At one point in time, I would have thought German technology infallible.

This car changed my mind. It’s suddenly changed my perceptions from the gruff of Schwarzenegger, to that fat Prussian kid on The Simpsons that when poked with fervor yells, “Don’t make me run, I am full of chocolate!”

Its Bertone styling is handsome without being too pretty (though some see it as a girl’s car. Thanks Liz!) and it reeks of BMW 3 series inside. So what could be the problem you ask?

The pop top goes down with the press of a button. It’s even got what I’ve always wanted, one button that sends all your windows down in a pillar less convertible. In my book, next to the new Mazda RX8’s suicide doors, that kind of stuff is pure class.

Let me put it this way. If you’re easily pleased, the Astra convertible is a winner. Leather, chrome rims around the gauges and an extremely European (reading BMW) feel.

Except for the chrome Holden badge on the steering wheel that screams home one ethos, ‘great looks, agricultural engines’. As the GM CEO Bob Lutz said, ‘you can have too much quality’. Hopefully some of you will be saying to yourselves right now ‘duh’.

When you lift the silk sheet that is the pricey Astra convertible, the fruit starts to look a little rotten. Let’s starts with the 4 speed auto. For this kind of bananas, you want a BMW style tip-tronic auto box. It does have a sports mode which lets each gear sit on the rev limiter till your heart’s content - which is good if you like the sound of a Toyota Hiace. It goes adequately, and it’s not totally slow, but it’s no prize when it comes to performance. The turbo would be a welcome option.

Without that snail, it’s a very commercial sounding and feeling engine. It could really use the likes of the magic Nissan SR20 (in the 200SX and SSS Pulsar), or albeit not my taste the Honda VTEC with its sexy whistle in the upper rev ranges. Besides, what the hell is Ecotec anyway?

So mechanically she’s no prize. Well at least the suspension feels a little firm like a sports car. Or maybe it’s just the lack of metal above the head that means reasonably smooth surfaces feel a tad bumpy? You’d expect a luxo cruiser like this to soak them up good and proper but it’s rough and the roof tends to shake.

Speaking of the roof, it goes up automatically, it goes down automatically. It also likes to blow half way open on the freeway at cruising speeds, causing your ears to pop and your lovely leather interior to get quite wet. Then the automatic roof raising mechanism gets dang complicated when it goes pear shaped and is difficult to close.

And to think, there I was thinking this hun was designed for ‘ze autobahns’. Fat chance. Well the engine might be, but the roof couldn’t stand 4 bars of a Kraftwerk concert.

Despite that little roof blowing incident, you can say about this car is that it actually has a boot. The solid top Mercedes SLK cabriolet and Lexus well and truly don’t. When the top was up it never once leaked, nor was the cabin cold. The climate control in this thing is absolutely marvelous. So to is the digital display in the centre of the dash, which tells you the temperature, stereo details etc.

One thing you notice straight away is that this ain’t no BMW when you put your foot on the brakes. That brake pad smell will hit your senses after hitting the stoppers hard. One thing you never get with the Z3 – which you could get a great second hand one for the price of this with change to spare.

So while this car might suit the latté set, don’t have any great expectations of BMW quality beyond the cock pit. It might be reasonably priced for a German made rag top convertible, and it’s probably fantastic against the Renault Megane, but amongst her own, she’s Claudia Schiffer in a push-up bra.

Drive a BMW convertible, a Honda S2000 maybe, then drive the Astra and you know where all the extra money went. But each unto their own. But I am not one for badge value but I’d definitely choose a second hand Beamer because good brakes, tip-tronic transmissions and sexy sounding engines mean something in my book. And in all those respects, this one’s a rotter.