You could poke a lot of stereotypes at this type of car and we’d bet most of them would revolve around what they call, er.. pink money. I must admit that most of us guys would feel more than just a little awkward driving around in a 206CC or a Tigra.

Or possibly any coupe-cabriolet for that matter. But chances are you read this magazine because you’re into performance cars, and you might be surprised to find a little more substance lurking in some of the ‘grown up’ CCs you see here. Put simply, if you’ve ever longed for some real hot-hatch rivalling performance while you’re spitting bugs off your teeth, you’re on the right page.

These coupe-cabriolets are a more upmarket rendering of the craze started by the Peugeot 206 CC. The theory behind them is simple – in that you can now experience the charms of an open top, but still enjoy the cleaner aesthetics and better insulation brought by a hard top when the weather isn’t playing along. But enthusiasts are quick to argue about the performance and dynamic disadvantages of these heavier tops – why do you think marques like Audi and Porsche have stuck to the soft top format?

Like it or not, CCs are here to stay and they’ve become mainstream almost overnight. Peugeot was first in this class with its 307 CC, but it didn’t take Renault long to whisk in its glass-roofed Megane CC – and now there are more powerful entrants in this market, with the Opel Astra TwinTop 2.0T, Volkswagen Eos 2.0T FSI and Volvo C70 T5 featured here.

While they’ll always look good with the top down, CCs are also meant to look good as coupes too. Sadly that’s seldom the case, even these four look rather disproportionate thanks to those short cabins and long boots needed to fit the roof. That’s especially true in the case of the Renault, with its squared-off, boat-like tail. The others show a bit more design effort. Though we could argue about which is the best looking, we like the Opel’s wedge-like shape that best disguises that dreaded CC look. Eos is a good effort too, with VW’s most modern front end to date, and an elegantly detailed rear – it’s also the only car here that doesn’t share any styling elements with any other car from its stable. The Volvo’s well-creased profile is also pleasing to the eye, although the rest of it is more clean-cut than inspiring.

It’s no secret that all four cars will transform from coupes to cabriolets at the push of a button, but it doesn’t end there. The VW and Renault, for instance, have glass tops – and the VW even has a sunroof within this contraption. So even when the top’s up and the weather’s looking sad, an airy atmosphere inside the cabin is almost guaranteed – and if you’re trying to avoid tanning your scalp (ask this writer about that) the glass sections can be covered pretty easily.

Not all were created equally when it comes to roof mechanisms, however, and despite each carmaker having this boastful claim about how quickly its roof can fold into oblivion, we took out a stop watch to see for ourselves.

The quickest roof down? You wouldn’t have guessed this, but the Renault was the one to beat, taking just 18.1 seconds, followed by the VW’s 25.5, Opel’s 27.2 and Volvo’s 31.2.

The real interesting story starts when you open the bonnets. While the Renault is the only naturally aspirated car here (although the Opel and VW also offer similarly equipped engines), the Renault plays the best value card here by far. And if you’re only in it for the boulevard cruising, its 98kW 2-litre engine should be more than adequate for bustling traffic.

If real performance is on your agenda, the remaining three are definitely worth the price premium. If you like the Opel Astra 2.0T and the VW Golf GTI, you’ll be glad to know that their respective 2-litre turbo-charged engines sit under the hoods of these two cabrios. Though the extra weight counts against them, the performance you’re getting here can hardly be sniffed at. Both offer the same power outputs, but it’s no secret that the VW’s engine is the best – its direct-injection head layout makes it torquier and more flexible – and it’s also more efficient.

Yet the Opel’s unit still holds its own well enough in the performance stakes and we really loved that rorty exhaust note. The Volvo is by far the most expensive car here – but it’s also the biggest and most powerful. Under the hood you’ll find another hand-me-down pocket rocket in the form of its 2.5-litre 5-cylinder turbocharged mill, good for 162kW and 320Nm. It should have run away from this pack, however the Geartronic autobox fitted to the test unit, and the car’s heavier kerb weight, stifled these efforts. Our vehicle also suffered from launch failure, so if you live at altitude, best you opt for the manual version.

Bone-rattling scuttle shake is a thing of the past with these cars, though they all displayed it in smallish doses over rutted roads. If we have to nit-pick, we’d say the VW and Volvo were the least prone to this, while the Opel was the biggest hand-full on bad roads.

All of these CCs are front-wheel driven, but there’s little to criticize in the handling department. The VW and Volvo do have an upper hand with their multi-link rear suspension systems. The VW also has the most positive and communicative steering feel, while the Renault and Volvo feel on the vague side and the Opel annoys with more torque kick than we’d really like.

It’s inside the cabins that you really see the price difference between these cars. That said, the Renault’s interior is far from worst and we were impressed with the quality of its surfaces and the ambience brought about by its glass roof. The Opel’s interior falls short of this pack, with a less elegant design, cheaper materials and controls that aren’t always within good reach.

Get inside the VW and you’re comparing chalk and cheese – you can see it’s based on the Golf’s facia design, with a few unique design touches making that fact less obvious and it definitely has the most up market feel and the classiest finishes. The Volvo’s interior is clean and neat, and very well laid out – but still trails the VW for ambience.

When it comes to interior space, all four will be a squeeze for rear passengers, but we found the VW and Volvo to be the most spacious in this regard. Boot space is equally compromised in this type of car – you’ll find ample trunk space when the roof’s up – ranging from 380 litres in the VW to 490 litres in the Renault, but will have to settle for around 200 litres within a small and hard-to-reach cavity when you lower the roofs of these cabrios.

It’s tough to choose a winner here because these are not really the most direct of rivals – and in all fairness the Renault dishes out a big performance penalty for its price advantage. Between the cheapies, the Opel offers by far the best value for performance-minded buyers – as it’s a mere R20K dearer than the Renault.

You’ll pay a R65K premium for the VW, but if you want the extra ambience and exclusivity, it might well be worth it. In fact, the VW is so good, we’d find it hard to justify the extra R100K premium that the Volvo commands.

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