Blitzing down a favorite canyon road in a scrappy Mini Cooper S ranks as an unforgettable experience. Now, with wind tousling your hair, sun dancing on the chrome-dipped gauges, and the blat of the supercharged four’s exhaust resonating in the background, it’s more fun than ever.

Mini sells two versions of the new Cooper Convertible. Base models get a 115-horsepower motor, but we’d definitely recommend the 168 supercharged ponies under the scooped hood of the Cooper S, even if it does require more expensive premium fuel. Either model includes a taut suspension and sharp steering, but the Cooper S gets bigger wheels and tires for better grip in the turns.

Use the Cooper Convertible’s power sunroof feature, which opens a panel in the cloth top for quick access to the sun, or drop the fully automatic top completely. There are no manual latches to wrestle with on the Mini. But since there’s not much room to stow the top when it’s lowered, it stacks above the trunk lid, obscuring visibility to the rear. Making matters worse are exposed safety roll bars and large rear head restraints. Better to fold those back seats, which can’t hold people much larger than a toddler anyway, increasing cargo space.

A Mini Cooper Convertible starts at $22,420, but we’d suggest the John Cooper Works (JCW) package, which comes only on the S model. The JCW package bumps the Mini’s horsepower, adds a bunch of handling upgrades, and jacks the price $4,775 over the S model’s base sticker of $25,870. And it’s easy to personalize the Cooper Convertible using the extensive options list, but the value equation erodes quickly. Heck, a fully equipped Cooper S JCW ragtop can surpass the $40,000 mark.

Better to exercise restraint and discover that few cars can define the phrase “cheap thrills” like the 2005 Mini Cooper Convertible.