Can we do polls here? Convertibles Vs Coupe/closed

The answer is both. There is no one answer. Each have positives and negatives. Love convertibles but oh my gosh city driving in the sun and heat......sitting at lights. It's like basting in your own sweat. You can feel your skin frying. Hats and sun screen are must haves. I actually prefer early morning or evening. Dawn or dusk. As Keith said night time is good as well but then you have the headlights from all the trucks and SUVs at eye level. I currently have a Miata PRHT as my convertible car which may be the best solution. I think ultimately you need multiple vehicles..........a convertible, SUV/Pick up, performance sedan and a dedicated track car depending on your needs. Problem solved. I have to have a convertible though.

Coupe.  Now that I'm driving the SE daily again I miss the sunroof on the SE-R which was open 365 if wasn't/had stopped raining.  I don't believe I've ever even sat in a convertible. 

Formerly convertible, now solidly in the coupe category.  Woke up one day not wanting to put the top down and haven't looked back yet.  

Just ask TI. He knows what's up.

I'm an ac/dc. I go both ways.

Drop tops are great (love my miata)

Give me a hardtop if im going fast. Feel safer that way.

So, depends on the application. 

I'v got the top down now.

In reply to Aspen :

Top down in all weather, in fact it’s better if it’s off on a shelf in the garage.  

Then cutaway doors.  MGT series. Morgan, Triumph TR2/3 Lotus 7   Something so you can reach down and touch the ground.  

OK,  you weather whiners, a top down early fall evening with windows up and the heat on is still magic. Same with the first really sunny day in spring.  

Coupes and Sedans are simply taxi cab wanna-be’s 

I like fastbacks, and have no interest in convertibles. My 924, with the massive sunroof removed and stashed in the hatchback, is practically open-air but with much less wind buffeting and noise than, for instance, a Miata. I like sunroof/moonroof on a street car, and not on a track/rally car.

Not much interested in larger coupes. If I'm getting something the size of a sedan, it might as well have 4 doors for convenience (i.e. don't care for 4-series BMW, etc). 

I love being outdoors.  I love my Miata.  I don’t care that the interior gets filthy with sunscreen, sweat, pollen, dirt, sand, bugs, leaves, etc.  My Miata is part of the outdoors.  It is for recreation.

As for a daily driving appliance- no way.  Need a vehicle that’s quiet, clean, and air conditioned.  In my case a Sienna van.

When I had a Miata, I loved driving it at night with the top down no matter the temperature. I liked it top down when the sun is up if I wasn’t doing long highway drives, the wind would beat the E36 M3 out of me, and sometimes the North Carolina summer sun was just too hot. I loved the zip out rear window, I’d have that down almost year round. 

On performance cars that weren’t designed as 2 seat roadsters, I prefer no sunroof hard tops. But on my daily drivers, I really like sunroofs. 2 of mine particularly stood out as great: 96 Volvo 850 wagon, no wind noise and not too far back as others have described and ‘85 735i, the sunroof was huge and awesome. 

Where do you guys stand on t-tops and targas? I hated the t-tops on my SW20 MR2. 

@Carson— This is my stance on targas... 

But I’m also currently looking at Mustang GTs, and trying to decide between hardtop and convertible.  I am following this post with great interest. 

I'm seriously surprised in a good way at the number of pro drop top people here.  It feels like whenever Miata's, cheap Boxsters etc are discussed the general consensus is 'great cars if only they were hard tops'. 

The Boxster has now been insured and back on the road for three days, that means three days of top down fun.  I did pick the youngest up from her driving lesson in it last night and offered to let her drive it, but she said no way.  I then told her I was thinking of giving it to her as her first car and she rejected that outright, so maybe I have issues in my own camp :(

Aspen said:

All the women in my world don't like convertibles.  Their hair blows around too much.

My wife has the top down on the 330i ZHP whenever she can. If it's not raining or snowing and it's above freezing, the top is down. I've had convertibles for most of the last 38 years, so the women in my life have loved them. But then again, I looked for female "car guys" and wouldn't even date a woman who was a non car person. My wife got her love for convertibles from riding around in her dad's '67 XKE roadster...

I personally don't understand hate for convertibles.

In reply to Chris_V :

I don't hate convertibles. I would just never buy one. 

I've had T-Tops and sunroofs. I don't like those either. I just much prefer a hard roof, slick top car. 

Nick Comstock said:

In reply to Chris_V :

I don't hate convertibles. I would just never buy one. 

