you get a decent little two-seat sports car, there's the driving joy as well. Their light weight brings nimble handling and braking, the low centre of gravity aids strong G-force cornering and that peppy exhaust completes all the sensations and dimensions of driving as it should be. Are you converted?