Mercedes-Benz CLK320 vs. Audi A4 vs. Saab 9-3

On the list of life's most soulnourishing pleasures, driving a top-down convertible has to rank right up there with eating free Beluga caviar or hitting the channel-changer the moment Dr. Phil appears on TV.

To our minds, any convertible is wonderful--"We never met a convertible we didn't like," to paraphrase, uh, I think it was Kenny Rogers--but some convertibles are obviously more wonderful than others. Case in point, the three plush, new four-seat imports gathered here.

Now into its second model year, Audi's A4 Cabriolet is the senior citizen of the trio. Compared with the chunky cabrio Audi sold without anyone noticing from 1994 to 1998, the new car is sleeker, roomier, and, Audi says, 112 percent stiffer structurally. Two engines are available: a 170-horsepower, turbocharged 1.8-liter four and a 30-valve, 3.0-liter V-6 making 220 horsepower. Each is offered only with a continuously variable transmission. Base price in front-drive form (for 2004, Audi also offers its quattro all-wheel-drive system with the six) is $42,520.

The Mercedes-Benz CLK320 Cabriolet is new for 2004. Based on the svelte coupe Mercedes launched last year, the new CLK320 Cabriolet powers its rear wheels with a 215-horsepower, 3.2-liter V-6 running through a five-speed automatic (Mercedes also offers a CLK500 with a 302-horsepower, 5.0-liter V-8, and a rip-snorting CLK55 AMG with a 5.5-liter V-8 cranking out 362 horsepower). Base price for the ragtop CLK320 is a cool $52,770.

Saab's new 93 Convertible also made its debut this year. Like the coupe model unveiled for 2003, the new Convertible rides on GM's global Epsilon platform (underpinning for such cars as the Chevy Malibu and the upcoming Pontiac G6). Thanks in part to this stout foundation, the new 93, like the Audi, has made big strides over its predecessor in bending and twisting stiffness--a nearly 200-percent improvement, Saab says. Driving the front wheels is a high-pressure turbo 2.0-liter four kicking out 210 horses. Saab offers two 93 drop-top variants: the Arc (with 16-inch wheels and a five-speed manual) and the uplevel Aero, with 17-inch rims and a six-speed manual. Our test car was an Arc (base price: $40,690) equipped with the optional five-speed automatic transmission ($1250).

There are differing approaches within this trio--the Mercedes is the lone rear-driver; the Saab features a turbocharged four-cylinder compared with the naturally aspirated sixes of the other two; the Mercedes six is an SOHC design versus the Audi's DOHC, five-valve-per-cylinder layout--but in many ways these three alfresco two-doors appear to have studied at the same school. Each car is within 10 horsepower and eight pound-feet of torque of the other; each boasts a fully lined, fully automatic one-button top with an electrically heated glass rear window; and each is equipped with such standard features as electronic stability control, leather seats, power everything, automatic climate control, and rollover-protection devices that automatically deploy if the car senses it's about to turn turtle.

To discern the best of these three comparably armed new sun machines, we headed east for a two-day romp in the mountains surrounding eternally sun-drenched Palm Springs. And immediately encountered rain. But after an unplanned afternoon of roof-leak tests (all passed), the sun finally broke through, and we were able to wring out our three players on dry mountain twisties.

With the rain and the exhaust echoes a memory, here's how they finished.