It’s the perfect time of the year to engage in some top down motoring.

And with improved aerodynamics, economy and emissions on its updated convertible, the Mini is very much the car of the summer.

A unique feature that will appeal to some motorists is an optional Openometre, which records how long the car has been driven with the top down.

I’m happy to report that in the seven days of driving the Mini Convertible, I drove ‘topless’ for approximately three hours 45 minutes, as per the Openometre, which is pretty good for a week’s driving on British roads.

Although it could be deemed pointless, it’s the sort of feature that helps you justify owning a convertible, especially if we’re in for the scorcher ‘they’ say we are this year, although when this heatwave is supposed to begin, I don’t know.

The Mini’s canvas roof offers a two-stage opening system, so you can choose between a 40cm mini opening to create a sunroof or having the roof down completely, which takes about 16 seconds.

There’s also a lockable glovebox that receives cold air and makes sure its contents (drinks, suncream etc) remain icy, while passengers enjoy the sun.

The punchy 1.6-litre engine on the Cooper S with 175bhp and 177lb ft of torque, offers great performance and handling is good.

BMW's efficient dynamics technology ‘Auto start stop’ has been applied to the Mini, so don’t think you’ve stalled if the engine goes at the traffic lights. This is a supposedly fuel-saving feature that switches the engine off when stood still in neutral, but automatically comes back on when the clutch is depressed.

Safety kit includes ESP, four airbags and a pair of pop up roll hoops behind the rear seats to aid rollover protection. All Coopers come with air conditioning and parking sensors to help with rear visibility.

Factfile

Model: Mini Cooper S convertible

Price range: £15,995 - £18,995

Engine: 1.6-litre

0 to 60mph: 7.4 seconds

Top speed: 138mph

Fuel: 49.6 mpg

CO2 emissions: 137-153g/km

Insurance group range: 9-16