Convertible drivers - why keep the roof up?

[Iva Barchetta]

[redacted]

[cossy400]

Just been to Tescos and your man in his Jag XKR convertible, parked right outside the door in the pick up drop off point, with his roof down.

Fair enough, but in between him and his wife doing the shopping the heavens opened and when we came out she was stood in the door way whilst he was searching for tissues lol


YUP cool Story bro etc etc

[jmorgan]

cossy400 said:

Just been to Tescos and your man in his Jag XKR convertible, parked right outside the door in the pick up drop off point, with his roof down.

Fair enough, but in between him and his wife doing the shopping the heavens opened and when we came out she was stood in the door way whilst he was searching for tissues lol


YUP cool Story bro etc etc

Heavy downpour on the M5 once, wipers at full tilt, rain was stair rods etc. You get the picture. Saw a MX5 with the top down. Superb. Defy the weather and drive on style. Hats off to the fella.






Of course the huge wind surf board and sail pole in the passenger seat might have got in the way.........

[DoubleD]

When it rains you just drive faster, stops you getting wet.

[Trevatanus]

Just after I bought my first F, I went to my first MG "meet", which was held at Goodwood circuit.
Justifiably proud of my new purchases, I spent hours the day before cleaning and polishing it.
Left Sandhurst in brilliant sunshine, as I traveled further down the A3, it got progressively darker.
As I was nice when I left home, I fitted the tonneau cover to finish off the "look".
On the A3 about 10 miles before Goodwood it started to rain, but we decided to push on, a) because it wasn't a problem due to it being light rain, and b)the tonneau takes a minutes or so to remove and you have to open the boot.
After a few minutes, we hit roadworks and slowed to a crawl, at the exact same moment the light rain turned to a hail storm. We were instantly drenched. We got the strangest looks, but we were soaked to the skin, so just continued the journey laughing. There's something a little odd about convertible owners

Edited by Trevatanus on Saturday 27th August 18:22

[Flip Martian]

Trevatanus said:

Just after I bought my first F, I went to my first MG "meet", which was held at Goodwood circuit.
Justifiably proud of my new purchases, I spent hours the day before cleaning and polishing it.
Left Sandhurst in brilliant sunshine, as I traveled further down the A3, it got progressively darker.
As I was nice when I left home, I fitted the tonneau cover to finish off the "look".
On the A3 about 10 miles before Goodwood it started to rain, but we decided to push on, a) because it wasn't a problem due to it being light rain, and b)the tonneau takes a minutes or so to remove and you have to open the boot.
After a few minutes, we hit roadworks and slowed to a crawl, at the exact same moment the light rain turned to a hail storm. We were instantly drenched. We got the strangest looks, but we were soaked to the skin, so just continued the journey laughing. There's something a little odd about convertible owners

Edited by Trevatanus on Saturday 27th August 18:22

There is that, I agree; that would be me.

[Jasandjules]

-Michael- said:

I once seen an Audi R8 Spider driving around London, (In January) the owner had the roof down.. but was wearing a massive coat, gloves, hat, scarf and had the heating on full.

Good man. Been there meself (not in an R8 mind). But hat, scarf, coat, roof down..... Oh and in the TVR the "heater" is always on........

[MarshPhantom]

NerveAgent said:

Ok maybe macho wasn't the right word with convertibles However its hard to deny there is a certain subset of owners who think it is some sort of badge of honour to have the roof down from the first sunny day in March until November and look down their noses as that who don't.

Much like the FIL and his Morgan. Not Keen on people who have rules when it comes to motoring. More to do with fact it's a 10 min job to take down I feel.

I took our new Pug out in my missus's MR2 the day, what exactly isn't macho about that?

[*Al*]

Doesn't the UK buy more convertibles than other countries in Europe? Jokes aside we do have one of the best climates for enjoyable roof down motoring. Summer in Europe can be extremely hot so most people with convertibles only drop the roof early morning or late evening, in the UK we can feel more comfortable longer.
I enjoy the roof down on dry winter months, plenty of fresh air.

[SWoll]

*Al* said:

Doesn't the UK buy more convertibles than other countries in Europe? Jokes aside we do have one of the best climates for enjoyable roof down motoring. Summer in Europe can be extremely hot so most people with convertibles only drop the roof early morning or late evening, in the UK we can feel more comfortable longer.
I enjoy the roof down on dry winter months, plenty of fresh air.

We also apparently have the most congested roads and number of regular traffic jams in Europe + rank very highly on the number of days and amount of rainfall each year so not exactly ideal conditions perhaps?

[lostkiwi]

I have a house in the south of France. If I'm not using it am I being wasteful? But then if I do use it am I being wasteful of the house in the UK? Same goes for the boat on the Canal du Midi - if we go there instead of the house maybe we shouldn't have bought the house as obviously we have chosen to spend our holiday away from the house.
I have two cars (both soft tops incidentally), should I use them both all the time? Oh hang on - I can't.
Just because we have something we don't have to use it all the time. Sometimes the pleasure of having something is in not using it all the time.
People buy what they want for their own reasons and use those things in the way they see fit. Its not up to others to decide if thats right or wrong as they have no way of knowing or understanding the circumstances or thought processes that drove those decisions.
If people choose to buy a soft top and not put the roof down its their choice based on their preferences, experience and circumstances at that time. I don't put the roof down on either of my cars at every opportunity. It may be I'm just popping to the shops so can't be bothered for the 3 minutes driving I'll be doing. Maybe I've just washed the car and the roof is wet (I never fold the roof when its wet). Maybe I don't want any buffeting or external noises coming into the car. It may be I just want to listen to something on the stereo without inflicting it on every other person in the area.

