As one of the UK's very few affordable diesel powered convertibles, Citroen's C3 Pluriel HDi certainly isn't your run of the mill topless tot. It's shot through with a heady combination of practicality and quirkiness and while this dual personality may take a little while to get used to, the car itself is as innovative as Citroens of yesteryear. If you can't decide whether you're a hedonist or a pragmatist, the Pluriel HDi may well be the car(s) for you.

For too long it seems that car manufacturers have labelled those who want a drop top as correspondingly uninterested in anything remotely practical. The Pluriel HDi follows the lead of other diesel convertibles but in bringing these attributes to the supermini class achieves some remarkable figures. The 70bhp 1.4-litre HDi common rail diesel engine will return a scarcely credibly 63mpg on the combined cycle rising to 71mpg on out of town driving. If you like the feel of the wind in your hair in any place other than a windswept filling station forecourt, the Pluriel HDi looks set to fit the bill perfectly.

An open topped car that may well spend most of its time on the city streets may not sound a very appetising prospect but owners can console themselves with the fact that the Pluriel HDi emits just 125g of carbon dioxide per kilometre, thus making it one of the cleanest convertibles ever constructed. As well as being clean, the Pluriel is reassuringly safe. Euro NCAP crash tests named it Europe's safest supermini, its high score helped in no small part by roof arches reinforced with sturdy aluminium tubes, strengthened windscreen pillars a stiffened body shell and reinforced rear seats and head restraints. Four airbags are fitted as standard as well as anti lock brakes with Electronic Brakeforce Distribution and Emergency Braking Assistance.

Priced at £14,395 and now available only in well specified Cote D'Azur form, the Pluriel HDi is often subject to cashback deals that can knock anything up to £1,500 off this price, making it conspicuously good value. By contrast a Vauxhall Tigra 1.3 CDTi looks pricey. The Vauxhall and the Citroen will nevertheless aim at different markets. If you want a car that will put a huge grin on your face at the way it tackles a corner, the Vauxhall is the clear winner. If, on the other hand, you prefer tiny running costs, four seat practicality, a quirky personality and all round versatility, the Pluriel HDi is by far the better bet. After all, a sprint to 60mph in 16.1 seconds and a top speed of 98mph probably won't do much for the press-on driver.

With its full-length canvas roof in place, few would finger the Pluriel as a convertible, the shapely glasshouse and the seemingly fixed rear window giving it the appearance of a quirkily styled three-door hatch. Slide the canvas section back, fold the rear window cartridge down into the spare wheel cavity and house the gloss finish roof rails in their deckchair like holder and you then have a full convertible. No rollover hoops or bulky tonneau covers sully the appealing shape. What's more, there's even a reasonable amount of space in the boot once the hood has been dropped.

"Genuine fans of the marque will be rubbing their hands in glee as the Pluriel resolutely ploughs its own furrow "

Built at Citroen's Madrid factory, the Pluriel offers similar interior quality to the C3 hatch. Despite the 1999 show car displaying an interior of quite baffling design flair, the production Pluriel's interior is largely C3. That means neat, easy to operate design and the C3's facelifted dash board with its higher grade plastics and more upmarket feel. The door panels have been given a boost too with the same themes as the curvy facia. The effect is a definite improvement. One key drawback of the Pluriel's design is that the bulky roof rails cannot be stored in the car upon removal, instead residing in their holder in your garage. Therefore you don't have the option of pulling over to the roadside and dropping the roof to form a full convertible as you can in a Peugeot 207CC. Once you have left the rails at home, you're committed to open top motoring for the day, come rain or shine. One suspects we won't see too many Pluriels plying our roads in full convertible mode.

Despite these limitations, the Pluriel is still a very appealing choice and even with the black 'tusks' in place it feels very airy when the canvas roof is retracted, the side windows are dropped and the back glass is slotted out of sight. Rear seat passengers will have just as much fun as front seat occupants and they'll also feel reassured by thee Pluriel's high waistline. It handles fairly neatly, the comfort-oriented suspension doing a good job of soaking up most surface imperfections that might otherwise betray a wobbly scuttle. Citroen's engineers are proud of the reinforcing work they've done on the Pluriel and the fact that it weighs about 150kg more than its hatchback equivalent is testament to this effort. Only over the very worst potholes will you provoke any shudder from the chassis.

There's a reasonable amount of space in the back for four, although five would be a tight squeeze as both knee room and shoulder space would be at a premium. Some of you may have spotted that the rear screen folds into the spare wheel well, thus signifying a lack of said wheel. Rather than rely on the commonplace - and usually quite useless - puncture repair aerosol, Citroen has done the right thing and fitted the Pluriel with Michelin PAX run flat tyres. Cars stranded on the roadside are never a great advertisement. Quite how the various water seals and roof parts stand up to the wear and tear of real world motoring remains to be seen but at first glance they appear well fabricated.

As for equipment, well what marks this car out? Externally, the roof arches, door handles, rubbing strips and bumper inserts all get aluminium finishes and they look good against the backdrop of a range of smart body colours that now include a hue that Citroen calls 'Burlat' (no I didn't know what it was either). Completing the exterior tweaks is a metallic front grille and revised front and rear lights. There's also a polished chrome effect on the door handles and upgraded upholstery. In addition to the standard equipment which includes, front fog lights, leather steering wheel, electric front and rear windows and electric door mirrors, the Cote d'Azur also features Cruise Control with Speed Limiter. Plus you can expect to find a leather steering wheel and leather finish door handles.

The diesel version of the Pluriel in many ways makes the most sense of all the models. The Pluriel is never really going to appeal as a driver's car so the logical thing therefore is to choose the model that makes the most sense. Some may question whether sense and a cabriolet cum targa cum pickup are mutually compatible concepts but think it through and you'll accept the logic.

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	Citroen C3 1.4HDi Exclusive 2dr Pluriel Convertible
	ETR	Mthly £234	Saving £2,670	Price £12,355

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PCP finance quote over 48 months,  10,000 miles pa,  deposit of £1000