2003 Audi A4 Cabriolet 3.0

Carnival! On Tenerife, it's three glorious weeks of dancing, parades and exhibitions (key word here being exhibition in all its definitions, as barely clad and frequently cross-dressed celebrants are the norm). It's a mad, frenzied farewell to the flesh and an accompanying spirit of revelry. I was only there for two days at the beginning of Carnival, yet I was determined to take part in the festivities. I didn't have a costume, so I opted for another Mardi Gras tradition: I went topless the entire time. Thanks to Audi, though, I didn't have to worry about sunburning sensitive body parts; my celebration was enjoying top-down driving in the new A4 Cabriolet.

Topless under a sunny Canarian sky was a perfect way to start Carnival. The new Cabriolet has all of the new A4's inherent excellence-performance, luxury, safety-with the added fun factor of a convertible top. Visually, you know immediately it's an A4-the double grille, the three-tube headlight unit, the same rear-end profile with dual exhaust outlets-yet a closer look reveals a few styling details unique to the convertible. The windshield and waist are trimmed with brushed aluminum; the front and rear skirts and rocker panels are body colored; the roof has a wider arch; and, obviously, it has only two doors. Although I'm still getting used to the A4 sedan's new look, the edgier contours and wedge shape really work for the Cabriolet. This is one very good-looking car.

The interior is equally appealing. Real wood trim is found on the dashboard, door panels, gearshift surround and ashtrays. The air vents are round la TT, not rectangle as in the sedan, and are ringed with aluminum. The comfortable and supportive leather-clad, heated, 12-way "sporty" power front seats with four-way lumbar adjustment are standard (sport seats with premium leather are optional), as is the leather-wrapped three-spoke steering wheel. (Note: the interior pictured on page 42 is for the European five-speed manual 2.4L and 3.0L versions.) The back seats sans windscreen can actually sit two normal-sized persons. The A4 really is a four-seat convertible.

Fully automated, the triple-layered, padded top opens in 24 sec. There are no latches to release or secure; everything is done with one touch of a button. The rear window is glass-no skank-prone plastic on this model-and has an electric defroster. When open, the top is completely hidden by the body-flush well cover, thus maintaining the Cabrio's sleek appearance.

Top down, and the wind deflector in place, the interior is remarkably calm. And quiet. The low 0.33 Cd (top open, 0.30 with it closed) plays a large part in cabin tranquility. Conversation can be held at normal volume, and at speed there is no need to manually crank up the second-gen Audi Symphony stereo with AM/FM/cassette and in-dash six-disc CD changer-the GALA (graduated audio level adjustment) automatically varies the volume for you.

To compensate for the lower torsional rigidity inherent in a convertible, the A4 has an optimized bodyshell (more than twice as stiff as the previous model) reinforced by a bolted-on subframe and front and rear diagonal struts. This makes the B6-platform-based Cabriolet 112 percent more rigid than its B3 predecessor.

My driving partner and I gave the convertible the ultimate torsional rigidity test by traversing what had to be the worst road (and I use the meaning of road loosely) during our drive. It was all because of the Camel Walk, a camel-ride ranch at the southern end of the island. We simply had to see the camels, and the way down to the ranch was a rock-strewn, rut-pocked, steeply graded path. After our detour, we both commented on how tight the Cabriolet felt: Cowl shake and chassis shimmy were negligible.