Mercedes-Benz E250 Cabriolet

The Mercedes-Benz E250 Cabriolet is a grand tourer first and a convertible second, and that order is what makes it work here. It is a long, wide, softly sprung four-seater with an automatic gearbox and rear-wheel drive, built to cover distance quietly rather than to chase corners. At motorway speed it simply settles, and on a mountain road it asks you to slow down and look around - which, on this island, is the correct instinct.

The fabric roof folds electrically into the rear deck and can be worked while rolling at town speed. With the roof up the car is as quiet as the coupé it is based on; with it down, the high sides and the wind deflection keep the cabin calm enough to hold a conversation at 100 km/h. Four seats and a boot that takes two suitcases make it a genuine touring car rather than a weekend toy.

This 2015 car is white, with the AMG-look bodykit and five-twin-spoke alloys shown in the photos, electric roof, climate control, cruise control and the usual Mercedes airbag and stability package of its generation. It is a design that has aged well: ten years on, the E-Class Cabriolet still reads as expensive from across a car park.

It suits couples and families of four who want open-air island driving at a sensible daily rate, wedding and photo-shoot bookings where a classic white Mercedes is exactly the brief, and guests who put comfort above outright pace. In the MandryCabrio fleet it is the accessible entry into a four-seat cabriolet, below the C180 and well below the Mustang. It is a partner car, so dates are confirmed with the supplier before a booking is final.

Our Tenerife guide sends it along the routes it was made for: the TF-1 down the south coast, the long unhurried TF-21 climb towards Teide National Park, and the north-coast run through La Orotava and Puerto de la Cruz, where the road is green, the pace is slow and an open four-seater is the whole point of the day.