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I HAD no idea what was waiting for me when it arrived at the huge airport car park.

Well, strictly speaking that’s not entirely true because I did know its name.

It was a Lexus GS F, so it was going to be big, incredibly fuel efficient thanks to its Lexus style combination of petrol and electric power, and surprisingly fast for a hybrid.

Why am I still impressed by hybrids? You’d think I’d have got used to them by now. Anyway, I found it fairly quickly and just got in and drove.

Growled

Next thing I found myself in a massive motorway traffic jam, but that was fine because I’d already selected Eco out of its four different driving modes. After all this was a Lexus, dear chap, and it should be driven in the quiet and refined way that you expect Lexus drivers to behave.

Anyway, the traffic jam started to clear so I thought I’d move it into “normal” mode and guess what, the bloody thing growled at me. How dare it? Lexi just don’t do that sort of thing. It did strike me that this could be quite a quick car so I stoked ENGINE: TOP SPEED: MPG: I RECENTLY retired and have £45,000 to spend on something a bit special. It needs to be a convertible and last me a few years, so nothing too leggy please. There’s plenty of tantalising stuff around at your price range, with highend luxury cars often losing a good chunk of their value in the first year.

Luckily for you, this means you can bag a 2015 Jaguar F-Type within budget.

The example we’ve found has covered 24,000 miles and comes with a strong range of equipment including satnav and electric sport seats. Powered by a sonorous 375hp 3.0-litre V6, 0-62mph is doneand-dusted in just 4.8 seconds with the top speed rated at 171mph. Yours for £45,000.

Next up is a 2015 MercedesBenz SL400, coming in with just 7,400 miles on the clock and a full service history.

Powered by a 328hp 3.0-litre petrol engine, this drop-top isn’t quite as quick as the F-Type – with 0-62mph coming around in 5.2 seconds – but it should be a slightly more refined cruiser. Sold? The car is yours for £42,990.

Our final option is a 2015 BMW M4 Convertible. We’ve found a 6,200-mile example for just £44,500, specced up with satnav and adaptive M Sport suspension. With 431hp on tap, 0-62mph is rated at just 4.6 seconds with top speed limited to 155mph.

And there are 6,200 miles on the clock.