Eight bargain family convertibles for summer | Axon's Automotive Anorak

Ordinarily, at this time of year, the airports and seaports would be crowded with British holidaymakers seeking some overseas Spring warmth and sunshine, but in these exceptional pandemic times, we can only dream of topping up the tan on a sun-kissed Continental beach or boulevard as vacationing abroad remains strictly out of bounds.

For the cost of a decent short family break abroad, however, some solace and occasional heat on the face from that all-too-rare glowing orange ball in the sky can be found for a similar price in an affordable used four-seater drop-top. 

Using the bank family vacation fund saved by not travelling abroad, that money could be put to swapping Majorca for a convertible Mini, Benidorm for a used Bimmer, Portugal for a Peugeot or St. Tropez for a soft-top Saab.

So, for those intrepid motorists willing to stick their necks out and buy something a little older with potentially a few miles under its four seats and foldable roof, here are eight cool convertibles to consider for alfresco ‘staycation’ sunny summer drives with the kids in tow, currently to be found for sale in-line in the UK at only £2,500 or under!

Saab 9-3 Convertible II – 2003–12

During its all-too-short 65 years as an automotive manufacturer, innovative and unconventional Swedish ex-premium car maker Saab usually played second fiddle to larger, more profitable prestige rivals such as Volvo, BMW, Audi and Mercedes-Benz. 

One sector in which Saab absolutely dominated, however, was the niche premium four-seater convertible class, where its popular 900 and subsequent 9-3 models comfortably outsold the (mainly German) rivals. Values of the original first-generation Saab 900 Convertibles of the late 1980s-early 1990s have now spiralled way beyond the ‘imaginary’ £2,500 family holiday budget set here, although well-used soft-top examples of the second ‘New Generation’ 1993–98 900s (plus its vastly improved 1998–2004 9-3 facelift) can still be bought for this affordable amount. 

For £2,500 or less though, my recommendation would be a New 900 Convertible, built by Saab between 2004–12, as these models are tough, dependable, stylish, safe and rewarding to drive, with very little direct relationship to the inferior Vauxhall-Opel Vectra, despite what the press might have incorrectly claimed at the time (I know as I worked as part of Saab’s product development team ahead of the model’s release, with the proud Swedish engineers refusing to accept GM’s lesser Opel standards and componentry).

Peugeot 306 Cabriolet – 1994–2003

The winning combination of a class-leading chassis, dressed in elegant Pininfarina coachwork, should make the Peugeot 306 Cabriolet a much-prized collector’s item, which ultimately it will doubtless become in the future. For now though, open-top 306s can be picked-up from just a few hundred pounds for higher-mileage and slightly tatty examples.

Peugeot’s last true soft-top four-seater cabriolet, following a long lineage of such configurations dating back to before World War Two, the 306 was ultimately superseded by the (briefly fashionable) folding ‘CC’ Coupe Cabriolet models the French brand originally pioneered with its folding hardtop 402 Eclipse of 1934. 

The later (and considerably bulkier and more ungainly) Peugeot 309 CC (plus the smaller 206 CC) lacked the soft-top 306’s grace, although the folding and complex hard-top was arguably a more arresting party piece, until it got stuck midway through its engaging folding cycle, as many did!

BMW 3 Series Convertible E93 – 2004–11

Second to the Saab in the contemporary UK premium convertible sales stakes for many years, BMW’s popular rag-top 3 Series Convertible remains in plentiful supply in second hand form, with prices ranging from under £1,000 for an E36 1991–97 example, with an E93 fifth-generation E93 2004–11 also now possible to find for (just a little) less than our budgeted £2,500, with a tidy-looking 2005 325i automatic for sale standing out on a quick internet search over the soggy May Day bank holiday.

The 325i’s smooth in-line six and ‘sideways to victory’ rear-wheel-drive chassis will find favour for some drivers over a Saab’s front-wheel-drive and turbocharged four-cylinder engine, with the contemporary convertible Audi Cabriolet and Volvo C70 competitors also favouring a front-drive layout over the BMW’s more traditional platform.  

Fiat Punto Cabriolet – 1994–99

Something of a left-field choice, and now rare and difficult to find on the cusp of becoming a modern classic, the Bertone styled and built Punto Cabriolet was Fiat’s first (and most recent) true four-seater drop-head for many years, following a long history of the Turin marque building numerous entertaining two-seater sportscars with lashings of Latin brio.