I've had T-Tops and sunroofs. I don't like those either. I just much prefer a hard roof, slick top car. 

Why would you prefer to be isolated from the road and the drive? I guess I just come fom a traditional sports car background and can't understand why people wouldn't want to be one with the world while driving.

Coupe, tin-top, no sunroof, windows permanently bonded to the doorframe. I grew up in a drafty house and can't stand air leaks.

Keith Tanner said:

I used to be militant convertible, but all my personal Miatas now have permanently mounted hard tops. Driving an ND, I find myself dropping the top fairly often just because it's so easy. I would never want a convertible with more than two seats, the airflow is undesirable.

My favorite time to drive a convertible is at night.

I don't know, my 1999 Miata was great - I could drive it with no wind issues. My wife has a 2010 Miata and I look like I just drove the car with my head out the side window when I drive with the top down, but it doesn't phase my wife at all. I also have a 2013 Mustang convertible and it is the opposite. I am fine, but she gets her hair all messed up.

I think that it has to do with how you adjust the seats to feel comfortable. I am a lot taller than her and I think that helps me in the Mustang but hurts in the NC.

I owned a convertible for 8 years, a C4 Vette. Went from top down all the time to only at night or when on track/autocross. Felt like I was just cooking in the sun if the trip was more than 10 minutes on a nice day. Cooled seats would have helped a lot. My t-top Firebird rarely has the panels off, and they are blacked out. Not a sunroof fan, don't want a big hole in my car....

No convertibles for me thanks.  We have like 2 months out of the year the top could be down, and I don’t think they’ve made anything yet where i’d rather not own the hardtop.  Mgb?  Meh.  Bgt?  Hell yeah.  I have one roadster, but it was purpose built that way and never had a top.  That’s different, and unless i do some questionable things with paperwork it will never see street time because it’s a factory built racecar 

i had a targa top c4.  I took the roof off probably twice.  I had a sunroof in the Avalanche and opened it maybe three times.  I enjoy my solid leak free roof nowadays 

If I am getting a non-convertible, I want slick top, no sunroof.

With the comments in regards to weather I have to say this back in the days when you could get convertibles left and right here in Canada a greater percentage of convertibles were sold then in the states despite the fact we get 6 months or so of winter. My family’s ones were all driven year round. My dads 69 427 corvette convertible was driven year round and winter all throughout the 70s til 1981 when he put his autocross race engine in. It was also the only car he had for a few years. It went everywhere including up to the mountains skiing. In fact you can see the ski rack on it. In this picture it’s parked behind the boat dealership my family owned in Edmonton back then.

I wanted to wait until I could speak from experience. I bought my Miata because I wanted an inexpensive pure handling sports car. Never really liked the top down but would if asked to. Almost sold the car cheap a month ago because I was tired of the cons with a convertible.  Just bought a hardtop this afternoon. Within 5 minutes me Miata was transformed into what I wanted from the beginning. Going to remove the softtop completely and never going to take the hardtop off. 

52 years ago when I graduated from college I bought this Alfa.

It came with a hardtop and a soft top that folded down.  I removed the soft top and stored it and the hardtop at my parents house. In November I would drive the 300 miles back home and put the hardtop on until March.  Never did put the soft top back in until I sold the car.

After that I had this MGA.

Never did have a top on it because of the roll bar.  Just bundle up or wear a rain coat.

Currently I have a 3 year old vehicle with a sun roof.  I opened the roof once when I picked up the vehicle to make sure it worked.  Never been opened since, not even the shade under it.

I guess 52 years can change what you like.

Eh, I’ve had a convertible for 8 years now and the novelty has worn off. I only put the top down at the autocross any more. The next one will be a solid top for sure. 

Had a 58 Ford convertible, 58 Olds convertible, MG Midget, Camaro with t-tops and S2000. Loved the open air motoring. I now have 911 with sunroof that I hardly ever open. Don't miss the convertibles at all. 

I hate convertibles! The Miata is one of my favorite cars and my least favorite part is the drop top. Also, I just got rid of an E36 M3  (not turd, although it sort of was) convertible and it was a jiggly mess compared to the coupe version. I originally bought it cheap to take its motor for my E30, but a guy tossed me a good offer to save it. Even with a clean body, I had no qualms about destroying it.

The only time I really enjoyed a convertible was on a somewhat warm summer evening, cruising down a winding road (in a Miata). Otherwise it was too hot, too cold, too noisy, or too leaky. I also felt like a doofus when I came to a stoplight and everyone could look in, and hear my questionable music selections. Please hide me in a closed top please!