Cabriolet takes soft top option

Returning to Britain on Eurotunnel should have been a formality but there was a steely glint in the eye of the HM Customs official...

"Are you aware that it's illegal to smuggle firearms or any other weapons into the UK, sir?"

She was polite. But menacing.

"Erm, all we've got is a few bottles of wine in the boot," I ventured timidly.

I could see her thinking that the two men in the brand new BMW had gone a long way to southern Spain simply to beat the Chancellor's tax increase on wine - and we were ordered to drive into 'Garage 1' for the car to be inspected.

Luckily, we didn't even get searched in the end, as BMW's documentation was sufficiently comprehensive to convince the Customs officers that we were on a bona fide press trip.

In retrospect, I suppose it must have looked a bit shifty. But our purpose was not to smuggle a case of replica Uzis into the UK, it was merely to put the Germans' latest convertible through its paces.

And we figured a trip of 1,800 miles, calling in at Seville, Caceres, Salamanca, San Sebastian, Bordeaux, and La Rochelle before arriving at Calais was plenty long enough to enable us to decide on the merits of the car.

We picked up the vehicle, a 120i SE, at Jerez and the first impressions were of a rather stylish rag-top. BMW already has the Z4 soft-top, of course, but that's a strict two-seater with more of a sports focus. The 1 is more practical, with four seats and a bigger boot.

There's often more than a touch of 'hairdresser' about a soft-top but the design team has worked hard to give the 1 a muscular look with a pronounced shoulder line and typically aggressive BMW front. Like all the other members of the 1 Series, it has its own distinct look.

At first only the 120i and 125i will be available with diesels and other derivatives following later. The 120i comes with a range of EfficientDynamics measures, designed to reduce emissions and boost economy.

With BMW's 3 Series Convertible being quite an upmarket car the 1 Series enjoys a healthy price advantage, starting at around £22,000 (for the forthcoming 318i) compared with £31,000 for the cheapest 3 Series Convertible.

The main feature distinguishing it from the 3 is its roof. The 3 has a posh (but heavy) metal folding roof, while the 1 comes with a fabric top.

Some may be concerned about going for a soft top rather than a hard one but the quality of the hood is excellent.

The fit is nice and taut and noise levels are relatively low. It can also be retracted or put up at speeds of up to 30mph - which is very useful if you get caught in a rainstorm, as we did in the Pyrenees. The procedure is electronic and takes 22 seconds.

You can jazz up the roof a little by opting for the £70 Anthracite Silver Fleck finish, featuring metallic fibres interwoven into the fabric.

The lack of a hard top also means extra boot space. You get a decent 260 litres even when the roof is down.

SE trim includes desirable features like climate control air conditioning, electric mirrors and parking sensors as standard.

A wind deflector is near essential in any cabrio if you don't want to be buffeted from pillar to post. The BMW one costs £220 and doubles as a parcel shelf for light items like documents when folded down.

I guess the deflector could be a source of rattles after a while but generally the build quality is good. Just run your hands along the inside of the door pockets. In many vehicles the edges are sharp and poorly finished. In the BMW they are nice and smooth.

The seats are comfortable - my driving colleague suffers from a bad back yet completed the marathon journey without any ill-effects.

The driving position is good and visibility is only an issue with the roof up. There's not much in the way of storage for nick-nacks, though. Our car did not even have a cup-holder which would have been useful during the long schleps across Spain and France.

What did come as a pleasant surprise, however, was the amount of room in the back. None of the 1 Series BMWs is particularly well-endowed in this respect but there's enough room to take a couple of kids on short journeys.

The 1 handles well for a soft-top with less flexing than other cabrios and decent driving dynamics. As we found when we took a detour in Navarre, near Pamplona, to drive along some superb, deserted roads in the foothills of the Pyrenees - easily the highlight of the trip.

The four-cylinder two litre engine is well suited to the car and offers reasonable performance, though it is weak in the mid-range and needs to be pushed.

The six-cylinder 125i is the more effortless performer, while the forthcoming diesel 120d offers the potentially unbeatable combination of 50mpg and a 0-60mph time of around eight seconds.

They all come in the same attractive package though and the 1 Series looks like it will be in demand this summer.

It may be compact but there's enough space for a couple to fit in their luggage and enjoy a weekend away in the country - or even abroad.

Just take care going through customs and watch out for the granite-faced woman with a steely glint in her eye when you come back...

By Peter Carroll