The MINI Cooper S Convertible is the perfect MINI

We have enjoyed a few MINIs of late here at Business Insider. And by "enjoyed," I mean we were joyfully terrified by the John Cooper Works high-performance version of the car, and equally joyfully not so terrified by the 2016 Cooper S Convertible that MINI loaned us for some late-summer motoring.

I'm not sure this is the best small convertible that you can currently get. We can never forget about the Mazda MX-5 Miata, a car we also checked out and richly enjoyed. But the thing is that MINIs are very likable cars. And the Convertible S version is the most likable of them all.

Our $38,300 test car was close to automotive perfection, in a wonderful small package.

We got behind the wheel just as summer was drawing to a close. Here's what we thought: