Is there anything more romantic in car-dom than the notion of carefree cruising in a convertible? The wind in your hair, the sun on your face, the freedom of the open road before you? It’s pretty gosh-darn delightful, is it not?
Indeed, the notion of driving in a convertible is wonderful. The actual practice? Ehhh, I don’t love it. Now, don’t get me started on chassis rigidity, because you can’t get me started on chassis rigidity. I promise you, if you put me in a convertible, any convertible, chassis flex will not even be among my top 100 gripes.
Chief among the gripes: I find the entire affair to be unpleasant. The niceness that having the top down does add – sun on your face, wind in your hair – is more than made up for by the headache I get from wind noise, and the annoyance of all the head-buffeting turbulence that’s also making me miserable.
It all looks like fun, especially in movies and on TV. For example, consider Ben Gazzara in Road House below, just enjoying the weather in his 1988 Mustang GT drop-top, drifting from lane to lane and forcing any wayward Daltons off the road.
Or how about Jon Bernthal in the opening credits of American Gigolo (the Showtime series), taking in the California sun in that most phallic of convertibles, the Jaguar E-Type? Though second to the Jag, the Mercedes 450 SL Richard Gere drives in the 1980 movie also makes top-down driving look sexy and fun.
But it’s never sexy or fun for me! The not-sexy part, I get. After all, I’m in the car, so there you go. But it should be fun! And above 30mph or so, I don’t think I’ve ever really had fun in a convertible.
Now, to be fair, I haven’t yet ridden in a modern convertible, which I’m sure manages airflow much better and feels less like a car missing a roof and more like a car meant to operate well while roofless. But I’d love to give one a try!
Your turn:
Bought my first convertible a couple of years ago – a 2000 Jaguar XK8. I figured I’d like it, but I didn’t expect to like it sooo much! Got to do a few parade laps at Road America this year followed by six-hour road trip home with the top down and loved every minute of it. That car would accumulate a lot more miles if I lived someplace with better weather.
So there’s over 120 comments at this point so I expect to be ignored, but here goes.
I am a convertible guy. I’ve been driving since 1989 or so and have only owned convertibles, with the exception of a Honda CRX Si I had in college. My first car was an MG Midget, which I drove top down as much as possible, including when it was actively snowing.
I live in the American Middle West, the northern part of it but not too far north, so we get some cold weather in winter, but let me tell you, there is nothing so good as a day in December when it’s sunny and above about 40 degrees F, and you can put on your good flat hat, some sunglasses, leather gloves, and drive around with the top down for a while. It’s fucking great. I’ve never managed to get married, but a surprising number of women I’ve been involved with like this exact same thing, stopping to get a nice hot cup of coffee or something before going back home.
I’ve done a lot of long days with the top down. Nashville to Chicago, including a big stretch of Route 66. Multiple trips out west. Lots of day trips looking for cool buildings to photograph. Lots of commutes.
the worst thing about finally getting old is that I’m starting to get more sensitive to temperature. I put the top up a few times this past summer, used the air conditioning, when it was around 90 or so. I’m not sure how this winter will go. Do I need to get some better gloves? A warmer jacket? EARMUFFS? I am concerned.
anyway, TLDR, I like convertibles.
I won’t ignore you! ♥
Personally, if a car is available as a convertible, I probably want that version more than the hardtop. Yes, even sports cars. Look, I almost never take my own car to a track, so I don’t care if being top down makes my car wobbly. But you bet I’m going to love the wind and sun!
In your next convertible, look for heated seats. I didn’t understand why mine had those until fall arrived. Night-time driving in the fall is the best.
It’s real good in spring and early fall. Sucks in mid summer and winter obv.
Also sometimes on lumber runs I take the Targa instead of the astro:
https://www.instagram.com/p/DO6pz7uj94Y
Bundle up two days before Christmas, drop the top, drive around and look at the lights. Bring a thermos of hot chocolate and some cookies.
Of course I live in Southern California. It’s not exactly like Doctor Zhivago.
It’s a novelty that I’ll pay extra for when renting a car in Hawaii, but otherwise I’ve never been a convertible fan. Which is odd since I live in San Diego and can actually use one most of the year.
I’ve had a Z3 for the last 25 years and it will almost certainly eventually go to an heir. I’ve road tripped it from North Carolina to Arizona, and it was my daily in Houston for a dozen years or so. Nothing like bombing across the New Mexico high plains on a clear night with the top down and good music playing. It’s also very handy for moving tall plants and long pieces of lumber.
