For those of you with convertibles.....

[down4whatever]

I ran an MX5 as a daily for 12 months, also doing pizza delivery, and drove it with the roof up less than 10 times. The interior would get wet & fill with snow, and I would get wet & covered in ice. I did get funny looks a lot of the time-but I was the one grinning & having fun :-).

[Roger Dodger]

Down unless its raining.

Even in winter at 0 degrees I can be seen sporting hat + scarf + coat, sans roof.

[sebhaque]

Greg66 said:

Wind deflector is great for hood down motorway driving.

But people can hear me singing (badly)!

(plus I don't have a wind deflector, although I do agree they're pretty decent)

[bicycleshorts]

poing said:

Do you mean the fixed hard top? Or are you talking soft top?

Mk1 soft top with retro-fitted glass screen, it wouldn't go down without unzipping the screen which is hard with a rollbar in the back.

[trackerjack]

Roof down all time in my Quantum 2+2 RST. If its cooler I put the heater on.
Frosty days in a convertible are great with it down.

Have had only one comment that I thought was abuse but could not hear it clearly.

Who cares what less fortunate souls think anyway.

[Shaw Tarse]

Roof up or down depends more on how I feel than on the weather. I've left it up when it was sunny & driven top down at night/ when raining/snowing.

[2thumbs]

The hood is never up on my car much to the disappointment of my wife at times, It even sits in the garage with it off. Not had any abuse yet & I don't give a toss if I ever do, I enjoy my car & no jealous prick is gonna change that

[Gizmo!]

bicycleshorts said:

poing said:

Do you mean the fixed hard top? Or are you talking soft top?

Mk1 soft top with retro-fitted glass screen, it wouldn't go down without unzipping the screen which is hard with a rollbar in the back.

I have a Mk1 with the glass screen that doesn't zip out. Best of both worlds. Easy to drop the roof.

Slightly harder to get it back up at 10pm when it's cooled down and the vinyl has shrunk though... I once put my back out pushing it up to the screen rail

[bicycleshorts]

Gizmo! said:

I have a Mk1 with the glass screen that doesn't zip out. Best of both worlds. Easy to drop the roof.

Slightly harder to get it back up at 10pm when it's cooled down and the vinyl has shrunk though... I once put my back out pushing it up to the screen rail

Yeah, in hindsight I wish I'd just put a plastic screen in but the heatedness was nice. Even before I had the bar in, I've no idea how people can get the roof up from the driver's seat (without saying powerfully built!).

[g3org3y]

Roof down as much as possible in the E30. Depends if I can be bothered however. Sometimes you just aren't in the mood, especially after a long day at work. When doing our Euro drive we tried to have it down unless raining. The old skool M20 straight six sounds brilliant though the tunnels from Monaco to Genoa.

My favourite roof down time is early evening on a summer day. Perfect weather, perfect temp.

Never ever got abuse in the E30, always positive comments, both here and France. I've even had purchase offers while stuck in traffic!

[Ozzie Osmond]

Nothing better than a bit of roof down motoring - when the mood takes you.

What other people think about it is pretty darned irrelevant IMO.

[Blue Oval84]

I tend to keep the roof down as much as possible, night time included and even, on the odd occasion, when it's snowing.

Did a drive down from Edinburgh once in my TF and it started a torrential downpour on the motorway with the hood down. I couldn't pull over so just kept the speed up and stayed mostly dry, did get a few looks though!

[Zp]

In the 4-5 weeks I've had mine the roof has been off 90% of the time.

Unless it looks like it's about to piss it down then it stays off.

I'm not so lucky like some of you lot - no button for me to press.
I have to stop, get out, open the boot, take out big umbrella.....

[Blue Oval84]

Forgot to say, I've had abuse on several occasions hurled at me since I got the Z4, apparently the sight of me driving it is enough to enrage a lot of people!

[Gizmo!]

bicycleshorts said:

Gizmo! said:

I have a Mk1 with the glass screen that doesn't zip out. Best of both worlds. Easy to drop the roof.

Slightly harder to get it back up at 10pm when it's cooled down and the vinyl has shrunk though... I once put my back out pushing it up to the screen rail

Yeah, in hindsight I wish I'd just put a plastic screen in but the heatedness was nice. Even before I had the bar in, I've no idea how people can get the roof up from the driver's seat (without saying powerfully built!).

I can do it from the driver's seat, but only if I stop, swivel around so my right arm is pushing it up and over, and give it a very good shove. And it'd better be warm and loose...

[Maximum bobs]

I think I have the wrong car for me. I have a bright red 1967 Chevrolet Camaro convertible with a 7.5 litre big block V8 & only have the roof down if I'm somewhere people don't know me, I don't like being looked at.

[Mr E]

Roof off unless it's raining, freezing or won't fit in what's laughably called 'the boot'

[dazco]

Useless fact for you, Britain buys more convertibles than Spain, Italy and France put together.

[carmadgaz]

pops and bangs said:

I did used to wonder why people had their roofs down when it wasn't "hot", but it's not about the weather, it's the feeling you get with the roof down, it totally transforms the drive for me personally.

This is spot on and why I loved my MX-5, even belting down the M40 with it and getting caught in the rain one day was fun

[stewjohnst]

When I had the aArchetta's it was a case of roof down all the time unless raining or I was doing an extended motorway stint without sun.

Nothing nicer than blasting to work on a sunny but freezing winter morning with the heater on full and the roof off.