04/08/2008 10:05. With the new A3 Cabriolet, Audi's understated and rather covetable hatchback gets a soft top for the first time. More than that, it gets a record-breakingly fast one. Push the button located conveniently to the rear of the handbrake, and merely nine seconds later the canvas cover over your head will have sprinted to the back of the car and folded itself tidily against the boot. Clearly we are talking here about the Linford Christie of opening car tops, except without the somewhat distracting controversy.

Nine seconds seems to be a new world and Olympic record for this kind of thing. Indeed, it appears to have smashed the existing record for convertible top-downing into oblivion. It takes a BMW 1 Series 22 seconds to peel off its own roof - more than twice the time run by the Audi.... // Times Online