It's becoming a trend. Taking your top off, that is. And with the likes of the Opel Tigra Twin Top, having a coupé-cum-convertible is no longer the exclusive purview of the well-heeled. But beware: the Tigra is cutely deceptive.
It looks the part but the engines Opel has stuck under the now familiar Astra-like bonnet with its chromed strip and trademark flash are not for boy-racers.
The 1.4 - dubbed Enjoy - lives up to its name: enjoy the smells, take in the flowers and the admiring glances from just about everyone. But look the other way when the lad in his GTi pulls up next to you and gives you the nod.
Opel has been quite open, though, about the fact that the Enjoy Tigra lets you get into open-topped motoring for under R200 000. Well, let's put it this way, you get R50 back from R200 000.
And remember, it's a very selfish car, with place for only two.
The Tigra Twin Top is a great looker, particularly when the metal roof has done its thing and folded convolutedly into the boot. But it's as easy as undoing the twin latches at each A pillar and pushing a button, and in roughly 20 seconds the Tigra has shed its Twin Top.
When that's been achieved, you realise how steeply raked the windscreen is - and how large it is. There's brushed aluminium-look roll bar behind the headrests - a one-piece affair kinked in places, reminiscent of the shape of those cone-like bras worn by the Marilyn Monroes of the 1950s.
Under the bonnet of the Tigra Enjoy I drove recently was Opel's 1400cc DOHC four-cylinder unit (output a modest 66kW) driving the front wheels through a five-speed manual gearbox.
It's not even worth quoting performance figures because they're irrelevant.
Suffice to say, the Tigra Enjoy will happily cruise at the national speed limit, with the roof down, in relative quiet. The 1.4 unit isn't noisy unless pushed, when Opel's racy exhaust note comes into play.
Unless you have to stop, even rain won't come into the cockpit with the roof down.
Opel's pliable suspension, with its great roadholding capability, keeps the Tigra Enjoy in touch with the tarmac. Throw it around the twisty bits and it's compliant and forgiving, if not at the edge of performance.
Braking is by a disc-drum set-up with ABS and they're pretty good stoppers, easily pulling up the lightweight Tigra.
While storage space is at a premium, Opel has been quite smart: when the roof's down, there's still plenty of boot room (enough for a set of clubs) plus a large, accessible storage area behind the seats.
Well appointed
The interior is well-appointed with remote central locking giving access through fairly large doors to the cloth-upholstered sports seats, which are comfortable and supportive.
Electric windows and mirrors are standard, as is air-conditioning and a radio/CD/MP3 sound system. Four crash bags take care of safety.
The Astra version of the Tigra has just been launched at the Frankfurt show. Price is likely to be critical in SA but in the Tigra's case, you can enjoy the Enjoy without the telephone number price tag.