My car, my choices, my compromises. I don't understand why people are getting so upset about it.

[SWoll]

I wasn't aware anyone was upset, particularly those that have asked a seemingly simple question? As long as you are happy with your decision then it doesn't really matter, so surely no need to keep coming back in an attempt to justify it to strangers?

[Mave]

SWoll said:

We also apparently have the most congested roads and number of regular traffic jams in Europe + rank very highly on the number of days and amount of rainfall each year so not exactly ideal conditions perhaps?

I don't see why congestion comes into the decision to have the roof down?

[SWoll]

Mave said:

I don't see why congestion comes into the decision to have the roof down?

When I had mine I found one of the worst experiences was sitting in slow moving or stationary traffic for long periods with the roof down. Traffic fumes, engine noise and other peoples awful music taste being the main issues.

Again, this is only my view from my personal experience and I don't expect everyone to agree.

[DoubleD]

When i had a drop top getting the roof down in slow moving traffic made the drive more pleasurable. Just shows how we are all different.

[SWoll]

Indeed. I just found that particularly with the amount of diesel cars on the road in the UK the awful fumes and rattly engine noises spoiled the whole experience. As I'm unlucky enough to spend a lot of time sat in traffic on various M-ways and A roads it just didn't work for me.

[monamimate]

lostkiwi said:

I have a house in the south of France. If I'm not using it am I being wasteful? But then if I do use it am I being wasteful of the house in the UK? Same goes for the boat on the Canal du Midi - if we go there instead of the house maybe we shouldn't have bought the house as obviously we have chosen to spend our holiday away from the house.
I have two cars (both soft tops incidentally), should I use them both all the time? Oh hang on - I can't.
Just because we have something we don't have to use it all the time. Sometimes the pleasure of having something is in not using it all the time.
People buy what they want for their own reasons and use those things in the way they see fit. Its not up to others to decide if thats right or wrong as they have no way of knowing or understanding the circumstances or thought processes that drove those decisions.
If people choose to buy a soft top and not put the roof down its their choice based on their preferences, experience and circumstances at that time. I don't put the roof down on either of my cars at every opportunity. It may be I'm just popping to the shops so can't be bothered for the 3 minutes driving I'll be doing. Maybe I've just washed the car and the roof is wet (I never fold the roof when its wet). Maybe I don't want any buffeting or external noises coming into the car. It may be I just want to listen to something on the stereo without inflicting it on every other person in the area.

My car, my choices, my compromises. I don't understand why people are getting so upset about it.

You're wasting your breath... they're not listening... (but you are of course completely right)

[leef44]

Wow this is a big thread! I've not read it all but just going by the title:

It's a beautiful sunny day, I'm couped up in my convertible with the hard top on and only needs to be opened at a touch of a button (SLK) and people driving by wondering why the hell doesn't he have his roof open?

The answer is my boot is full so the roof can't be opened

[monamimate]

leef44 said:

Wow this is a big thread! I've not read it all but just going by the title:

It's a beautiful sunny day, I'm couped up in my convertible with the hard top on and only needs to be opened at a touch of a button (SLK) and people driving by wondering why the hell doesn't he have his roof open?

The answer is my boot is full so the roof can't be opened

Indeed! But amazing how many people seem to worry about what (and why) other people are doing with their cars! Can't think the last time I was next to a 458 thinking "why isn't he driving at 200mph?" or next to a Range Rover thinking "why isn't he wading through a river?" or next to a pickup thinking "where is his jetski?"...

[Flip Martian]

monamimate said:

lostkiwi said:

I have a house in the south of France. If I'm not using it am I being wasteful? But then if I do use it am I being wasteful of the house in the UK? Same goes for the boat on the Canal du Midi - if we go there instead of the house maybe we shouldn't have bought the house as obviously we have chosen to spend our holiday away from the house.
I have two cars (both soft tops incidentally), should I use them both all the time? Oh hang on - I can't.
Just because we have something we don't have to use it all the time. Sometimes the pleasure of having something is in not using it all the time.
People buy what they want for their own reasons and use those things in the way they see fit. Its not up to others to decide if thats right or wrong as they have no way of knowing or understanding the circumstances or thought processes that drove those decisions.
If people choose to buy a soft top and not put the roof down its their choice based on their preferences, experience and circumstances at that time. I don't put the roof down on either of my cars at every opportunity. It may be I'm just popping to the shops so can't be bothered for the 3 minutes driving I'll be doing. Maybe I've just washed the car and the roof is wet (I never fold the roof when its wet). Maybe I don't want any buffeting or external noises coming into the car. It may be I just want to listen to something on the stereo without inflicting it on every other person in the area.

My car, my choices, my compromises. I don't understand why people are getting so upset about it.

You're wasting your breath... they're not listening... (but you are of course completely right)

The only people getting upset are the ones who seem to think the thread is aimed at insulting them. Funny old world.