E46 330i Vert here. I love it. install the windscreen to cut down on turbulence and its just lovely. I can run it top down like 8 months a year here.
I drive a Kawasaki Mule with no windshield or doors for work. In the Florida summer deluges. A convertible sounds like cake to me.
Very Pro-convertable. Nothing like a drive on a warm summer evening/night. Wind noise. . .slow down and enjoy the ride. I have never been sexy, so who cares.
For me it is more about just the fresh air and being able to see everywhere you look. Modern cars are so cave like. Nothing like looking up and seeing the stars.
I like almost open motoring. My old Land Rover allows me to roll up the sides and back of the canvas top, and remove the door tops (the window frame part). I like to keep the canvas overhead because it can get too hot in the sun.
Since we are not going faster than about 35 most of the time it’s a nice breeze and not an angry gale. This truck benefits greatly from ventilation since there is no AC and nothing between me and the engine heat but a sixteenth of an inch of aluminum.
When the hydraulics are working, the top goes down unless it’s raining or just about to (and even then sometimes). It feels spiritually healthy to have the top down.
I’ve always talked up coupes and prefer them overall, styling wise, rigidity, etc etc, but I also grew up around my Dads Miata’s and learned to drive stick in them, so I do love a roadster with the top down, it really is a special experience and way better than just having the windows down. Can’t do regular convertibles though where you just cut the roof off a coupe, it just screws with the styling too much for me.
I’ve had a few convertibles, starting with a ’69 Stingray and ending with my current one, a ’95 Miata. TBH, I usually leave the top up.
My Geo Tracker has a removable roof (canvas for the summer; fiberglass for the winter), and I can’t say I find the hassle of taking it off worth the open-air driving. It is fun to take it off during a snowstorm, though, just for laughs! It also pretty much turns the SUV into a pickup truck, with unlimited storage capacity if you have enough confidence in your strap work! I might take the front part off occasionally in the summer, and it is fun, but I don’t think having a tin top would be a deal breaker
I loved roof-off driving in the Tracker, but it’s definitely a hassle putting it on again. Of there was any chance of rain, I’d keep it on an just unzip the rear windows.
I’ve had a few… Jeep CJ and YJ were great for tooling around town, but the wind beating your ears was brutal on the freeway. Back then, putting the top up on a Jeep was like pitching a WWII Army tent.
Honda del Sol was a targa, if that counts, with a roll-down rear window. Amazingly comfortable at any speed. With the top off and the rear window and one side window up, I could have a bubble of warm air in the cockpit at 75mph in the middle of winter. Sigh — I miss that car…
I love it, though I’ve never owned a convertible so I can’t say whether the novelty would wear off.
The closest thing I have is a sunroof, which I love having open on warm days and especially nights. It cools the car down quickly and then just gives that lovely airy feeling.
I know a lot of people who use their sunroof once and never again though, probably the same people who buy a convertible and only drive it with the top down a couple of times.
Which reminds me of the time I was working at a sports shop and I was helping a customer carry a large piece of equipment to his car. He had a metal-folding roof convertible BMW 3 series (all the rage in the early 2010s) and we just couldn’t fit the package he’d bought into the boot. I suggested he could put the roof down and then drop it in the back seat. He… didn’t know how to put the roof down.
I bet there were a lot of people like him. He probably skipped the convertible option for his next car, just like everyone else, which is probably why the metal roof convertible died a swift death by the halfway point of the 2010s.
Also, heated seats in a convertible are a must (if they’re available), they really help expand the number of days in a year you can drive with the top down.
In the 1983 Ferrari Mondial Quattrovalvole Cabriolet, it’s conditional. Top up if either:
Rain
Blazing sun WITH stagnant traffic
Freshly coiffed locks
Otherwise, regardless of temperature, top is down (with the appropriate gear, of course).
I drove to the hockey rink yesterday in a Miata with the top down. It was about 50F and sunny. A teammate showed up on his motorcycle.
Each of us understood what the other guy felt. Nobody else did.
I own possibly the loudest, smelliest, flexiest convertible made (apart from a Ma Deuce). The fact that the top comes off is the reason I bought the truck. I also live in Maryland, where salt is used liberally in the winter months, which means there are 4 months out of the year I don’t drive it.
I’ve had it for 17 years because there is nothing better than driving it topless whenever possible.