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I wanted to take her top down. But that would have been inappropriate in sub-freezing weather. Clearly, my date with the 2001 Chrysler Sebring Limited convertible was going to be a tease.

Convertibles are meant for open-air motoring. They exist for no other reason. Driving a convertible with the top up, or with the top down and side windows up, is like kissing through a paper bag, sleeping in separate beds on a wedding night or waltzing to salsa music. You remember the occasion only for what didn’t happen.

That would have been the case with the new Sebring Limited had it not been so wonderfully different from the first Sebring convertible I drove, in 1996. That was an embarrassing episode. It happened at a car show in Pebble Beach, Calif.

A bevy of beautiful women gathered around a stunning white Sebring convertible with gold trim. Numerous other cars and trucks from other manufacturers were available for driving. But their audiences weren’t nearly as attractive as the group eyeing the Sebring.

A friend, an auto writer from Detroit, asked if she could join me on a test run to San Francisco. I figured I’d impress her, and everyone else, by strolling over to the Sebring, slipping behind the wheel of the car as if I owned the thing and driving off, leaving spectators behind in a cloud of jealousy.

I did. But it was short-lived glory. That 1996 Sebring was a joke — all looks, no moxie. It came with a wimpy four-cylinder engine and a lackluster suspension system. It struggled to keep up with the slowest of econocars on Route 1. My friend simply shook her head and laughed every time I tried to accelerate. I swore never to drive another Sebring, but the vow was premature.

The Sebring improved with each rendition since its introduction five years ago. A design tweak here, an engine and suspension change there. Buyers noticed, and they made the Sebring one of the most popular convertibles available in the U.S. market.

The 2001 Sebring Limited should keep Chrysler, now a division of DaimlerChrysler AG, at the top of the “affordable” convertible category, which includes cars costing $25,000 to $30,000.

That means, at least on my list, that the new Sebring ranks above the new Toyota Camry Solara convertible in terms of appearance, build quality and overall performance. For example, the tested Sebring Limited had none of the rumbles, shakes and rattles so noisily evident in a Solara convertible I drove late last year. The Sebring was tight, rigid.

That’s because the Sebring convertible was designed from the outset to be a convertible. By comparison, the Camry Solara model is more of a marketing afterthought, a sedan/coupe turned into a convertible by chopping off the top.

And, let’s face it, the Sebring Limited, especially wearing “deep royal blue” paint, is a pretty car. It is romanti c — sloped nose with a dramatic, winged grille; an elegantly sculpted, uplifted rear end; a leather-covered interior highlighted by chrome-rimmed gauges and wood accents. And underneath it all is a new, 200-horsepower V-6 engine and improved transmission and suspension systems to match.

It’s one heck of a nice car — the kind you don’t mind being with, top up or down.