Sector: Supermini Price: £19,680 Fuel: 47.9mpg CO2: 137g/km

The Citroën DS3 Cabrio is one of those models that’s so logical and well-judged, that the only real shock is it has taken three years to follow the tin-top.

The fixed roof version has had an eventful three years. Seemingly an unlikely competitor for the retro Fiat 500 and MINI, as well as a leftfield choice for potential Audi A1 customers, Citroën has found homes for over 200,000 of them globally. With its distinctive styling, sharp driving experience, low ownership costs and the ability to make it as masculine or feminine as your tastes dictate, the supermini has helped Citroën reach out to a whole new audience.

It’s a happy audience, too. The DS3 ranked fourth overall in its first JD Power customer satisfaction survey appearance, while topping the supermini class. Spend a few days with one, and you quickly  discover it’s there’s a community of fellow DS3 drivers who flash lights at each other, wave, and exchange admiring conversations in public car parks. All hints that it’s a car which really gets under people’s skin.

A tough act for the Cabrio to follow, but Citroën has worked hard not to dent the car's style. So instead of a retracting to leave only frameless windows behind, the DS3 has a fabric centre section which concertinas to the back of the roof, then neatly piles itself on top of the folded rear glass with a second press of the button behind the rear view mirror. It's a little bit like the old 2CV roll-back roofs, but a lot more elegant.

There are a raft of benefits for taking this route. The DS3’s distinctive floating roof and shark fin B pillar are unaffected, there’s still space for five inside and the boot is the largest in its class. It also adds a mere 25kg to the body weight, and the roof mechanism works at up to 75mph. Ideal if the sun, or the rain, suddenly appears on the motorway.

But it does have a drawback. The curved front section of the roof remains slightly upright even when fully retracted, which acts as a windbreaker for the cabin but also blocks the rear view completely, rendering the mirror redundant. Tight spaces tend to require complete faith in the parking sensors (which it's interesting to note are standard fit on all Cabrios, but only on DSport hatchbacks), or sliding the roof up to the top of the rear window to get some visibility back.

Otherwise, though, it’s a great alternative to the compact cabriolet set. There’s a little more wind noise and some scuttle shake on really rough surfaces, but it’s remarkably quiet at motorway speeds and feels as agile, responsive and taut as the hatchback when the mood takes you. Details such as the way mirrors and interior accents are matched to the pearlescent roof fabric, and those gorgeous three-dimensional rear lights with the DS monogram are all reminders that French design flair runs deep through its DNA.

It’s a petrol-only range at launch, starting with the all-new 112g/km three-cylinder VTi 82 and topped out with the multi award-winning THP 155 tested here. This most potent engine gives the car entertaining pace and versatility, though not quite enough to call it a hot hatch, yet it’ll average fuel economy of over 40mpg on mixed routes. Diesels, including a 99g/km version, are due to follow shortly.

Verdict:

Priced at around £1,000 less than an equivalent MINI Cooper S, the DS3 Cabrio manages the tough task of adding even more appeal to the supermini’s already popular family without losing any of the hatchback’s character.