Smaller and less complex than the other four-seater convertibles highlighted here, the 1.2- and 1.6-litre Punto still featured an electric triple-layer folding roof, effective body strengthening and engaging handling, even if its 106mph top speed and leisurely 12.3 seconds 0-62mph time were unlikely to set many boy racer pulses racing. 

With a strong galvanised body (engineered from the outset as a cabriolet, negating the need for a cumbersome Volkswagen Golf-type C-pillar rollover bracing bar for extra strength), more than 55,000 soft-top Puntos left the Bertone production line in the 1990s, although UK-market RHD models are getting scarce now, with less than 80 surviving examples reported to remain on our roads. It’s worth securing one while you can and while they’re still affordable if you fancy an honest and surprisingly practical back-to-basics family convertible.

Volkswagen Golf Convertible MK3 – 1994–2001

The Volkswagen Golf can almost be credited with the reinvention and popularisation of the modern four-seater soft-top with the launch of the original hatchback-derived Convertible version way back in 1979. Built by VW’s favoured coachbuilder - Karmann of Osnabruck - to replace the aging Beetle Cabriolet, the soft-top Golf arrived a lengthy five years after the launch of the fast-selling Giugiaro-designed hatch model, outliving the regular first-generation Golf by a full ten years, with the last examples made in 1993.

New a collectable classic, with most clean Mark I examples exceeding our modest £2,500 ‘holiday’ limit, buyers on a budget are better advised to look for a more affordable second-generation Golf Convertible, confusingly known as the Mark 3, due to the cabriolet missing a generation of Golf, a trick VW later went on to repeat with the more expensive Mark 4 model as well.

Although a Mark 4 Golf Cabriolet can be found for less than £2,500, for this low budget a tidy Mark 3 model is easier to track down with supply remaining plentiful, even if this third-generation derivative was not one of Volkswagen’s better Golf offerings.

Vauxhall Astra Convertible III and IV – 1991–2004

Possibly not the first family soft-top that springs to mind, Vauxhall offered cheap, honest soft-top fun for four as part of its popular Astra range from 1987, in response to rival Ford’s once dominant Escort Mark 3 Convertible. 

Italian styling house Bertone built the initial two generations of Astra Convertibles up to 2006, with French folding hard-top specialist Heuliez taking over the final ‘Twin Top’ folding hard-top models up to 2010, when the alfresco Astra gave way to the rebranded Vauxhall Cascada.

The fifth-generation Twin Top is the prize pick of the open Astra family, although for our limited £2,500 budget, the more prolific II and IV soft-top models, based on the Mark 2 and 3 hatchback Vauxhalls, will be easier to find at bargain prices, these being preferable to the lame final 1990-2002 Ford Escort rag-top rival which is best avoided with little to recommend it. 

Audi Cabriolet 1991–2000

Okay, it might look like the plush Vanden Plas version of an Austin Allegro with the roof sliced off, but the original Audi 80 B4-based Cabriolet of 1991 was a quality-engineered drop-top, once the wheels of choice of Diana, the Princess of Wales.

Assembled by Karmann alongside its smaller VW Golf Convertible cousin, the Audi was the marque’s first post-war soft-top model, outliving the B4 Audi 80 on which it was based by four years. Scarcer in the UK than its stronger-selling contemporary convertible Saab and BMW rivals, the Audi tends to hold its value better than these premium ex-rivals, although sub-£2,500 examples are still in reasonably plentiful supply and comfortably undercut their larger used Mercedes-Benz E-Class Cabriolet for affordability, with similar high-levels of quality.   

Chrysler PT Cruiser 2005–08

And now for something completely different… The American Chrysler PT Cruiser might be an acquired taste, but its quirky retro-modern appeal and scarcity almost assure its future modern classic status as an early 21^st Century novelty in the collector's car arena. 

Offering more style than substance, the upright and versatile 2000-2010 PT Cruiser five-door ‘truck’ was joined by the niche Convertible derivative in 2005 for a brief three-year production run, with Top Gear Magazine naming the PT Cruiser Convertible as the worst car of the last twenty years for its special 20th-anniversary issue in October 2013!

When the sunshine does finally return, do consider enjoying family trips, driving through the UK’s stunning scenery in a cheap and cheerful convertible as an alternative to spending hours in a hot and crowded airport waiting for a delayed flight.