There are very few convertibles launched in India, and that makes sense. North Indian summers are excruciatingly hot and elsewhere in the country, although the heat may be milder, it is coupled with humidity levels that would melt even the hardiest soul. And then there are the monsoons.
A few months ago, while driving a Mini Convertible on a day which dumped over 60mm of rain on Delhi, you learn that even the most capable and well-engineered roofs can spring a leak. Convertibles are designed for the milder stretches of European summers. Clearly not for India, where even the panoramic sunroofs of some imports seem decidedly odd on a hot summers day.
But there are stretches in the Delhi winter when one can put the roof down and enjoy the amazing feeling of having the wind running through your hair. Given that having the wind run through your hair is currently illegal in Delhi if you own a motorcycle and sticking your head out of a moving vehicle’s window is downright dangerous, this is a great legal high.
It is pleasant 22 degrees outside and the sun is out, so it might on the face of it seem like a good time to put the roof down on the lovely Audi A3 Convertible that I am driving. The problem is that the Particulate Matter counts for the day are already in the red zone; both the finer PM2.5 and the bigger PM10 particulate matter counts. This is clearly visible in the air as the blue sky merges into a brown-ish horizon, although the day is better than most so far this December.
And that is a pity, because with the air rushing through your hair also come assorted dust particles. Drive a convertible in Delhi or elsewhere in the NCR, and you will require a gallon of shampoo and face-wash at the end of the drive.
There is another problem, convertibles are so rare in India that when you do put the roof down, the entire 15-30 second process attracts gawkers by the dozen. People stop their motorcycles and cars to come observe the process. It is rather disconcerting to attract a crowd, and this is happens everywhere. Drive with the roof down and chances are that buses full of schoolchildren will cheer you. And of course, the occasional western diplomat will look at you and think that you are utterly crazy to be doing such a thing.
And you get asked questions. While that is a fact of life of any automotive reviewer, particularly if you have a new car, I have been chased down a highway by a group of men in a Scorpio who wanted to take a look at the Suzuki Baleno ahead of its launch, not one of the more pleasant experiences of my life although a high-speed chase is good fun. But with a convertible you get asked things, “Baarish mein kya karte hoIJ” (What do you do in the rainIJ) and tens of requests to operate the roof. It is like you are an entertainer on wheels. If you want to get noticed on the roads, there is no car quite like a car with its roof down. Unless it is car in the process of taking its roof down.
But the first paragraph of this story elucidates why convertibles are rare in India, and when you take such cars out on smaller highways they do attract attention. And while it is an amazing feeling to drive with one’s roof down, it may not be the smartest thing to do in Delhi this winter. Car climate-control units have very advanced and sophisticated air filters right now, and the air in cars is almost always cleaner than the air outside even in places like Scandinavia. The air in Delhi is currently best described as toxic and driving with the roof down is possibly insane for this one reason.
And because convertibles are so rare in India, the Audi A3 Convertible is a completely built-up import unlike assembled-in-India A3, so it costs a pretty penny. `44.75 lakh ex-showroom New Delhi; that is over 10 lakh more than top-end variant of the sedan and almost 20 lakh more than the entry-level A3 in India.
Keep in mind that thanks to the roof mechanism, you lose a large part of the boot space. It is also available solely with the 1.8-litre 178 horsepower petrol engine, which is a nice and peppy motor that ensures you always have enough power to get out of tough situations. However, being a convertible and thus losing the structural rigidity of the roof and the B-Pillar, it doesn’t have the handling performance of the sedan.
The Mini Convertible is more affordable though at around `34 lakh; it is a very cute little car but even less practical than the A3. And the current Mini Convertible in India is based on the second-generation Mini and is not expected to be replaced until the middle of next year.
So should you buy a convertible in IndiaIJ On a winter’s day it can be a pleasure to drive, but thanks to the smog this is one of the pleasures that has been snatched away from us.