The engine worked well to power the convertible, which weighs at least 150 pounds more than the PT hatchback. The response from the engine wasn't instantaneous, but the lag was minimal when pressing the accelerator and seeking to move aggressively. Note there also is a second, more powerful turbo, with a 220-horse, high-output turbocharged, 2.4-liter four with 245 lb.-ft. of torque between 2,400 rpm and 4,500 rpm. This is available in the convertible GT model. The PT convertible is not offered with a V6 or V8, as buyers would find in the Ford Mustang convertible. Meantime, the New Beetle and Miata each offers two four-cylinder engines, one turbo and one not.

Fuel economy in the test PT convertible was rated at a rather ho-hum 20 miles a gallon in city driving and 25 mpg on the highway. Regular unleaded being the recommended gasoline.

Beyond the retro look and the two turbos, though, the most impressive part of the PT convertible is the solid ride. I looked for the characteristic convertible shudder as I traversed road bumps and found precious little evidence of it. This is especially true when the top is up on the vehicle. Just about all I saw was a bit of shake at the rearview mirror when I went over bumpy railroad crossings. When I hit sizable road bumps, it felt like the whole car hit them solidly. There wasn't a sensation that the bump jiggled through the entire vehicle structure.

The front-drive test car rode on standard 16-inch wheels and tires. There was some wind and road noise, but nothing that prevented one from conversing with passengers, even with the top down.

The three-layer fabric top, available in black or taupe, is easy to put down. There's one manual chore inside: Grabbing hold of a circular handle at the front of the roof and turning it to release the two latches at the windshield. Then, it's merely a push of a button, and the "smart glass" windows drop a bit - or all the way, depending on which detent you've activated - and the fabric top, with glass rear window, folds down and stows at the back. Note the boot, or cover, for the top must be hauled out of the trunk and installed manually. There are two snaps to hold it in place. But even with the boot on, the top sort of sits up at the back of the vehicle and doesn't allow a clear rear view. The mechanical process reverses when you put the top up.

Seats in this convertible are upright and supportive and a welcome surprise because they don't sit close to the floor. Rather, they're up a bit, with the second-row of seats up even higher than the front ones for a theatre seating effect. However, the rear seats sit on a tall ledge that rises from the floor and the plastic attachments for the seats were always the first things I saw when I climbed into the back. Still, all riders in the PT convertible have a sense that even if it's difficult for them to see around vans and trucks in front of the vehicle, they're not scraping along the pavement, either.

But note that when the top is on, the large rear window pillar blocks the driver's view out to the back and side. And the sport bar as well as sizable front head restraints curtail the views for back-seat riders. Looking for the window buttons? They're in the center stack of the dashboard, not on the doors.

I liked that the retro styling is retained inside the PT convertible as parts of the dashboard sport plastic pieces that coordinate with the exterior paint. And the PT is one small car that doesn't come with a small-car, "beep-beep" horn. Its horn sounds more like that of a larger auto.

There is a lot of weather-stripping on the doors and windows of this car; on the test vehicle, it looked as if it had been installed in a sort of ham-handed manner.

Rear-seat headroom of 36.4 inches is less than the 37.2 inches in the New Beetle convertible. The New Beetle has more front headroom, too, and each time I was in the PT convertible driver's seat I noticed how low the fabric roof came down to join with the top of the windshield. Quite frankly, with the driver's seat adjusted up a ways for me to drive comfortably, I felt as if the roof was located at my forehead. Note the PT convertible's front and rear headroom is also less than that of the PT hatchback. At 60.6 inches tall, the convertible is shorter than the 63-inch-tall hatchback.