Do we need another soft-top ... Oh, yes!

In a small market for the kind, do we need another two-seater opentopper? after all, only around 420 hairblowers were sold in Ireland in the last two years. Cabrios only represent 0.1% of the Irish market ... is it worth anyone's while coming in?

Toyota think so. In fact, they believe they can hit a 25% share of ragtop sales this year from a standing start with their latest MR2. And, you know, I think they probably will.

The genre is essentially an 'irrational' purchase, because for most people the two-seater convertible is not just impractical, it is downright anti-practical.

There's little room, not enough luggage space for the two people it is designed to carry, unless a handbag is sufficient for herself's weekend trip away with himself ... and he's prepared to forego his golf.

Realistically there are few days when one can drive an opentop in Ireland in comfort, and generally they're pretty claustrophobically miserable with the top up, fogged up on a wet day.

But ...

... yes, they're irrational. But fun, when you want to have a little fun with a car. (Heaven and the powers-that-rule-us forbid!)

Mazda's MX-5 brought this kind of fun back into our lives just over a decade ago. It's still the benchmark on our side of the world, the inheritor of the sportster mantle worn proudly by MG before and after WW2. The MGF followed it, and does its damnedest to fly the non-Asian flag. And the clever part is that the MR2 is not trying to take either on directly.

That's because, lets's face it, MX-5s and MGFs tend to be bought (in Ireland, anyway) by young women on their way up the legal or financial career ladders. They've not really taken the business man's market. They kind of have a 'toy' image, maybe?

MR2, on the other hand, was in its first incarnation a no-nonsense proper sports car, and sold very well. The next generation became a coupe and lost both attraction and sales. Two and a half years ago, Toyota said 'let it die'. But management was persuaded by a core of designers and engineers to change their minds.

MR2 Mk III is back to basics. A proper sports car, engine behind the seats and driving the rear wheels, the 1.8-litre VVT-i engine that powers the latest Celica ... and a lot of buzz.

Stylistically, there's nothing soft or cuddly about the car, even though there are curves. Toyota's people wanted to illustrate a sharp end technology feel. So there's a definited wedge about the metal, and toughness is a bred-in statement. And the company hopes to make a very strong statement in sales, by moving 8,000 units in a European market that last year was 150,000.

In Irish terms, sports cars are small volume. In 1999, just 210 were sold, seven more than the previous year. Toyota Ireland's Michael Howe says bullishly that 50 MR2s will be sold here in the rest of the current year, maybe 30 of which will be brand new sports car customers, the balance cannibalising from MX-5 and MGF buyers. He hopes to sell another 80 cars in the full year of 2001.

But back to the car itself. You can see from the pictures the outside look. What they don't show is the first thing that would win me over to using a car in this genre: the room in the cabin.

MR2 has room, for elbows, legs, bums. I don't need a shoehorn to get myself in. And I don't feel that I'm WEARING the car when I'm there.

I was even surprised when I found a pretty big lockable storage space that went right across the car behind the seats. Much more than anything in the other two. (Then I saw the space that wasn't under the bonnet in the front, and what laughable cargo area there was behind the engine in the back.)

But it was the elbows space that won me. And the decent distance between me and the gearshift.

Taking the car out on the road promised to be, and was, an interesting experience. It was top down time, of course. Even if things weren't particularly warm in the normally-hot part of Europe where we were giving the car its first spin.

And first impressions were that this car is pretty quiet. Maybe more so than most opentops. Wind is well kept in line, and the engine only makes its presence heard when it is given enthusiastic welly. Then it sounds nice.

Keeping the wind from tangling the locks seems also well done, and there's a gizmo to rise up behind the back seats to cut back curlaround. It might work. I really don't have enough hair to know.

Putting the top up normally both makes for a claustrophobic feeling and increases wind noise. But it didn't do the latter in the MR2, though the black of the fabric did close one in. A nice light grey or beige would work wonders here.

Anyway, booting the car proved to be fun. The engine is willing and able to boost the adrenalin level with a rush to the next traffic lights. Given the inability to drive fast legally anywhere except on German autobahns, this kind of thing is likely to be the only fun left in driving in the future. Drag racing on Stephen's Green ...

We'll be keeping you posted on prices and stuff, towards the end of the month, when we get them ourselves. In the meantime, you might keep around £27,000 spare.

TOYOTA PRICES