Practicality 3.0/5

ADDING a folding roof to the Evoque reduces boot space from 420 litres in the coupé to 251 litres in the Convertible. Access is compromised by the ‘letterbox’ style opening, but having the roof down doesn’t reduce the load area. The back seats don’t fold, but you can add a ski hatch to Dynamic cars for £210; it’s standard on Dynamic Lux.

Access to the rear is a bit tight with the roof up, although there’s plenty of shoulder room. Legroom isn’t great, and the cabin’s high sides combine with the low roof to make it feel a bit claustrophobic with the roof up. With the hood down, the thick windscreen header rail stops right above the front seat passengers, but this detracts from the Evoque’s open-top feel.

Road tests

THIS new Cabriolet lines up alongside the C-class saloon, Estate and Coupé bodystyles. It’s based on the last of these models, and slots in below the E-class Cabriolet in the Mercedes range.

There’s a broad range of engines on offer, from a 2.1-litre diesel to the firebreathing twin-turbo V8 in the AMG C 63 S. Here we test the C 220d diesel with 4MATIC four-wheel drive and a nine-speed automatic transmission in AMG Line Premium Plus trim, which costs £44,600.

Styling 4.3/5

COMPARED with the Evoque Convertible, the C-class Cabriolet is a wholly conventional-looking four-seater drop-top. However, that doesn’t mean it blends into the background, because Mercedes has found its design mojo. This car stands out with its combination of swooping lines and neat detailing. It largely shares the C-class Coupé’s elegant lines, albeit with a fabric roof in place of that car’s tin-top.

Up front, the grille is adorned with a large threepointed star (which houses some of the sensors for the electronic driving aids), and there is a pair of LED headlamp clusters with distinctive daytime running lights. Curves arch back from the nose, along the car’s flanks to the tail, where the rounded rear and slender lamps complete the look.

Overall, the C-class Cabriolet resembles a shrunken version of the S-class Cabriolet, while choosing this AMG Line model adds a sharp bodykit, 18-inch five-spoke alloy wheels and a diamond-finish grille. Unlike the Range Rover, the soft-top can be ordered in a variety of contrasting colours for no extra cost. The roof is a bit slower to operate than the Evoque’s, taking 18.3 seconds to open and 20.8 seconds to close, but you can do this at speeds of up to 37mph.

Inside, the car has the same upmarket feel as the C-class saloon, with plenty of metal switches and high-grade plastics throughout. You get Mercedes’ familiar tablet-style infotainment screen on top of the dash, controlled via the COMAND wheel ahead of the central armrest, and the Cabriolet adds a bank of three switches behind that for the roof, Aircap and four-window opening.

Aircap is the manufacturer’s name for the wind deflectors on top of the windscreen header rail and behind the back seats, and it’s fitted as standard on the Cabriolet. The Airscarf neck heater is also included, as are heated seats, sat-nav, those LED headlights and Artico synthetic leather. If you want more luxury, Mercedes offers Premium and Premium Plus packages that add goodies such as LED ambient lighting, a high-end Burmester stereo and memory seats.

Driving 4.0/5

UNLIKE the Range Rover’s engine, the C 220d’s 2.1-litre diesel fires up with a bit of a rattle, but it soon settles into a quiet thrum at idle. With the roof down, the four-cylinder is a bit more vocal than the Evoque’s, but it’s not intrusive enough to be distracting, while the smooth-shifting nine-speed auto helps the motor turn at low revs at higher speeds.

Roof-down cruising is enjoyable at any speed, courtesy of the Aircap system. While the raised windscreen header rail looks a bit unsightly when it’s up, and does generate some wind noise at high speeds, it deflects airflow over the cabin so effectively that you can cruise on the motorway and remain untroubled by buffeting. Combine it with the deflector behind the back seats when you have all the windows raised, and the C-class is smooth and refined when driving with the top down. It’s the same story with the roof up, as the multi-layered hood is quiet even at motorway speeds.

As the C 220d is nearly 200kg lighter than the Evoque, it’s no surprise that it was faster in our acceleration tests, even though the 168bhp diesel is 10bhp down on the Range Rover’s 2.0-litre unit. The Mercedes’ nine-speed auto delivers crisper shifts than the Evoque’s gearbox, and we managed a time of 7.5 seconds through the gears from 30-70mph.

The C-class Cabriolet is more agile in corners, too. Its lower centre of gravity and sports suspension mean it’s more eager to change direction than the Evoque, although the Mercedes does resort to understeer when pushed hard. And while there is some movement in the chassis thanks to the removal of the roof, it doesn’t feel quite as flexible as its rival here. The 4MATIC drive system makes its presence felt only in slippery conditions, meanwhile.

Ownership 3.9/5

. THE C-class Cabriolet uses the same platform as the C-class saloon, so that car’s five-star Euro NCAP rating applies here. You still get seven airbags, while park assist, tiredness recognition and city braking are all included. Rollover protection is also deployed if the worst should happen. If you specify the £1,695 Driving Assistance Package, blind-spot assist, lane keeping and adaptive cruise are added to the kit list.

Mercedes’ dealers were rated more highly than Land Rover’s in our Driver Power 2016 satisfaction survey, but a 20th-place finish isn’t great. Still, the network ranked ahead of those of BMW and Audi.

Running costs 3.8/5

WITH the Premium Plus Pack added, the C 220d 4MATIC is £44,600, which undercuts the entry-level Evoque Convertible by nearly £3,000. Add the lower emissions, and that means higher-rate company users will save nearly £900 a year in Benefit in Kind costs.

Economy of 34.7mpg on test was similar to the Evoque’s, yet the Merc’s 66-litre tank means the car can travel 500 miles between fills. Mercedes offers a service plan on the Cabriolet for £35 per month, but this works out at £1,260 over three years – more than double the cost of Land Rover’s five-year plan. Residuals of 45 per cent are nothing to write home about, either, compared with the Evoque’s 52 per cent prediction.

Practicality 3.2/5

THE Mercedes is the more practical car here, thanks to its 360-litre boot. Its opening is wider, and as with the Range Rover, space isn’t affected wherever the roof is positioned. The Mercedes’ back seats can be folded to make more room, too, but the opening is narrow.

Those seats are more comfortable and heavily sculpted than the Range Rover’s, although the C-class has the same claustrophobic feel as its rival with the roof up. Front room is great, and as the screen isn’t as raked as the Evoque’s, you get a greater sensation of space. Storage is the same as in the C-class Coupé, with a big bin ahead of the gearlever, a split-level glovebox and decent door bins.