BMW_Dude

Let's get the prickly matter of price out of the way first.

This little soft-top, a special edition of the Mini Convertible, can cost you more than £20,000. And for that amount of money you could get a proper car: Alfa 159, BMW 3-Series, Focus ST, all sorts.

Madness? Maybe so, especially when you remember that this is still the MkI Mini (the MkII Convertible is a couple of years off). But the simple fact is that normal rules don't apply to the Mini - the whole world loves it, in its many forms - and those rules doubly don't apply to Mini special editions, which sell like lager in a heatwave.

In any case, you don't have to pay that much for a Sidewalk, as it's available with any of the MkI petrol engines. The One Sidewalk costs £16,925, the Cooper Sidewalk is £17,975 and the Cooper S Sidewalk is £20,200.

So what is a Sidewalk? Essentially, it's a Mini Convertible with a load of extras thrown in, some of them exclusive. The exclusive stuff includes the 17" Night Spoke alloys, the English Malt Brown leather, the choice of metallic paints and the floor mats. You also get sports seats, air con, passenger seat height adjustment, some fancy interior lighting, the ASC+T stability control system and plenty more besides. If you added this lot to your regular Convertible, you'd be paying 25% more than it costs you as part of the Sidewalk package.

- ONLY REGISTERED AND ACTIVATED USERS CAN SEE ALL LINKS - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER